The cartoon “The Simpsons” will feature a deaf actor this Sunday (9) for the first time in its 33-year history.
Even though the show’s characters only have four fingers, they will use American Sign Language in the groundbreaking episode. And no, the episode was not written after “In the Rhythm of the Heart” (CODA, 2021), the film about the hearing daughter of two deaf parents, won the Oscar for best picture last month.
“It’s really hard to do a ‘first’ after 722 episodes. But I couldn’t be more excited about this one,” said executive producer Al Jean. .
The episode is titled “The Sound of Bleeding Gums”. It will focus on Lisa Simpson, who discovers that her favorite model and musician, the late saxophonist Bleeding Gums Murphy, has a son who is deaf and needs a cochlear implant. Lisa gets a little excited trying to help her son Monk Murphy.
Bleeding Gums Murphy died in season 6.
The episode’s plot is loosely based on the life of Loni Steele Sosthand, its main writer.
“Loni suggested making Bleeding Gums Murphy’s son a man who was born deaf and could never hear his father’s music,” Jean told CNN.
Sosthand told CNN that the show’s producers consulted two American Sign Language experts about the signs the characters make in the episode.
Experts reviewed animatics – rough versions of the show’s visuals – to ensure that despite the characters’ missing fingers, the meaning of the words conveyed correctly.
Sosthand said the episode was personal to her and a labor of love. Her brother Eli is hearing impaired in a jazz-loving family.
“Having a brother who is only a year older who was born deaf has really shaped who I am as a person. So it’s a story not only close to my heart, but to my identity,” she said.
“There are a lot of autobiographical themes in the episode about the tension between a love of music and loved ones who are deaf – themes also present in “CODA”, but a lot from my own life,” he added.
Deaf actor John Autry II, whose credits include “Glee” and “No Ordinary Family,” plays Monk. In a statement, he called the role “life-changing” for him.
“It’s about hearing-impaired and hard of hearing characters coming together,” he said. “It’s part of history.”
The episode will also feature three children – Ian Mayorga, Kaylee Arellano and Hazel Lopez – from No Limits, a non-profit organization dedicated to deaf children. Watching them record “Happy Talk”, a song from the musical “South Pacific” and performed at the end of the episode, was emotional for Sosthand.
“The song says, ‘If you don’t have a dream, how are you going to fulfill a dream.’ As I watched them record, I had tears in my eyes the entire time, realizing that this is a dream come true for all of us,” she said.
The historic episode comes two weeks after “CODA”’s big moment at the Oscars. CODA stands for Child of Deaf Adults, and the film is about the struggles of a hearing daughter who wants to be a musician instead of joining her deaf parents’ fishing business.
The idea for the show was in the works long before the movie, said Jean, the showrunner of “The Simpsons.”
“Part of this is based on events that took place many years ago,” he said. “Of course, we are very happy with the success of CODA.”
Jean is looking forward to sharing Sunday’s episode with viewers and said she smiles every time she thinks about it.
“I’m a happy-ending idiot,” he said, “although it’s not quite what you’d expect.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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