Just weeks after President Obama made headlines when he signed to a deaf student, and we asked whether British band Spring Offensive’s new video featuring the band signing was arty, offensive or just plain daft, movie stars Johnny Depp and Natalie Portman have got in on the act, signing in ASL for the video for Paul McCartney’s new single, ‘My Valentine.’
American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) are very different, so I have no idea how good either are with their signing hands.
At a guess, it seems to me that Portman looks more of a natural signer than Depp, but I’d love to know what our American readers think. More broadly, what do you all think about the fashion for celebrity signing? World famous or not, are Depp and Portman arty, offensive or just plain daft? Watch it, then comment below to let us know what you think.
By Charlie Swinbourne, Editor
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madcapy
April 16, 2012
Loved the video, specially the black & white effect. Not heard this song before. I agree that Natalie looks a lot more natural than Johnny.
The thing we have to ask about celebrity “signers” is whether they are just doing it for their own means. It would be good to find out if they keep it up and carry on learning/going to the Deaf groups etc. Although it is good that they have drawn attention to Deafness, will it be a one minute wonder?
marcomarbella
April 16, 2012
Looks cool – only wish I could see some captions – for the non-signer like me!
CJ
April 16, 2012
So Part signer like me then MarcoMarbella ? lol
Taigan
November 19, 2013
They aren’t using ASL, but well done.
Suppose rain
Don’t care
Say Future Soon Sunshine
Correct
Love Mine
Sweet Heart
All Day All Night Happen Occur
Tell Myself Wait Something
Appear
Love Perfect
Love Here On Out
Never Finish
Without Remember
Reason Why
Sad Fly
None Worry/Trouble
Future Sunshine
There
Love Mine
Sweet Heart
Suppose rain
Don’t care
Future Soon Sunshine
Love Mine
Sweet Heart
Charlotte Arrowsmith
April 16, 2012
It was beautifully done. I agree that Natalie Portman was more of a natural than johnny, however both portrayed different types of signers. The use of sign language in music videos is a step forwards to making our language acceptable by others, and many ‘hearies’ will see it as ‘wow that’s beauiftul’ even if they don’t understand sign – so I guess it got their attention. The question ‘is
Charlotte Arrowsmith
April 16, 2012
…it a one time wonder?’ well I often thought that myself in the past when other pop stars used it but as time gone on, more n more singers are choosing to include sign language in their videos. I would hope in the future musicians have faith in deaf performers, who would give a natural performance n in using them it would also be showing acceptance to society that deaf people can perform just as beautifully. Deaf people n sign language are always left behind cos of it being such a minority group… But sign language in music videos show it doesn’t have to be. Hopefully the media n tv will soon follow n open their doors to sign language n deaf people in general. It is about time they did. We are just as good as any.
Matt Hearn
April 16, 2012
One angle we’d need to look at is the fact they are thespians or actors. Do they really ‘know’ the sign language, or simply acting it like they put on different accent in films?
But personally I hope they have learnt it and remember to use it when they meet ASL users!
Andy Hearn
April 16, 2012
No idea of the lyrics (Editor, would you be good enough to post a link?) to determine how well it would translate to ASL, but appears that both Natalie and Johnny are using SEE (the Yanks’ version of our SSE) – be interesting to know how that sits with our transatlantic cousins?
Charlotte Arrowsmith
April 16, 2012
Good point andrew… Be interesting to see what they say! ASL/ or their version of SSE did made me think, ‘hang on why wasn’t it done in BSL since Paul McCartney is an English singer?!’ … Hmm…
Agree with matt too – did they learn the sign language in a matter of days being the thespians they are or…? Hence my point that they should use deaf performers for that true culture feeling. It’s a mixed bag cos we gotta be honest that at least sign language is being advertised? It’s a step in the right direction don’t u think? Perhaps the media needs to accept guidance from deaf professionals to complete the correct step in the direction of their intentions. It’s probably all to do with tokenism, it’s probably all to do with artistic value but I truly believe its also a way to be heard. If more people see our language as a postive then hopefully as time goes on, they be open to us more. I don’t want to rock the boat, n scare people off cos us deafies are growling the negative points, cos life is full of it. Lets turn it into positive n Hopfully the media will listen to our wants n needs rather than satisfying the rest of the world with their ‘pick n mixs’ of tokenism/arts/rights n so forth. (And the point I made earlier about it aiming at american audience – well, at the end of the day, this song was done for UNICEF charity so getting the profile of Hollywood stars onto a Paul McCartney song is gonna be a hard one to beat!!)
