Curt E. Conklin
Curt E. Conklin
Provo
I was chagrined to read your brief review of 'Adada,' the Korean film shown at the International Cinema, wherein you referred to the central character (Adada) as 'a mentally retarded girl.' Such descriptive portrayal is wrong and typical of what deaf and/or hard- of-hearing people like myself live with almost daily.
Adada was not 'mentally retarded,' she was deaf. The movie's 'tragic turn of fate' is Adada's death, caused by the callous and abusive use of this bright, intelligent human being. She was taken advantage of, ignored, and then dismissed by her husband, his family and her own family.
In some ways your review is guilty of doing the same thing, especially when the review so casually dismisses deafness as being 'mentally retarded.'
I am sure that the defense here will be that the review was merely regurgitating previous analysis. Even so, that still does not excuse The Daily Universe in passing on a prevalent yet wholly inaccurate perception of the deaf as mentally retarded.
Ironically, the same edition ran a large picture of a student as he signed Sister Smoot's address at the February 10 Devotional. What? Mentally retarded students and faculty here at BYU? Using the logic of your 'Adada' review, I guess so.