CODA movie

In mid-August, there was a new movie making a splash. Apple+ released ‘CODA’ starring Marlee Matlin.  The term CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adult[s] so it was a movie portraying a life of a CODA. The movie was selected to be shown in limited theaters. I was thrilled that Mystic Luxury Cinemas was one of the theaters to feature the movie. I haven’t gone to the movie theaters in 6 years! While in Rochester, the movie theaters had a limited schedule of when movies would play with open captions (subtitles that appears on the screen). In 2013, the movie theaters moved to offering closed-captioning glasses. It is an accessibility tool, 3-D glasses that have captioning. It appears when you wear the glasses while watching the movie. 

It should’ve been a win, right? Except the captioning glasses are a nuisance. The 3-D glasses have two large boxes on the side which are bulky and heavy! Each time I went to the movies, I found myself leaving with a headache and sore neck. The glasses were so heavy that it always left an imprint on my nose bridge and on the sides of my face. While wearing the glasses, I had to stay still and laser focus on the movie screen to see the captions. If I looked over to a person’s face, the captions would be on their face. Sometimes the color of the movie screen washed out the captions (they’re yellow) so I would have to tilt my head down to the dark area under the screen. It was difficult to go back and forth from reading the captions under the screen to looking at the screen. Going to the movies wasn’t relaxing any more.  

Posing with the movie poster while signing “I Love You”

‘CODA’ made a move to have burnt in captions on all movies. No matter what, no matter where, everyone could go to the movie theaters and be included with everyone. I was thrilled that I finally had the chance to go to the movies and be comfortable! Especially Mystic Luxury Cinemas, a theater I’ve never been to, had luxury reclining chairs. It was so comfy! I enjoyed it so much that I went back a second time myself one rainy day. 

Before the release of ‘CODA’, I had some hesitance about how good the movie would be. How many Deaf movies do you know out there? Really only one well known movie… ‘Children of a Lesser God’ filmed in 1986, because Marlee Matlin won an Academy Award for her role. Since then, not many movies were made focusing on Deaf characters. Instead, many of them were in the background or played a role with less talking. I was nervous about this movie, if it would have actual representation of the Deaf community. Hollywood also was known to not cast Deaf actors for Deaf roles, which is still being fought for to this day. I had learned that when the director of ‘CODA’ shared the idea of the movie, she was turned down at first because she wanted Deaf actors. She fought to cast Deaf people and ended up getting her way! The Deaf actors casted in ‘CODA' were Marlee Matlin (Deaf mom/Jackie), Troy Kotsur (Deaf dad/Frank), and Daniel Durant (Deaf brother/Leo).

Now, my movie review for ‘CODA’ gets 5 out of 5 stars! It was amazing. I just loved it. I mean, you can’t beat the New England setting which was filmed in Gloucester, Massachusetts. And the fact that the movie focused on a Deaf family. The main character was a CODA girl attending high school, pursuing her music goals while working in the fishing business with her Deaf family. I thought it was a good representation of the Deaf community. Just a reminder, there are so many sub-categories within the Deaf community so obviously the movie couldn’t fit in each and every one of them. The movie showed the reality of the Deaf family’s life, even beyond the deafness. It normalized the Deaf family as a small business owner and in other activities such as going to the bar and drinking, Tinder scrolling, sibling banters, sexual activities and more. It focused on the relationship of the CODA with her Deaf family and the hearing world. 

I loved how there were a few scenes throughout the movie that I could relate to; the interpreter issues for one. CODA’s are often interpreting for their parents because many hearing people see them as available and free. The hearing people take advantage of that, so it has caused many CODA’s to have to grow up faster because they shouldered that responsibility of providing accessibility for their parents. Ruby, the main character, was interpreting at meetings, negotiating fish prices, in court and doctor appointments for her parents. The movie didn’t speak about the accessibility issues with finding an interpreter, but it portrayed the Deaf parents as people relying on a family member. I knew that I relied on my hearing family (and even friends!) while growing up. I’ve always felt like a burden to others. The issue is that I wasn’t given that chance to be independent and speak for myself just like the Deaf parents/brother weren’t in the movie.  

Jackie, the Deaf mom expressed her thoughts with Ruby towards the end of the movie about her reaction to Ruby being hearing. I am not a mother yet, but hopefully someday. I have fears of being a parent of a CODA. Even through my husband is hearing, the child still would be labeled as a CODA because of me (Deaf mom). I know how to do things as a Deaf person, so how do I do some things with a hearing kid? Jackie described the fear as feeling a disconnection. Would my child prefer to use sign language to speak with me? Would my child find me annoying later on in life because of my deafness? I grew up feeling like a burden on my family and worried that my brother resented me. I don’t want that with my kids.  

Another thing that struck a chord with me throughout the movie was Leo constantly trying to prove himself. I didn’t realize how much I grew up focusing on proving everyone wrong. There were so many stereotypes of Deaf people that I didn’t want to be victim of. I worked so hard in school to get far in life. Watching Leo wanting that independence and everyone else to respect him just hit me in the feels. I wanted that respect from everyone too. I want them to think I have the ability to do anything! While growing up, everyone focused on my brother or friends around me, instead of looking at me as an individual. If someone wanted to say something to me, they would look to them to interpret for me instead of writing it down. In restaurants, it was them that servers would look to. I felt like I always had to prove myself, even to this day, I find myself still doing that. 

I enjoyed how the movie tried to show some aspects of being Deaf. The one scene that also struck a chord with me, was the concert. The Deaf family went to the concert for Ruby to support her. Ruby and her classmates sang the first song while the Deaf family had no idea of what was being sung, if it was enjoyable, etc. It showed them having small talks about their surroundings or thinking about dinner plans. It made me laugh because I do that! I always find myself people-watching at events without accessibility. The second song that Ruby sang, the movie cut off the sound and made all viewers live through a few moments of a Deaf person’s life. I hope that really makes the viewers think about that! It was a powerful moment. 

Do I have criticism for the movie? Of course, no movie is perfect. Instead, I want to focus that there was even a movie made about the Deaf community and put the spotlight on CODA. We all in the Deaf community so much deserve that. I hope that many people watch it (it’s still playing in selected theaters, but available to everyone on Apple+ TV). I went to see the movie twice at the theater, and both times it made me feel so good to see other people there. I was in disbelief that the theater was more than half full. I was expecting sparse audiences. The people also varied from elderly, families, couples and even some came alone. It made me feel so good. These people were willing to watch a movie about my world!

My family fingerspelling ‘C-O-D-A’ in the movie theater.