The documentary Sound and Fury really made me think about people's cultures and ways of life, and how different cultures collide and sometimes explode. In this documentary it shows the tensions between the deaf world and the hearing world. Before watching this I had never really given deaf culture much thought, I never knew how passionate they were about being deaf. This video did an excellent job of showing both sides of the argument in my opinion, but it also brought up bigger questions about culture and right vs. wrong.
I am so glad that we had the opportunity to view this documentary in class because I learned a lot about the deaf world that I had never knew before. I learned about how passionate and proud they are about being deaf and how they feel oppressed by the hearing world because the hearing world just doesn't understand them. I found myself understanding and sympathizing with the two deaf parents and grandparents when they were saying that the cochlear implant was a bad thing not just for the children, but also for the deaf society -- it would be taking one of their members away from them. I can totally see how this operation would be troubling and insulting to the deaf members of this family.
On the other hand, I also found myself agreeing with what the hearing members of the family were saying too. I agreed that this operation would be beneficial to the baby and that it would provide him with more opportunities that he would not have had otherwise. I can understand how the parents would want their child to have the ability to hear; both saw first hand what it was like for their loved ones to grow up and function as deaf Americans, they saw how difficult it was. They just wanted their son to have the ability to go to a school and talk to interact with the hearing world. However, I did not agree that it was abuse for the deaf parents to not implant their child; it was their personal preference. Their children also had it easier because both parents were also hearing impared so they could teach them how to sign at an early age.
One thing that had troubled me throughout the whole documentary was how Peter, the deaf father, was complaining about the hearing world being unaccepting and ashamed of deaf citizens when he was extrememly close-minded himself. I can understand why he was so against the hearing world, he had a difficult childhood and it is extremely hard to communicate with his deaf co-workers, but he could be a little more open to the hearing world.
Overall I found this video to be very eye-opening. It showed the two different cultures in an unbiased way and presented good information for both arguments. It also brought up questions of what is right and what is wrong when raising a deaf child which sparked heated debates.
Overall I found this video to be very eye-opening. It showed the two different cultures in an unbiased way and presented good information for both arguments. It also brought up questions of what is right and what is wrong when raising a deaf child which sparked heated debates.
