glee tonight

anakin

anakin

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did you see tonight's episode of glee? they had kids from a fictional deaf school's glee club perform a song in sign language. what did you think of it?
 
Thanks for starting the thread. I just described the scene in "what are you thinking about".

I thought it was beautiful. I loved the way the hearing choir members joined the signing choir members and added their voices to the signs side by side with the deaf choir. The deaf guy that was out front had such a great smile on his face when he signed "And the world shall live as one" and looked at the hearing girl singing the lyrics. And it was great that they had both deaf and hearing signing. I was impressed that whoever directed it was consistent enough to have the hearing choir director signing ASL applause at the end.

I'll tell you...it brought tears to my eyes the same way I used to get choked up when my son's signing choir would do certain songs. I just find it so incredibly beautiful and expressive that I get an emotional reaction. I have said it before...one of the most precious things having a deaf son has taught me is that music seen is every bit as beautiful as music heard.
 
'Glee' is one of my favourite new TV shows this fall. I'm definitely going to watch this one!
 
School for the D/deaf on Glee (and a blurb about Kay's)

I am not sure how many of our users that are hearing or HoH (like myself) that watch Glee or have family members that do, but tonight they had a song from the school for the D/deaf that was.. breathtaking. I have not found the video of it yet, only the audio, but I am still looking. Basically it starts with a single signer/speaker with a whole choir of signers behind him that sign the words to “Imagine”. About a quarter of the way, the main actors stand up and start to sing along with the song. They then step in and start to sign with the deaf kids. It was awe-inspiring.
I know it is a fake drama show, but I wish the link between the Hearing and the Deaf world would be bridged so easily in today’s society. I also like the fact that a show about singing took the time to even think about the Deaf community.

As a side note, anyone seen the Kay’s commercial? The one where the boyfriend is learning sign to talk to his girl (and of course buys her some crazy costly gold chain).. Again.. nice to see Sign in the mainstream.
 
I've never heard of Glee. was wondering what's this rave all about. went to check out fox.com. saw the scene. that was cool!
 
don't care for the song imagine because it is unrealistic but glad about the sign language part.
 
Seen the commercial about Kay's Jewelry....it's sweet...
Would be great to see more commercials with deafies, more exposure.
 
I just watched it on fox.com. It was really good.

I had seen the Kay commercial quite a bit. It was out last year as well.
 
So after hearing so much about this, I went and watched it on Hulu (with CC. Thank you, Hulu!) As a show, I think it's terrible: abysmal acting, trite, unoriginal story lines with very predictable characters and conflict, etc. The only redeeming quality of it is the music, which I must admit, is very, very well done. But I'm a snob when it comes to this type of critiquing, so don't listen to me. :)

What did I think of the deaf choir scene? Hmmm... well, I would have liked it better if they had set up deafness better in the show prior to that scene. What they did was show the stereotypical HoH person misinterpreting sentences, talking loudly, not hearing his phone, etc. All the jokes came at the expense of his hearing loss. If they wanted him to be funny, why didn't they just make him funny regardless of his hearing? Of course, when a show has lousy writers, they go straight for obvious, cliched caricatures: oh hah hah, look, the deaf guy who misses 4 phone calls. hah hah! :roll: nevermind that it's been done a billion times before, and it's still not funny.

I have mixed feelings about the actual deaf signing scene. I think the intentions were good, but I didn't like how the hearing students just came in and started singing and co-opting the deaf students' performance. For me, I read that symbolically as just another instance of patriarchal hearing attitudes towards deafness. Here's one blogger's opinion on this: Squidalicious: Facepalm: Deaf Choir on Glee. I tend to agree 100%

Also, I wasn't convinced that all the actors playing deaf people were deaf. Some of them seemed to have very shaky ASL articulation.

Still, "Imagine" is one of my favorite songs in the entire world, and I do think it was a nice choice, if a little corny and obvious. It could have been worse, but in the end, this episode still reinforced the wrong perception of deafness.
 
TheWriteAlex said:
So after hearing so much about this, I went and watched it on Hulu (with CC. Thank you, Hulu!) As a show, I think it's terrible: abysmal acting, trite, unoriginal story lines with very predictable characters and conflict, etc. The only redeeming quality of it is the music, which I must admit, is very, very well done. But I'm a snob when it comes to this type of critiquing, so don't listen to me. :)

What did I think of the deaf choir scene? Hmmm... well, I would have liked it better if they had set up deafness better in the show prior to that scene. What they did was show the stereotypical HoH person misinterpreting sentences, talking loudly, not hearing his phone, etc. All the jokes came at the expense of his hearing loss. If they wanted him to be funny, why didn't they just make him funny regardless of his hearing? Of course, when a show has lousy writers, they go straight for obvious, cliched caricatures: oh hah hah, look, the deaf guy who misses 4 phone calls. hah hah! :roll: nevermind that it's been done a billion times before, and it's still not funny.

I have mixed feelings about the actual deaf signing scene. I think the intentions were good, but I didn't like how the hearing students just came in and started singing and co-opting the deaf students' performance. For me, I read that symbolically as just another instance of patriarchal hearing attitudes towards deafness. Here's one blogger's opinion on this: Squidalicious: Facepalm: Deaf Choir on Glee. I tend to agree 100%

Also, I wasn't convinced that all the actors playing deaf people were deaf. Some of them seemed to have very shaky ASL articulation.

Still, "Imagine" is one of my favorite songs in the entire world, and I do think it was a nice choice, if a little corny and obvious. It could have been worse, but in the end, this episode still reinforced the wrong perception of deafness.
Click to expand...

You really thought this out, eh? Guess that means you reflected on it before reporting it on the forum. I am inclined to agree after seeing the show. It was neat to see it, but then... reality sunk in a few hours later.
 
i do think the director from the deaf school was a bit overboard. he should've had an interpreter there. regardless, it was nice seeing sign language on a major television network.
 
souggy said:
You really thought this out, eh? Guess that means you reflected on it before reporting it on the forum. I am inclined to agree after seeing the show. It was neat to see it, but then... reality sunk in a few hours later.
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, I watched the show and then went directly to writing that post. It was during the writing of the post that I was able to organize my thoughts, reflect, and articulate an argument. This is one reason I love to write.

anakin said:
i do think the director from the deaf school was a bit overboard. he should've had an interpreter there. regardless, it was nice seeing sign language on a major television network.
Click to expand...

I agree that the exposure of ASL is nice. I hate to be such a buzzkill, but I still think it was a token gesture at best, and just used the same old, tired handicapped views of deafness. I am more interested in seeing shows and movies that truly exemplify the abilities and intelligence of Deaf individuals without focusing on their hearing loss. Unfortunately that is very rare. This is something that I am trying to work on changing with my own writing.
 
I dont want any stupid stereotyping of deaf people displayed on TV shows and then it is all good. I didnt watch it so I dont have any thoughts on it.
 
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