Christy Filipich (@genolgra)
April 16, 2012
Captioned: http://youtu.be/i9xUtPcmEm4
gymkatamom
April 16, 2012
I’m a nonsigner, but my teenage daughter has studied ASL for years, training to be an interpreter. She says the ASL is correct (it’s not SEE) and that they make it look “cool.” She thinks it’s a great video because it shows ASL in a positive light and will make people view it admiringly rather than with pity. Personally, I thought it made ASL look romantic. 🙂 Some of the camera closeups and cutaways made it impossible to see the signing, so they seemed to choose art over this being an stricty interpreted song, but most of it was done in a way that featured the signing rather than distracting from it.
In my daughter’s studies, she has regularly interpreted songs and made music videos with classmates because setting it to music is an effective learning tool. Do Depp and Portman truly have an interest in ASL or is it just a paid acting gig? Impossible to tell. Either way, they’ll probably remember a few signs, and either way it provides an opportunity for ASL to be promoted.
If anyone is interested, this is my daughter’s latest ASL music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSUncMJi2cQ
Handsup
April 16, 2012
I am a hearing, fluent ASL user with strong ties here to the Deaf and interpreting community. I have also been learning BSL in the past several months.
The backstory is that Paul McCartney wanted to make a video using ASL, he said his son was interested in it. He hired a CODA interpreter, who runs an interpreting agency here, to come over to his home and teach Portman and Depp the signs necessary for the song for the day. No Deaf people were involved :(.
The signing isn’t SEE (British SSE) but it is by no means beautiful ASL, as many of the BSL users were able to pick up. The signs chosen are, for the most part, ASL signs, though the production of several of them are odd. There is a strong hearing “accent.” The signs chosen were sometimes not the best, but this probably came from the interpreter teaching them striking a balance between make sense, matching the English words, and trying not to offend the actors.
As opposed to BSL, ASL does not require any mouthing when signing…every sign is mutually intelligible without mouthing (though some mouth movements are called morphemes…used for added emphasis/meaning but not the mouthing of English words).
From the more critical Deaf ASL users (those who aren’t going “gaga” over the fact that such famous people are using ‘sign language’) the feedback has actually been that Johnny’s signing is a bit better, and the not mouthing is cool…but the lack of affect is…painful. As one of my Deaf colleagues said “I understand this is meant to be sad, and the tone should be sad, but Johnny’s facial “tone” makes it look like he’s in a coma.” Natalie looks like a typical awkward ASL 1 student, which she kind of is, mouthing a lot and signing a little.
Overall, their signing is quite bad, and the meaning is not comprehensible to those who aren’t reading the lyrics or hearing the music. Unfortunately, making a “mockery” of signed languages still doesn’t have the same type of negative impact as would people speaking incomplete, broken sentences in a language they only learned that day.
Chris M.
April 17, 2012
“handsup” is right, I saw this post this morning via my android phone and did not have time to comment until just now, I couldn’t have said it better myself. “mockery” is probably the best word.
Here’s where I’m coming from. I’m an adult post lingualy deaf American. I only know ASL because I took 4 semesters of it at University.
At first my thoughts were “oh this is wonderful, famous people using ASL (or any sign language for that matter) ” But watching the video I couldn’t understand any of it. I’m well aware that when signing songs a lot of “artistic liberty” is taken and you end up with something like a haiku. But this was worse than that. I then watched the one with subtitles (thanks to the person(s) who provided that!!) and I was saddened further. They could have done a much better job. I’m surprised they didn’t take a more PSE (pidgen signed English) approach. It helped me to see this for what it is, another case of “Ooh look at the fancy deaf people!” This video will do nothing to raise awareness about accessibility, culture or language. It MIGHT plant a seed of interest in the mind of a random person here or there, but that’s not much.
I agree that Depp’s performance is better, seems less forced some how.
what’s going on with the way she signs “didn’t care” ?? that’s not the right handshape..
I was watching it..(without subs) thinking: If it rains.. flowers? (huh?) hearing person.. huh?”
I’m watching it a 3rd time now with the subtitles and seeing her signs are wrong wrong wrong.
and when she signs [happen happen] you can just tell she’s got no idea what she’s doing.
if “en la gada da vida” intelligibility was their goal they did a smashing job.
Just my thoughts. The whole thing is bittersweet to me.
Chris M.
April 17, 2012
I whipped out my ASL dictionary, the sign for “don’t care” is correct, I was thinking of “don’t mind” My ASL is rusty, but in English there’s some inter-changeability there. (in the morning I’m going to have to look up the difference in English 🙂 )
Ai-Media (@AccessInclusion)
April 16, 2012
Here is a captioned version of the clip.
http://youtu.be/i9xUtPcmEm4
Badbadhusky
April 19, 2012
Blocked. due to copyright grounds.
