Last semester, I decided to take a beginner’s American Sign Language class to fulfill my degree’s requirements of completing a supporting area. After the experience, I decided to continue my interest and challenge myself further by taking an Intermediate ASL course this semester. My experience in this class so far has been pretty humbling, but, similarly to my first ASL course, it has also been very rewarding. With the complete absence of speech, my professor signs for the majority of class time, keeping me attentive to understanding what she is communicating; if I am unsure of a sign, using clues, such as her facial expressions and the slides that we are on, helps. Despite having this class at 8 AM, I have thoroughly enjoyed growing more confident in my signing and being pushed out of my comfort zone through video assignments, in-class signing activities, and conversations.Â
I am a firm believer in learning a new language, as it opens you to a new culture and allows you to connect with people of that same culture. You not only get to learn a new language but also expand yourself to be able to communicate with a wider range of people, something that is crucial in various job settings. If given the opportunity, I encourage anyone to take a course!Â
Alongside my ASL courses, my Intro to Communication Disorders class has provided me with further insight into topics surrounding the Deaf community. I was able to explore this through an exercise in which we had to observe and discuss how communication disorders are portrayed in the media. I chose to focus on the representation of Deaf culture in the 2021 Korean movie, Midnight.Â
Oftentimes, the representation of these disorders can be used to inspire, relate to an audience, or sometimes be used as comedic relief. During the showing of communication disorders, many times there isn’t a complete representation; take Greys Anatomy, for example. In season 5, in the episode titled “All By Myself,” patient Kathleen Patterson is admitted for a Hypopharynx Reconstruction to restore her ability to speak and swallow. Putting Lexie and the audience through an emotional journey between Kathleen and her husband, at the end, Lexie encourages Kathleen to speak and is able to say “hi.” This, of course, disregards the actual speech therapy she would have to participate in to be able to speak. However, due to timing in episodes, and for additional dramatization, Kathleen was made to speak.Â
Directed by Kwon Oh seung, Midnight follows a Deaf woman, Kyeong-mi, who becomes targeted by serial killer Do-shik after witnessing one of his crimes late one night. In this film, the audience gets to see into the world of Kyeong-mi, a Deaf Korean Sign Language interpreter working in customer service, who deals with mistreatment from clients in KSL and coworkers. Alongside Kyeong-mi is her mother, who is also Deaf. During the first few minutes, we get to see how Kyeong-mi and her mother navigate their world through the absence of sound, something I think the movie does a great job of. Many times, we see both women not only rely on KSL, but also on handwritten notes, lip reading, sound decibel meters, motion sensors, and, most importantly, not only in Sign Language, but also in this movie, facial expressions.
After setting the stage, throughout the film, we see how the other characters, along with the main antagonist, see Kyeong-mi and her mother as inconveniences because of their hearing impairment. In a specific scene when Kyeong-mi is with a police officer, describing one of Do-shik’s victims (later known as So-jung), the officer speaks rather than signs. Rather than inconvenience himself by signing, he expects Kyeong-mi to follow along and lip read. Others, like Do-shik, use her impairment to their advantage, casting her as easy prey, as seen in a terrifying scene where he walks into her home and stands directly behind her, leaving her completely unaware that he has trespassed into her home. It was her motion sensor and something like a sixth sense that let her know something was wrong. The main character and her mother, at first glance, bring a sort of pity to the audience, seeing as how their colleagues treat them and the dangerous situation the film places them in. However, as we go along, the movie shows how Kyeong-mi isn’t so easily placed in the “victim” trope simply because of her deafness, which is something that, unfortunately, both the media and society do to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Instead, she shows immense courage and quickness when it comes to escaping and protecting both So-jung and her mother from Do-shik, leading to her own, her mother’s, and So-jung’s survival.
Like many other marginalized groups, Deaf communities tend to be disregarded by the hearing world. A depiction of this would be a scene in which Kyeong-mi is in a crowd of people asking them for help as Do-Shik makes his way towards her. Due to her inability to speak or have them understand her signing, they ignore her pleas, pushing her off them, treating her like she is unstable or something to fear. This, like any other media, tends to portray Deaf individuals as immediate victims or even threats to society. Midnight flips this entire idea by showing that having a disability doesn’t define a whole person.
Overall, I think this movie is great. There are several high-tension moments from beginning to end, and actress Jin Ki-joo, who plays Kyeong-mi, did a great job preparing for the role as a Hearing person. It does a great job of showcasing the treatment of Deaf people and puts the Deaf character in a stronger role, rather than completely disregarding them. However, I do believe it would have been great to have an actual Deaf person as the main character, as it adds more authenticity and allows for Deaf viewers to relate more through shared experiences as the character.