Hearing Loss, Romance, and Marriage on the Screen

• In Event: 158 - Section on Disability and Society Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04.

Abstract

HEARING LOSS, ROMANCE, AND MARRIAGE ON THE SCREEN
ABSTRACT
I analyze 98 couples for whom at least one member has a significant hearing disability, as portrayed in cinema films, TV programs, or DVDs. Homosexual and heterosexual relationships are represented. The shows were first released in the US by big Hollywood producers, independent film makers, or foreign film makers over a period of 80 years (1932 - 2012) that marked a huge cultural shift in the organization of the American family and the passage of the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act. Thus, the data set offers a unique opportunity to examine constancy and change in the cultural images of hearing disability within intimate relationships. The shows influence not only the stigma against significant hearing loss but also the public health laws that shape the daily lives of couples who must deal with this source of physical disability.
I use NVivo 9.0 software to code the demographic characteristics of the 98 Study Couples and then describe them quantitatively. I use qualitative analysis to identify old persistent and new emerging images of significant hearing loss over the 80 years. I end with a discussion on whether the images of hearing loss on screen have moved a “cinema of isolation” toward a “cinema of liberation.”

Author

• Nan E. Johnson, Michigan State University