........................
April 17, 2012
Natalie is pure feminist acting great with signing look good and Depp is macho with good humble acting to try best signing so both are fine to me
Badbadhusky
April 19, 2012
Native signers would look far much better in this video instead of songwriters trying to look cool and hip by using the cheap tactics of having famous people attempt to sign away……
deborahd
April 19, 2012
This is yet another display of linguistic and cultural imperialism. Shame on McCartney, Portman, Depp, and Pugin. You exoticize a language, exploit it for your own enjoyment (and that of other non-deaf people). Next time, why not learn an African language for 10 minutes and improvise your clicks during a song, so that everyone is impressed and can gush about how beautiful it is – everyone except speakers of the language, of course, who won’t understand you. Stop tokenizing signed languages, and start respecting Deaf people.
Gail
April 22, 2012
As a native signer (ASL) , I wish people would just accentuate the positive especially when it comes to expression of creative art. Paul McCartney hires interpreters for every concert he plays along with free seats for the blind. His intention – I believe – was positive, but he probably won’t set himself up for this kind of flack again. Some say he should have used BSL…if he had, then people would say a deaf BSL user….if he had, then they would say he should have used a deaf BSL user from LIVERPOOL. Lighten up people…it’s a beautiful expression of a song he wrote for his lady. If you think you can do better, make your own video and see if YOU can make everybody happy.
Oh Dear
April 23, 2012
Oh dear….there’s no pleasing some people sometimes……always 1 or more wingers/moaners being negative…..at least those two actors had a go. My first impression of Natalie was pretty good and she does look pretty sexy when she was signing…..Depp was probably being ‘handicap’ by the guitar being in the way restricting arm movements.
Just wishing it was in BSL but never mind.
Larry
May 2, 2012
All I can say is, Ted Evans and his recent video, “From Us to You” shows ya how to do it RIGHT!
Alicia
June 18, 2012
I’m hearing, ASL is my second language (attended Gallaudet as a hearing undergrad/gradand started learning ASL as a kid). It seems like it is not really SEE or ASL. Its occasional ASL signs in English word order – closest comparison I can think of is Sim-Com. Its still fairly impressive for hearing non signers who happen to be famous, but it is not correct ASL and its not understandable if you aren’t familiar with the song or reading/hearing the English words alongside it. Its “cool” for hearing non signers and hopefully will help bring some awareness/understanding.
Thia
September 26, 2012
why not one person of each in the background to sign each of us to see in our own language? link as sent to me by a hear friend, i had no idea what they were saying but a nice effort and happy that more awareness , also would be way cool to see the same thoughts out of correctly other sign language:) (oops ASL!)
Ellie B
December 20, 2012
It seems lately there’s been a bit of a ‘thing’ for using sign language in music video’s. Ed Sheeran with You Need Me, Paul McCartney
My Valentine and The White Stripes We’re going to be friends. Although a tad commercial, I think it opens awareness to a wider Market of people who otherwise wouldn’t / dont know about sign language. In the UK I think quite a lot of people are ignorant about deafness, when talking to menfriends about my deaf studies course, they can’t understand that deaf people have their own culture and community and when I say to them that their are lots of different cultures divided by ethinic background, different social groups, they then tell me that ‘ that’s different ‘ … Yeah, right… Logic!
Hearing signer
February 15, 2013
in my opinion, signing is backed up by facial expression and lip pattern as much as the actual hand movements themselves.
It was the same in Ed Sheeran’s “You need me”. I think that if you are going to use sign in a music video, it should be truly accessable and not just used for “visual effect”. on the other hand, it is bringing sign language into the spotlight and making people more aware of it! It would have been nice for them to do a BSL version too for us British signers!
LadyDeerHeart
June 29, 2013
Being the mother of a profoundly deaf son I can say it was a lovely video. Even children’s Christmas programs don’t sign exact ASL. With music there is art. If you don’t like the way it was signed blame the interpreter not the actors. They obviously did a great job with what they were taught. I do have to agree with the person that said when they did the close ups & you couldn’t see their hands was a little aggrivating because it wasn’t clear whether they were still signing or not. It was art. Not signed exact English or even signed exact ASL. Art.
Alli Armstrong
August 22, 2013
I agree with you, Natalie Portman is more natural in her signing than Johnny Depp. She also mouthed the words and used more facial expression. I loved the video! The filmography was brilliant. I especially loved the close ups of the guitar. 🙂 Thank you for sharing! I think this is a good video, because it brings attention to the Deaf culture. I believe everyone should learn to sign!