Amid the hype of Sierra Burgess Is a Loser comes several criticisms from its viewers. One of them was from deaf model-slash-activist and America’s Next Top Model Cycle 22 Nyle DiMarco, who put the film on blast its portrayal of deaf-mute people.
“So one of my close friends’ deaf brother is in Sierra Burgess. When I learned, I was elated. Finally more deaf actors/representation and ASL inclusion in films…Only to find out the deaf character was written and used for a terrible joke,” Nyle tweeted last night. He was pertaining to Cochise Zornoza who plays Noah Centineo’s deaf younger brother, Ty, in the movie.
There was a scene in the movie wherein Sierra (played by Shannon Purser) had to pretended to be deaf in front of Jamey to hide her voice. (Since she was already catfishing him for most of the film at this point.) Nyle called that scene out too and said, “Pretending to be deaf is not [okay.]”
But that’s not all: Nyle also criticized the film’s homophobic and transphobic jokes. “It is extremely easy to make jokes about marginalized/disfranchised groups…but that makes you a lazy writer. And honestly you shouldn’t make these jokes AT ALL because our lives are on the line.”
Netizens backed up his tweets with the same sentiments. How about you? Did you encounter similar problems while watching Sierra Burgess Is a Loser? Share them in the comments section below.
Photo courtesy of Nyle DiMarco’s Instagram account
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