Amy Love

Opinion Editor

aml7458@psu.edu

At the recents Oscars, the film “CODA” won best picture. The film, which can be found on AppleTV+, was also the first to win best picture for a streaming service. 

The film won two other awards at the Oscars. The other award was for Best Supporting Actor and it was received by Troy Kostur, who is the first Deaf male actor to receive this award. The third award was for Best Adapted Screenplay and it was given to Siân Heder. 

These awards are not only a major win for streaming platforms, but also for the Deaf community. 

This is a major win for the community because this film featured a cast that was mainly Deaf actors. Kostur, and his co-star Marlee Matin, are the only Deaf actors to ever receive an Oscar. These awards were unprecedented. 

“CODA” is based on a 2014 French film called “La Famille Bélier.” The film follows Ruby Rossi, the protagonist of the film, as she is torn between her desires and her obligations. Rossi is the only member of her family who is not Deaf so she has numerous obligations towards her family, but her heart is swept away from music. 

Elaborating on the message of the story, award-winning director Siân Heder told NPR the following: “CODA does have a double meaning in the title because it’s Children of Deaf Adults, but it’s also the end of a piece of music.It’s a story about the end of childhood.”

The Academy Awards Center are not the only ones celebrating this one. Leaders of Apple’s Worldwide video offered their congratulations to the cast of the film. 

Zach Van Amburg, who is one of the Head of Apple Worldwide Video, said the following: “On behalf of everyone at Apple, we are so grateful to the Academy for the honors bestowed on ‘CODA’ this evening. We join our teams all over the world in celebrating Siân, Troy, the producers, and the entire cast and crew for bringing such a powerful representation of the Deaf community to audiences, and breaking so many barriers in the process. It has been so rewarding to share this life-affirming, vibrant story, which reminds us of the power of film to bring the world together.”

Having “CODA” win an award is the perfect representation this film deserves. It is not common for casts for a movie to be predominantly Deaf actors and to have this cast win an award on top of that, it is breaking a barrier. Not many films feature this, it is just not common for films to be created around Deaf culture. 

It was already a major win for the Apple streaming service to create and stream this film. Having multiple Oscars be dedicated to this film, which it deserves, brings even more recognition to the community. The Deaf community has been making films prior to this, for instance Troy Kostur played a role in the film “Superdeafy.” 

He did amazing work in that film and I am glad he is finally getting the recognition he deserves. The entire cast of “CODA” deserves the recognition they are receiving from these awards. I hope this encourages other directors to create films that are strong representations for the Deaf community.