A Quiet Place – A Film, Critique
McCullough
game in silence, suggesting that ASL does not allow for the interesting conversations people
typically have while playing games. In reality, Deaf people carry on full and animated
conversations in ASL.
3. It is awfully scary to be Deaf, to use ASL, and to live in a silent world.
Most hearing people are understandably afraid of not being able to hear or use their voices
and of having to use other communication methods instead. A Quiet Place becomes a successful
horror movie by taking advantage of this fear, incorporating it with other scary elements to ramp
up the fright factor. This perpetuates hearing people’s fear of being Deaf and using ASL when
neither is as scary in reality.
4. Deaf people are vulnerable, dependent and dumb.
The Deaf character in this movie is a young girl who, due to being Deaf, is particularly
susceptible to being eaten alive by the terrifying creatures who lurk in the shadows, ready to
pounce on anyone who makes a noise. In one scary scene, the camera follows her as she walks
through a field, unaware that a creature is stalking her. She has to rely on her hearing family
members to alert her to the creatures’ presence. She is also the one who indirectly “caused” her
younger brother’s death because she gave him the rocket toy that made noise and attracted one of
the creatures who ate him. Even though she did not give him the batteries, had she not given him
the toy in the first place, he would still be alive. Her brother might have contributed to his own
death, but in the end, she is still at fault.
The movie chose to focus on the Deaf girl’s missing sense completely and blow any
perceived dangers out of proportion, while leaving out the unique benefits associated with being
Deaf. Research shows that Deaf people have quicker reaction times to moving stimuli in the
periphery and are more accurate when it comes to discriminating differences in angle of motion
and direction than hearing people (Hauthal, Sandmann, Debener & Thorne, 2013). These vision-
related advantages could easily have translated into useful contributions made by the Deaf girl in
helping her family outwit the creatures. Instead of making the whole movie about how the Deaf
girl struggles to fit into a hearing-centric world, it would have been more enlightening to show the
positive aspects of being Deaf.
The only time the Deaf girl actually makes a significant contribution is when she uses her
squealing cochlear implant to outdo the creatures. In a bizarre twist, the cochlear implant functions
as a miracle, even though it is defective. What a message: cochlear implants are great, whether
they are broken or not. If the movie manages to pull off such an unrealistic presumption, it sure
can do something similar to present the Deaf girl as a strong character who is more than capable
of contributing to her family’s survival.
5. Deaf people need to be fixed.
Fixing the Deaf girl’s hearing with a cochlear implant is a huge theme throughout the
movie. The father works in secret to repair broken implants for his daughter. These cochlear
implants become a symbol of hope. Near the end of the story, the daughter finds her father’s
workspace full of cochlear implant devices and tools, which illustrates how much he loved her. Of
SASLJ, Vol. 2, No.1 – Spring/Summer 2018
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