Furious Noise

The documentary Sound and Fury opens up the debate over whether or not parents should implant their child with new ears. The cochlear implant is something I have never heard of before, which is ironic because one of the topics discussed in this film was how ignorant hearing people are toward the deaf. Call me insensitive, but this film bothered me. I didn't understand why you wouldn't get the cochlear implant.   It is simply a mechanism that gives you your sense back; a miracle really. Of course, I am biased because I can hear (quite well, I may add) and I could not imagine my life without my ears. Music is what makes me. The thought of me never being able to hear the wonderful gift music brings in saddening. I felt bad that little Heather could not recieve that gift.

This is an example of Discourse. There is the Discourse of the hearing (the majority) and a Discourse of the non-hearing. The non-hearing parents were happy that they had deaf children. They believed that the cochlear implant would turn them into robots. They had their own language and didn't seem like they wanted to be included in the hearing world at all. They did not look at being deaf as a disability, but rather a culture.  Then there was the Discourse of the hearing who believed all of the best opportunites would only be provided with the full ability to hear.

The filmmaker decided to do voice overs for all of the non-hearing who were doing sign language. I personally would have preferred if subtitles were used. The film goes pretty much in chronological order, starting with Heather bringing up the fact that she would like to be able to hear. The mother checks it out, the father refuses. They check out some successful kids, and some not so successful kids. It comes to a point where they both refuse and run away from they're problems. Throughout the two main stories, there are little tidbits of outside people with opposing and supporting views. The film has a happy ending when we find out that the implant was successful and the baby was now able to hear. I was happy that they all decided to get the implants in the end.