New Fan Petition Asks Marvel to Make 'The Eternals' Open Captioned
By Ryan Carroll
Marvel Studios has made a number of high profile moves to boost their diversity in the past few years, between the debut of their first black-led film with Black Panther and their first female-led film with Captain Marvel. Now, with The Eternals, they will also feature new strides with deaf actress and American Sign Language-user Lauren Ridloff--and a new petition is calling for the film to be open captioned to fit this diversity.
According to ComicBook.com, the petition was created by Sarah Feisthamel, who is attempting to use it to offer hearing-disabled individuals accommodation for the film.
"Open Captions are on-screen text that allows everyone to enjoy a film equally. People who are hard of hearing have to use closed caption equipment which is often broken, dirty, and uncomfortable, or have to wait until the video is available at home,” she said in the petition. “Marvel movies are larger than life. All moviegoers should be able to enjoy the action in the theater comfortably, at the same exact time--and not be forced to wait for a lesser experience."
Feisthamel also said that The Eternals’ representation of disabled individuals makes the petition especially important. "The whole world will be rushing to theaters to see this film. But the people who need to see it the most won’t even be able to understand it," she wrote. “Closed caption equipment often fails, or doesn't fit right when it's only available in adult sizes.”
“We’re asking Marvel Studios to release this film with open captions for every showing. Not only would it make history, but it is the RIGHT thing to do,” the petition added. Currently, it boasts 1,121 signatures of its goal of 1,500--with the number of signatories growing by the hour.
We’re glad to see that moves like this are gaining so much traction--on-screen representation is important, but so is real action for real-world disability issues.