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Sign on Screen at the 12th Deaf History International Conference
Sign on Screen MPhil candidate Sam Martin recently attended the 12th Deaf History International Conference in Ghent, Belgium. Sam was one of just three Australians present, alongside renowned Deaf historian Dr Breda Carty AO, who shared her trailblazing work on the Deaf History Collections website, and Brian Johnston, who is a board member. The program…
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What Are We Saying When We Show Apes Signing in Movies?
From King Kong to Koko to the Planet of the Apes series, movies in which apes use a sign language can both portray the power of sign, and perpetuate damaging myths about the languages of Deaf communities. In this video for the ANU College of Science, Sign on Screen lead Gemma King discusses what happens…
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Diplomacy and resistance: how Dune shows us the power of language – including sign language
In Dune’s sandswept colonialist dystopia of the distant future, power is a force best handled – and transferred – surreptitiously. In a world of ultra-wealthy spice barons and interplanetary warfare, the greatest asset in both diplomacy and resistance is an intangible one: language. Nowhere is this clearer than in the films’ portrayal of sign language.
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Sound of Metal Screening + Discussion
Why are so many films about deafness also about music? Why do cinema and television so often represent hearing loss as a tragedy, and cochlear implants as a magical ‘cure’ for deafness? In some ways, the 2019 American Sign Language-film Sound of Metalrepeats these patterns. In others, it subverts them, challenging hearing audiences to think differently…
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Dr Gemma King’s ‘Sign on Screen: Language, Culture and Power in Sign Language Cinema’ receives DECRA funding
Dr Gemma King’s project ‘Sign on Screen: Language, Culture and Power in Sign Language Cinema’ is the recipient of Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC). The project aims to discover how contemporary screens represent deafness and how sign language cinema filters Deaf and non-ableist perspectives. For this project,…
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On the Rise of Sign Languages in Contemporary Film and Television
What can films and series in sign languages teach us about deafness and social power? What is the relationship between signed language and cultural identity, and how can the screen convey it in new and empowering ways? Cinema has a long history of effacing the linguistic complexity of sign, of casting hearing actors in deaf…
