A Quiet Place — Where Sign Language is All

Arguably one of the best movies in recent times

I don’t know how many people notice this today, but Hollywood changed a lot in recent decades, and by that, I mostly mean their productions since I don’t know what goes on over there (never been there, and probably never will). By that, I mean that with each year that passes, Hollywood is becoming less and less creative, and by that, I mean that it’s rare to see original movies these days. That’s right, compared to what was 20 or 30 years ago, most movies today are either an adaptation of a popular franchise or sequel/prequel to an existing movie. I suppose this happened because today’s people are afraid to take risks, which seems logical considering society’s compassion for trivial bullshit. But every once in a while, someone has the balls to try something new, and sometimes it just works. Good thing someone was willing to take a risk because otherwise, A Quiet Place would never happen.

Generally speaking, I think today’s movies are relatively crap compared to 30 years ago. So nowadays, I watch movies with a cynical attitude, assuming that the movie will be disappointing, to begin with. Frankly, it kind of seemed that way for the first 10 minutes of the movie. All the while, I was like, “Jesus Christ, what the hell am I watching?” because it was a bunch of people acting weird. And then… something cool happened that made me say, “holy shit, now I love this movie!” because I won’t spoil it, but that’s the moment when I realised that this was going to be a good movie, and it proved to be just that.

A Quiet Place tells the story of a family trying to survive in an abandoned town overrun by these weird monsters that are blind but have exceptional hearing. Making even a slight sound within their hearing range sends them into a frenzy as they try to hunt their prey. Fortunately for the family comprising the main characters, they speak sign language, explaining how they could avoid the monsters for so long. I have no idea what sign language this is because I have never written about an inaudible “language” until now. And I write it like this because sign language is not a conventional language, almost like how people think that cougars are related to lions and tigers, even though that’s not true. (It’s true! Cougars are an entirely different species of big cats).

Are sign languages natural languages?

As much as I love delivering random trivia about animals, I have more important things to figure out, such as the question of “can sign languages pass off for real languages”. I don’t think I ever presented to sides to a problem before, but I’ll try my best since, in the end, I don’t know what I’m talking about, but that doesn’t stop me from doing it.

Do I think that sign languages are natural languages? I do because if you saw two people moving their hands in silly motions to make all kinds of gestures, you’d probably think they’re crazy or something. But no, they’re talking in sign languages. Although it is a form of communication that derives from spoken languages, you wouldn’t understand what two deaf people said if you saw them at a restaurant or something. Hence, it is a language, albeit not a spoken one. However, deriving from spoken languages without being a spoken language puts it in a bit of a grey area between “natural languages” and “almost natural languages”. It doesn’t feel like a language, but everyone will have their own opinion.

By that, you could say that the family in the movie is, in fact, “speaking” with each other, but since it’s an inaudible form of communication, the monsters never come for them. And as spectacular as the movie was, they only outlived all the other humans because they spoke sign language with each other. Doesn’t that feel like a bit of a cop-out? Imagine if the stakes were higher if they DIDN’T know sign language. Suddenly, the movie becomes more interesting.

The movie needs no changes

I’ll say that I love this movie the way it is, and no one other than the IP-holders should have any say in its development as a franchise. Therefore, I will not be giving my interpretation for a solution this time because there’s no problem, just me being fascinated with the fact that there can be good movies today… albeit in a limited amount. But still… what if they didn’t know sign language… then how would the movie unfold?

Did you enjoy the movie?

Or would you rather just watch a Marvel/DC movie, because apparently superhero subculture is all the hot shit nowadays (not my cup of tea, but if you like, then sure). I really liked A Quiet Place and hope you did too. If so, be sure to give your opinion on anything that’s even remotely related to the movie. Or, better yet, tell what you think of sign languages since it’s the main subject here.

In Conclusion…

A Quiet Place is a terrific movie, which says a lot since it came out in the late 2010s when superhero movies dominated the entire box office, a phenomenon that persists to this day; God knows why. A Quiet Place is one of those movies that dares to be innovative today, something that you don’t see a lot anymore, and good for it too because it turns out to be a great movie. If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend doing so.

I haven’t heard a lot of people about the nature of sign languages; natural or not natural; I guess people don’t care too much about the issue because it’s not an issue at all. I still think it’s a language in itself, even if it is unconventional, and probably one that I won’t ever have the time to learn because I don’t have time. Then again, does anyone today have time?

Until next time, I’ll keep waiting for A Quiet Place Part 3.