D-PAN Releases “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera in ASL
By Adam Stone on Mon 7 Apr 2008 |
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Anyone remember that ASL music video from last year, “Waiting on the World to Change”? D-PAN has done it again with Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful.” According to their website, D-PAN (Deaf Performing Artists Network), based in Detroit, “exists to bridge the existing gaps between the deaf/hard of hearing community, the entertainment industry, and the public at large.”
After watching “Beautiful,” it’s quite clear D-PAN keeps improving their idea of how to best translate music into ASL.
I thought their first video, “Where’d You Go” by Fort Minor was awkward to say it nicely–I couldn’t even follow one line with all the lip-synching, signing, and subtitles all happening at the same time, and their cutaways were ill-timed.
The second video, put D-PAN on the map (they had a cover story in the Detroit Free Press among lots of other publicity). The signing was vastly improved; however, the graphics in the video left me feeling like I had just watched an amateur Powerpoint presentation. Still, the central message of struggle and liberation was clear, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the signers.
This video, “Beautiful,” is their best one yet. Not only are the signers great, the graphics are monumentally better and are as critical an element of the video as the hands. After reading the lyrics, though, it’s clear D-PAN took enormous liberty in interpreting the song (it reads totally different in English, I think), but you know what? That’s okay! The theme is still there: that words hurt people. The ending is somewhat hokey, but overall it’s a pretty good production.
Now I’m ready to see D-PAN try something different. Sure, I’m fine with Deaf Liberation themes–let the world change! stop putting us down!–but next, try something more edgy. A real rock’n'roll song. Something sexy. Something that isn’t about social justice. I want to see Deaf people try that. Such as Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body” which is on the top of the charts this week or something.
On a side note, the comments below the video are rather interesting; some are criticizing the producers for cropping out the signers’ heads throughout most of the video, arguing it’s a critical aspect of ASL. I think it’s fine–all in the spirit of experimentation, right? And others are saying, wow, hearing people are not all mean to deaf people. I didn’t think the video made that point, but it’s interesting to see their reaction nonetheless.
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While I admit the videos have improved, I think it’s about time D-PAN started focusing on actual Deaf musicians. I have berated Sean Forbes on this aspect for quite some time.(He knows I love him like a fat kid loves cake) But, he needs to create his own music, and not just interpret other peoples songs.
just my two cents that add up to a triple-nickel
And if you really know me, you know I am an original artists and my days are spent writing lyrics, banging drums, screaming into microphones, and making sweet love to the mixing console.
D-PAN was created for all of us to enjoy! Likewise, there are videos I love, and videos that aren’t my favorite, the way i’d describe it is like listening to an album, there are songs you love, and songs you hate. It will only benefit all music lovers, and those being exposed to support and aide D-PAN into new music, old music, and best of all, the one thing I am waiting for too….. ORIGINAL MUSIC!
Before you know it, it’ll be here!
I love Christina Aguilera’s music and she isn’t one to conform to our society’s standards which are why Beautiful has been lauded by so many (go girl!). I’ve seen the music video for “Beautiful’ many times and they are totally different. I found it kinda of disturbing. By the way, you can see the original video on MTV’s website. It’s much stronger and rougher around the edges than this one. Christina’s song is about physical differences in people, sexual orientation, gender and pain…no matter what you look like or change your body, you are still beautiful and should accept yourself for being the way you are. I didn’t get that. D-PAN’s video feels quite ‘computer-generated’, a little above amateur; I can’t think of another word to describe it and had weird colors. I wouldn’t have had connected it to the message behind ‘Beautiful’ if I didn’t know they were interpreting her son. Even the additional of butterflies was bizarre. It went too liberal on the concept of the puzzle (with an actual puzzle in the background). I wish they had used more visuals behind the idea of our differences and society’s ideas. The original video had great visuals of the diversity in people that some may never see: transsexuals, girls trying to conform to society’s expectations that we should be thin because thin equals to beauty (barf), a boy (not a man yet) trying to buff up and a girl getting beat up. They show her bloodied face. That’s a huge difference between her video and D-PAN. I got the feeling that they were trying to ‘pretty’ it up, dressing it up to make it more presentable to the mass deaf audience. While the ASL was pretty good (they got the signing right most of the time); why did they cut off half of the interpreters’ faces? Isn’t facial expression a HUGE part of conveying a message? I know the song is copyrighted and they cannot copy off that video; I just wish they did it differently and use real-life visuals.
D-PAN’s take on “Beautiful” was not so.