Short kid appropriate movie or tv scenes about ignored deafness?

July 3, 2015 10:24 PM

I watched The Aviator last week and like how they portrayed Howard with his deafness; inappropriate answers from guessing wrong, how people stepped in to cover for him, etc. are there other examples I can "super cut" or just string together by searching and presenting instructionally?

Kid appropriate because we may be dealing with less of a hearing disorder than a hearing processing disorder. Previous education attempts on other subjects shows such a presentation of what's appearing to happen to a third party and taking the situation through have been helpful.

posted by tilde to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

On the 1970s kid show Far Out Space Nuts, two NASA janitors ended up blasting into outer space when they were cleaning a rocket, one of them said it was time for lunch, and the other misheard him and pressed the LAUNCH button. I think it was part of the opening credits, so it's not like you'd have to go digging through the episodes to find it.

TV tropes has a whole page devoted to misheard stuff.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:27 PM on July 3, 2015

I can't point to anything specific, but I have a gut feeling that the old Bugs Bunny cartoons have this (obviously played for laughs), most likely Daffy Duck or the old lady who hangs out with Tweety. I can't think of anything more serious or sensitive though.

Also, it reminds me of a recurring conversation of my adolescence "Mom, when is dinner?" "Chicken." (It was always chicken). I have a lot of sympathy now that I'm developing hearing problems, and have the hearing of someone 20 years older than me. She has just recently admitted to a bit of hearing loss.
posted by Measured Out my Life in Coffeespoons at 4:47 AM on July 4, 2015

There are a few bits scattered throughout Grace and Frankie (I think for the most part those scenes in particular are safe) with Frankie responding inappropriately. I think Grace frequently tells her she needs a hearing aid though, so I'm not sure if you'd want that dynamic.
posted by ghost phoneme at 4:55 AM on July 4, 2015

There's a scene in Switched at Birth, episode two where one of the main characters is having breakfast with her biological family and they all keep talking at once and not looking at her. It shows the scene from her perspective as well, all silence. She just smiles and nods along. Towards the end of the episode she reminds them she's deaf and that she can't lip read unless they look at her and speak slowly.
posted by five_cents at 5:46 AM on July 4, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks, all, will check them out.
posted by tilde at 8:51 AM on July 10, 2015