I See The Crowd Roar Analysis

On April 8, American Sign Language (ASL) 1 went to Bakersfield College to watch “I See the Crowd Roar”. “I See the Crowd Roar” is a movie about William “Dummy” Hoy, who was a Deaf baseball player in the late 1800s. William Hoy, was born on May 23, 1862, but he was not born Deaf, he became Deaf when he was around three years old due to meningitis; from that, he lost his hearing. Baseball was starting to pick up as a common past time and thus as a young boy, William wanted to learn and play just like any other boys but everyone told him that he couldn’t play. Instead, he grew up working on his father’s farm and went to the Ohio School for the Deaf in 1872 and graduated in 1879. There he was taught the trade of a cobbler. At first, the town citizens …show more content…
I have never really been into baseball but I have gone to a few games with family at Angel’s Stadium. Before watching the movie, the game never really held my interest but now, I will not be able to see the game the same way that I used to. From watching the movie and learning that many of the signs used in baseball were because of Deaf baseball players like William Hoy, is very inspiring. After thinking about it, it makes me wonder how else the Deaf community has changed the hearing world in ways that to us go by unnoticed. You see other cultures like signs in Spanish or Braille on the bathroom doors but it seems like the influences from the Deaf culture is extremely subtle. I would like to find out how the Deaf community influences the hearing …show more content…
I was nervous because we had just started to sign, even though I felt comfortable with what I have learned, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to communicate or understand what was signing to me. On the other hand, I was excited because I wanted to go and sign with other people and use what I have learned as well as learn new signs. I was hoping that there would be a lot of people signing so that I would have a chance to sign with someone and see how well my skills in the real world were. However, I was disappointed because I didn’t realize that almost everyone attending the event were ASL 1 students and since we were in the theater, the layout didn’t really give us a chance to sign with each other. I also noticed that the ASL classes stayed together and didn’t really socialize with other classes. Even when there was socialization, I noticed that most people would quietly talk amongst themselves and not really use sign. I feel like the movie and the question and answer session with Deaf people were great and really helped us to understand the Deaf culture a little better but I feel like the purpose of us using sign with other people was lost. I felt that my ASL skills weren’t really tested at the event but I did enjoy watching the teachers and guest sign. I did see some signs that I recognized however, the speed of signing was somewhat hard to following; I am hoping that gets easier as I study sign more. I