There’s been so much discussion of supposed “divisions” within the deaf community lately (oral vs. ASL, educated vs. grassroots etc.) that it’s all gone into sheer absurdity. Filmmaker Wayne Betts, Jr., apparently agrees, and developed three knee-slappin’-funny videos illustrating excellent caricatures of pretty much all of these “divisions.” As a friend said, they’re “genius-funny.”
Need a good, hard laugh? Go ahead and click on the following links (all go to YouTube):
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The links don’t work. :-(
They do now! Sorry about that.
Too bad they’re not captioned. I’m an oral deaf person with a CI, and I don’t understand ASL that the guy’s using in the videos, so the humor is lost on me.
The links don’t work. I want to see those videos pleeeeasssseeee?? THanks
at first i was very skeptical of you dubbing something “the most hilarious deaf videos ever.”
all doubts have been replenished by the polka blotter of poo and pee on my floor.
kudos for sharing this.
OMG. LOLZ.
Noelle, it’s not what they’re saying per se. They’re sketches of various characters you might find in the deaf community. For example, the Deaf Power one is funny not just because of the absurd things he’s saying but also because of his overall posture, attitude and expression. The same is true of the other characters. If you’ve been in the deaf community, you know they exist and how dead on these sketches are! Great job, Wayne. It’s about time we laugh at ourselves.
I dunno. 1st video I loved, second video made me worry about making fun of people with mental problems. I have met some people from Clarke so I did see the humor in the third one, but I guess I just dont like making fun of others too much…
2nd one wasn’t really making fun of people with mental problems. It was mostly making fun of someone who was just starting out to learn sign. I know a lot of ASL students who talk like that.
Ah, but you see, have you told the mentally ill? I’m not sure they know.
The way I interpreted it was that the labels got magnified in each caricature. The hands for the big D folks, the mouth for the oralists, and the forehead for the “hearing on forehead” folks. I found each one extremely hilarious. Definitely not something you want to be watching when you’re at work.
I’m unable to run the videos, apparently I am missing a Quicktime component that is not available for downloading. Hopefully these videos will be posted on the Mosdeux website.
I am unable to view it. Can someone please guide me how to turn on the show via Internet Explorer? You all made me so curious.
Wendy
WAD, I rarely use IE so I’m unable to offer you instructions but why not just right-click (use the mouse) on the link and click “Save Target As”. It’ll download a file to your computer (suggest save it to “Desktop” so you’ll find it easily), once it’s done and you can play it with Quicktime. It’d be best if you update Quicktime to the latest so it can play the videos without any trouble.
You’ll need to download Quicktime so here’s the link: Quicktime
Thanks. I removed the program and installed it again. It worked beautiful.
Indeed, the flick’s awesome!
Thanks again.
Adam Stone, I personally know Wayne Betts Jr and his family. He used to be my student at Austine School where he used to attend before he transferred to ASD (American School for the Deaf). Every time he (and his brother, Adam) released a new film, everything’s on hold and I enthusiastically download & watch their works.
You can see more of their (Wayne and Adam Betts) works at their site. Most of their films are time-enduring hilarious.
“Me Is The Good” is my newest favorite Wayne Jr’s film. Ah, what a funny memory I had with Wayne Jr. We used to make fun of the students of Clarke. Lousy way to set a model role for students at Austine School, I know, but the students at Clarke tended to express their ’superior’ attitude toward Deafies because they can “speak” (actually, more likely gibbering than “speaking”)…
To Wayne Jr (or Adam), if you ever come down and check the posts around here, and if you wonder who I am, this is the guy who introduced you to Yukito Kishiro’s works, “Battle Angel Alita” some years ago. If you figure out who I am; yep, that’s me but keep it to yourself for the time being. I’m planning to contact you via email.
Wayne went to Austine??? What a small world! I didn’t go there but I live in Vermont so I’m sure there are a couple people here who remember him. ;)
Adam, I have to thank you for posting this…I just about peed in my pants laughing!!! Especially at the Clarke video because in the beginning Wayne said he felt offended when people used the typical sign for Clarke but he ended up using the sign himself at the end of the video….that was HILARIOUS! I KNOW he was never a Clarke student because of that part!!! LOL!
OMG! Those videos are *hilarious*!!! Good job Wayne. I laughed my ass off at those videos.
Absolutely hilarious! I’m sharing this with the friends I know. Thanks so much for sharing this with us, Wayne is most definitely a gifted person!!! I wish him the best in going even further with his career as he definitely has to share more of his gift with the rest of the world!!
The comedians such as Jay Leno and David Letterman do make fun of political situations, politicians, and current events. It is good laugh, diffusing tension. At this point, I realize we may be taking this Deafhood concept bit too far. During the email exchanges about Deafhood, I started to change my mind about supporting Deafhood concept in general. It is becoming silly. Someone challenged me to think how silly it sounds to say California School for Deafhood. It also sounds silly to say “Hi, I representing Deafhood”. You also would want to see National Association of Deafhood. I am now reevaluating this whole semantic scenario. Wayne should write a fun book abt creative ways to use Deafhood in sentences to read during toliet business.
Lets go back to Deaf community and Deaf culture. We all already know that we do not want the medical model or use the word Deafness. Deafhood reinvents the word Deaf community.
I prefer “deaf community” so as not to exclude anyone at all.
I agree, we’re taking the Deafhood thing way too far. Not only that, but it’s also bad form in English to say something like, California School for Deafhood.
The more I read about Deafhood, the more I realize that it’s really, really misunderstood, and misused as well. From what I read, Deafhood’s just the journey in finding your Deaf identity. But naturally, people bend it to fit their ulterior agendas.
I like the classical linguistic and cultural definition for Deaf. Because it’s backed by scientific fact and research. But oh well… It doesn’t go far enough for some people. Go figure.
Awwww…. I wanted to fwd this to a friend, but now it seems the links don’t work any more… for all three, i get redirected to http://www.mac.com/1/bandwidth.html with this message when I try to view them. (tho sometimes the “funny joke” one comes up fine).
“We’re Sorry
You have requested a page that is not currently available due to data transfer restrictions. If the page you requested is yours, click here for more information.”
hmmm, must be really popular… anyone know how or where else to view the movies?
Same here - I would like to view them as well. Adam - is there another way for us to see those 3 videos you listed?
The videos are still not available. Grrr…
Do we have to wait until July 1st to view them!?
Can’t the filmmaker (Wayne Betts, Jr) move the videos? Youtube? His website (Mosdeux)?
Desperate Guy
I got an email from him this morning - he said he’d be moving the videos to a new server sometime this week, so keep your eyes open for an announcement on his site (assuming that’s what he’ll do). I still haven’t seen any of the videos, and am anxious to finally see what all the hype is about.
The videos have now been moved to YouTube (links updated) and should be available indefinitely.
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