At first glance, A Quiet Place<\/em> (2018) appears to follow a common trope in most apocalyptic films \u2014 such as X-Men<\/em> (2000) and Avatar <\/em>(2009), where the disability is presented as a disadvantage to survival by exposing the audience to the vulnerabilities of our body. Directed by John Krasinski, A Quiet Place<\/em> pivots around the struggles of a family to survive while hiding from blind creatures with insanely sensitive hearing in a post-apocalyptic world. The film imagines a world where any noise means death, and silence is the only key to survival. The oldest child of the family, as well as the main protagonist of the film, Regan Abbott is deaf. At the beginning of the film, Regan\u2019s inability to hear her surroundings evokes tension and anxiety. Her loss of hearing is highlighted as a disadvantage when she is unable to detect the approach of the creatures coming her way. Alongside, Regan might unknowingly create loud noises that could attract the creatures and pose a greater danger to the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While this traditional representation of disability in popular films – where the disabled are commonly associated with being weak and \u201cless than abled\u201d (Coopman, 2003, p. 342) is familiar, A Quiet Place<\/em> is also substantially a statement about the constant shift between the disempowerment of the abled and the embracement of disabilities. Typically, society believes that abled people should have all bodily functions to thrive during existence. Individuals who deviate from this standard expectation of an \u201cabled\u201d body are then identified as \u201cdisabled\u201d and presumed to face greater struggles in society. Yet, the conflict between the notion of an \u201cabled\u201d and a \u201cdisabled\u201d body is observed when the disability \u2014 speech and hearing impairments \u2014 helps to better navigate the apocalyptic environment in A Quiet Place<\/em>. This paradox embedded in the film raises the question about what exactly constitutes an \u201cabled\u201d body and if one is still considered as \u201cabled\u201d when the ability to speak leads to death. In this article, I argue that the simultaneous empowerment and disempowerment of characters in A Quiet Place<\/em> gradually blur the line of distinction between the abled and disabled in the apocalyptic environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tony Kashani and Anthony J. Nocella II\u2019s conceptual framework of social constructionism is instructive in understanding this paradox (2010, pp. 105-114). While Kashani and Nocella\u2019s work does not analyse A Quiet Place<\/em> directly, it examines how Hollywood cinema, in general, manipulates the social construct of disability by determining the characters who are \u201cabled\u201d and the others who are not as \u201cdisabled\u201d (2010, pp. 111-112). This social constructionist framework reinforces that disability is a relative term that varies according to interpretations and circumstances \u2014 hence an absolute standard of an \u201cabled\u201d body never exists in the apocalyptic environment. By using the disabled as a plot device, Kashani & Nocella claim that the underlying purpose of Hollywood cinema is to inherently influence the audiences that \u201csocial Darwinism is the norm in society\u201d (2010, p. 106) \u2014which follows the mantra where only the stronger and superior one survives. In order to satiate the consumer palate, these films tend to assert the conventional understanding of the \u201cabled\u201d bodies as the \u201cfittest\u201d (2010, pp. 107-110). While A Quiet Place<\/em> agrees that disability is a constructed concept, it also challenges Hollywood\u2019s particular<\/em> construction of disability as a stable concept. Instead, A Quiet Place<\/em> suggests that a change in the environment (i.e. an apocalypse) will redefine what constitutes \u201cfitness\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This article will proceed in 3 sections. To begin, I will explain how the shift in an apocalyptic environment in A Quiet Place<\/em> disempowers the conventionally \u201cabled\u201d. Thereafter, I will delineate how hearing impairment becomes an advantage through the adoption of sign languages. Finally, I will be discussing the \u201cheroic\u201d aspect of the hearing aid, explaining how an object that is used to restore \u201cnormality\u201d of the disabled becomes empowering in A Quiet Place<\/em>. Overall, I argue that this reversal \u2014 the \u201cabled\u201d becoming \u201cdisabled\u201d and vice versa \u2014 demonstrates the constructed and fluid nature of “disability”. Disempowerment of The Abled: Silencing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In A Quiet Place<\/em>, the binary between the \u201cabled\u201d and \u201cdisabled\u201d