Discussion #2: Enable

Deaf people and sign language are sometimes displayed by the media. For this blog posting, I want you to view how the media protrays Deaf people. I have selected three commericals. These commericals all use sign language as their primary communication method. I want you to watch there commercials and think about what message they are sending about Deaf Culture and Deaf people. Do you feel these commericals show the strengths of Deaf people and their language? Who were these commercials for? Did they reach both the hearing world and deaf world? Which commerical do you think protrayed the best image of Deaf people and their culture? Which do you think protrayed the worst? Support your responses. Watch the Pepsi commercial "Bob's House", the Chinese Pantene Commercial and the Thailand Toothpaste commerical (located on the youtube links to the right). For the Thailand Commerical view http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeAhnagJdcA and for the Chinese Pantene Commerical view http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opOQlA0LVqo Which of these commercials do you feel are based on Deaf folklore. In Deaf folklore being deaf allows the person to triumph or succeed. As a result of their deafness they are able to overcome an obstacle. How does this commercial portray that being Deaf allows triumph rather than defeat?