The true meaning of Family in Coda

by Kathia Woods

Cinema is finally providing us with genuine insights into the lives of characters who are disabled. Too often, non-disabled actors are hired to play disabled characters to provide an incomplete performance to accommodate an unfinished story. Coda is an intelligent and moving story about a deaf family navigating the hearing world. It's a beautiful thing when director Sian Heder forces us to see the world through their eyes.

Finally, we have a film in which deaf actors are given the opportunity to play nuanced, purposeful characters. Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) is our heroine, and she must choose between going to college to study music and helping her family's fishing business.

Coda is more realistic than most films that feature people with disabilities. Ruby's family has to deal with some harsh realities: Her mother (Marlee Martin), father (Troy Kotsur), and her brother (Dantiel Durant) are all deaf adults. Jones is what the deaf community calls a CODA- a child of deaf parents. She is the glue from the deaf world to the hearing world which at times can seem taxing for a teenager just trying to live her life.

CODA's strength is that it does not focus solely on the disability; instead, it tells the story of a complete and endearing family.

Most of the family is deaf; they laugh, fight, and have awkward sex conversations. They, like any other family, support one another. It's long overdue to see a family like this on screen.

We, the general public, have finally received something new and worthwhile. Apple is releasing CODA on Apple TV + and in theaters as a result of Covid. To ensure that this film was seen by a larger audience, it needed to be picked up by a distributor such as Apple Tv.

The beauty of CODA is seeing the Rossi family in a structure just like any other family. Films like CODA are a step in the right direction when it comes to representation. Now let's see if Hollywood will acknowledge this film come awards season.