In defense of CODA: Apple TV's Best Picture winner at Oscars 2022 sang like no one's listening and made us feel heard

In the opening moments of CODA, which won the coveted Best Picture award at Oscars 2022, we see Emilia Jones' Ruby stare at a fish wriggling in the net, freshly captured by her fisherfolk family. That visual encapsulates Ruby's predicament — a fish out of water — a child of deaf adults who can hear.

That arresting visual also symbolises the precarious position of CODA in the Best Picture nominations. A lone island in the sea of films designed and positioned as Oscar Best Picture contenders, CODA seemed to ape its protagonist's ambition — a coming-of-age girl who just wants to pitch higher.

When CODA won the top honour, it invited the criticism that it is not 'great cinema.' Again, it is the same old tired argument of what constitutes cinema. The greatest achievement of CODA, even within that narrow framework, is that it is both inclusive and relatable. It doesn't treat inclusivity as a criterion to rank high on the Oscars woke meter. It extends its range of inclusivity from the deaf community to every young hearing individual, who does not feel heard.

In doing so, it not only ceases to paint the deaf as victims, but also steers clear of glorifying the struggles of the privileged hearing class. Ruby is no winy teenager who wants to abandon her deaf family to embark on her selfish pursuit. As their natural translator, she is conditioned to not communicate in any language besides the American Sign Language. But when she realises she has a gift — of great voice and singing skills — she decides to chase her dream, even if that takes moving away from her dependent family.

But the dependence or the reluctance to let her go also stems from the intention to protect her. "What if she isn't good?" Ruby's mother Jackie (Marlee Matlin) asks her father Frank (Troy Kotsur). The deafness here is a metaphor for the previous generation's incapability to receive, gauge, and process their kids' interests and passions. This is encapsulated in a brilliant scene where Ruby's deaf parents sense her singing prowess through the emotional responses of other audience members who can hear.

And the next scene shows how the response to your kid's inclination, however seemingly incomprehensible, need not be second-hand. Frank touches and feels Ruby's pulsating vocal chords when she sings full throttle.

That is all the naysayers of CODA needed to do when it emerged as a Best Picture contender — to touch and feel its vibrations, rather than trying to analyse it critically. Here is a film that dared to tell a simple coming-of-age story in a new language. The beats may sound familiar but they never feel the same.

Familiarity has been a cozy cushion during the pandemic but CODA ensures it does not rely on that crutch alone. Had it cast stars instead of actors and a more well-known director, the familiarity would have amplified. By choosing to cast deaf actors, and a newcomer as the protagonist, CODA lets it known its heart is in the right place.

But the expectation from an 'indie' film is to not limit its subversion to just the screenplay, but also the visual and technical elements. That has clamped down hard on CODA's attempt to be regarded as 'great cinema.' Yes, it does not experiment with its sound design as prolifically as Sound of Metal did, or it projects music that's more pop than alt.

But by picking its battles over the desperate attempt to leave no stones unturned, CODA stands in defiance of every prestige Hollywood film's attempt to pander to the Oscars gaze.

CODA's win is no Green Book tokenism. But it's also not a Moonlight upset, that sneaked the Best Picture win under the nose of La La Land. In fact, it's very close to what happens here in India: the one that wins the Best Film has its eye on the masses but gently pushes the artistic boundaries so as to not alienate its wide target audience, while not limiting itself to the safe standard fare (think Rajkumar Hirani). It's what we call in Bollywood parlance, Best Film - Popular Choice. And all The Powers of the Dogs and Drive My Cars contest the Best Film - Critics Choice category.

A major criterion there, however, is the box office collection. With CODA, that metric was out of the question, as it's now the first global streaming title (or the first title distributed by a streaming company) to ever win the Best Picture Oscar. Netflix has been eyeing that prize for years now, and has missed it by a whisker in the year when The Irishman was nominated. This year, it had The Power of the Dog galloping towards that honour, but Apple TV emerged from the shadows to make history.

Apple TV's underdog story is also similar to that of CODA and its protagonist. While never strategically, or desperately, aiming for an Oscar, Apple TV made quiet inroads into The Academy circles. It acquired CODA at Sundance Film Festival, and put all its might behind the film. Let's not forget Apple TV doesn't enjoy the same footprint as Netflix nor it is to big on movies; its USP remains shows like Ted Lasso and The Morning Show. But when Apple TV realised it has the gift of CODA, it went all out in pitching its voice into the ears rendered deaf by Netflix algorithms and Oscar conventions.

As a product of the surround sound that channels itself only in the direction of awards validation, CODA managed to rebel with an assured silence. It spoke only when it needed to, and sang when it felt like, like no one's listening.

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by Devansh Sharma