is blurred through the forced adoption of muteness. As the creatures kill anyone who makes a sound in A Quiet Place<\/em>, the film oppresses the \u201cabled\u201d by weaponizing an aspect of the human condition \u2014 the ability to speak. In the normal world, the ability to speak is treated as an essential tool for the communication and survival of mankind. Extending Kashani and Nocella\u2019s application of social Darwinism in cinema, the ability to speak is favored and constitutes the standard of an \u201cabled and fit\u201d body. Yet, through the lens of an apocalypse, A Quiet Place<\/em> highlights the detrimental and dangerous consequences of speech. By abolishing such means most humans communicate with \u2014 expressing one\u2019s feelings and thoughts through words, the film also diminishes the human experience, which makes the characters seem \u201cless abled\u201d. Hence, this contradictory phenomenon provides a new perspective of what is a \u201cfit\u201d body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout the film, conversations through words are limited. The only exception is at the waterfall. When Lee brings Marcus to the waterfall, he reassures Marcus that \u201csmall sounds [are] safe while big sounds [are] not safe, unless there\u2019s another sound nearby that\u2019s louder\u201d. Hence, due to the diegetic sound of the waterfall, the family is able to make sounds and freely speak to one another without having to worry about the creatures. This highlights the notion that sound is only safe when it occurs in a secretive and secluded spot, which is hidden from the \u201cnormal\u201d world. With a shift in the new \u201cnormal\u201d environment towards an apocalypse, the ability to speak is no longer used to differentiate and distinguish an \u201cabled\u201d body from the \u201cdisabled\u201d. This, in turn, reinforces the social construction of disability in A Quiet Place<\/em>. Therefore, one can no longer intuitively associate one\u2019s ability to speak with the modern perspective of an \u201cabled\u201d individual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Empowerment of The Disabled: Power of Sign Languages<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, the distinction between an \u201cabled\u201d and a \u201cdisabled\u201d body becomes less conspicuous when the loss of hearing \u2014 previously associated with the \u201cdisabled\u201d \u2014 becomes an evolutionary advantage and increases survivability in the apocalyptic environment. As the leading character of the film, the empowerment of Regan serves to invite viewers to a more optimistic perspective of disability \u2014 where the \u201cdisabled\u201d are depicted to be as capable as other \u201cabled\u201d characters in surviving the apocalyptic environment. The film\u2019s attempt to empower the loss of hearing is evident through the positive representation of American Sign Languages (ASL). As Coopman pointed out, the media tends to promote the benefits of hearing over the use of sign languages (2003, p. 373). This is further supported by Kashani and Nocella\u2019s analysis of cinema which helps to explain the underlying theme of ableists in popular Hollywood films (2010, pp. 106-107). While these are useful in understanding how the social construction of disability is presented in films like \u2014 A Quiet Place<\/em> \u2014 where it interprets disability and defines \u201cabled\u201d bodies in their respective ways, it cannot account for the nuanced portrayal of sign languages as a beneficial attribute of the disabled in the film. A Quiet Place<\/em> is, after all, not one of the films Kashani and Nocella have taken into consideration directly. This is because while other films assume a hearing-dominated world where conversations are naturally conducted through words, A Quiet Place<\/em> depicts silence as a necessity. This means that non-verbal modes of communication are instead the safest way in conveying feelings to one another in the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Abbott family almost exclusively uses ASL to communicate with one another. Since Regan lost her sense of hearing since birth, it would be fair to assume that the family has already gotten used to adopting it. In contrast, other families are restricted to instinctively whisper or remain silent. Therefore, Regan\u2019s loss of hearing now benefits her family in the apocalyptic world as they can better adapt to their surroundings. Thus, A Quiet Place<\/em> depicts an alternative conception of an \u201cabled\u201d body than prevailing thought would have it, suggesting that disability is ultimately a constructed concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Empowerment of The Disabled: \u201cBroken\u201d Hearing Aid<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, the hearing aid \u2014 a device that aids to \u201crepair\u201d the loss of hearing in the real world \u2014 has ironically empowers the disabled in A Quiet Place<\/em>. In drawing upon the medical perspective of disability, where the disabled are perceived to be \u201cbroken and not working properly\u201d (Kashani & Nocella, 2010, p. 106), it suggests that reliance on a technological device to \u201crepair\u201d the loss of hearing emphasizes the dichotomy between the \u201cabled\u201d and \u201cdisabled\u201d (Coopman, 2003, p. 345). However, Regan\u2019s hearing aid is broken. Despite the multiple attempts to put it on, Regan\u2019s hearing aid is never effective in transmitting sound waves to her brain. This is evident in the scene where Regan rejects the hearing aid Lee has been working on and is strongly certain that \u201cit won\u2019t work, and that it never works\u201d. In the real world, a broken hearing aid that needs to be appended to the human body is deemed to be useless. Yet, in A Quiet Place<\/em>, Regan\u2019s hearing aid becomes the \u201csaviour\u201d as it emits feedbacks that could scare the approaching creatures. When Regan\u2019s hearing aid squeals with feedback, she notices the creature\u2019s distressed reaction. As the creatures reveal the flesh beneath their armored head, Regan realises the lethality of her \u201cbroken\u201d hearing aid. By amplifying the frequency through the microphone and speaker, the creatures become vulnerable to gunshots. Hence, a change in the circumstance \u2014 where the creatures are afraid of the hearing aid \u2014 forces a new \u201cnormal\u201d that presents the broken hearing aid as an asset. As the hearing aid protects Regan from the creatures, she could survive better than the \u201cabled\u201d characters in the film, and at the same time, is more capable of protecting her family. As the disability becomes an advantage for survival instead of a societal burden, the dichotomy between an abled and a disabled body is now fragile with Regan being seen to be neither \u201cabled\u201d nor \u201cdisabled\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To summarise, A Quiet Place<\/em> is an interesting film as the disability serves as an important informing voice in the narratives, which ultimately shifts the social lens of an abled body away from the ideal standard modern society is obsessed with. In an apocalypse, the ideological construct of disability changes. By respecting the weaknesses and strengths associated with the disability, the film represents a bold move towards a genuinely disabled-sensitive cinema. Thus, outside of the apocalyptic context, this film encourages us to reflect on our hypocritical attitude towards disability in the real society. In considering the application of Kashani & Nocella\u2019s analysis on the social construct of disability in the context of A Quiet Place<\/em>, it becomes apparent that their conception of disability in Hollywood cinema explains the fluid nature of the disabilities but does not help in understanding the paradoxical nature of the film \u2014 where the \u201cabled\u201d seemingly aligns to the standards of a \u201cdisabled\u201d body, and vice versa. This forces us to recognize that the context of A Quiet Place<\/em> is one that differs greatly from that of Kashani & Nocella\u2019s understanding of the portrayal of ableness in cinema, and to acknowledge the absence of an \u201cabsolute\u201d standard of an \u201cabled\u201d body. Perhaps, one may think that \u201cA Quiet Place\u201d<\/em> is a rather befitting title as the letter ‘A’ reflects one of the many possibilities a disability could be socially constructed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coopman, S. J. (2003). Communicating disability: Metaphors of oppression, metaphors of empowerment. Annals of the international communication association, 27<\/em>(1), 2003, 337-394.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kashani, T. & Nocella II, A. J. (2010). Hollywood\u2019s exploited: Public pedagogy, corporate movies, and cultural crisis. In T. Marcus & A.J. Nocella II (Eds.), Hollywood\u2019s cinema of ableism: A disability studies perspective on the hollywood industrial complex <\/em>(pp. 105-114). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Krasinski, J. (Director). (2018). A Quiet Place<\/em>. New York: Platinum Dunes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Yan Ng Xuan Min, Gail Introduction At first glance, A Quiet Place (2018) appears to follow a common trope in most apocalyptic films \u2014 such as X-Men (2000) and Avatar (2009), where the disability is presented as a disadvantage to survival by exposing the audience to the vulnerabilities of our body. Directed by John<\/p>\n
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Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n