The Silent Film Era: Silent Films, NAD Films, and the Deaf Community's Response

Abstract

Older citizens who are deaf or hard of hearing recall the years of silent films (1893–1929) as a "golden era" in the cultural history of the American Deaf community. It was golden for several reasons. First, this period represents the one brief time that deaf and hard of hearing citizens had comparatively equal access to motion pictures—a cultural and popular medium that the United States and Hollywood have exported to the rest of the world. The second reason this period was golden was that motion picture technology demonstrated a new tool for those deaf people who used sign language. Before the development of motion pictures, deaf people could depict sign language only in static forms of communication: text, drawings, and photographs. This was crucial because the era of silent films (1893–1929) happened at the same time as an intense campaign against sign language in America. One of the ways that the Deaf community challenged this assault on its language was through the use of motion picture technology. The third and final reason that older members of the Deaf community nostalgically view the silent film years as golden is the post–silent-film reaction: Amateur deaf filmmakers began to make sign-language entertainment films.