Marginalizations of Deaf Characters on the Small Screen: A Multi-Layered Analysis of Theo Dimas’ speech in OMITB

Abstract

This paper offers a multilayered linguistic analysis of the intersemiotic translanguaging communication of Theo Dimas, a young Deaf character in the renowned television series Only Murders in the Building (Hulu, 2021–). By focusing on his final conversation with his overbearing hearing father, Teddy, the study examines how Theo is portrayed as a marginalized, second-generation Greek-American Deaf. He is a manualist and primarily communicates through American Sign Language (ASL); throughout his limited interactions with other characters, only once do we detect a spoken outburst to convey profound frustration – frustration that is further expressed through physical reactions, contributing to a heightened sense of physicality often, and sometimes problematically, associated with D/deaf characters on screen. The core analysis draws on four theoretical perspectives: 1) discourse and conversation analyses; 2) pragmatic theory – including speech act theory (Austin 1962), conversational maxims (Grice 1975), and politeness strategies (Brown and Levinson 1978); 3) intersemiotic analysis of the interplay between verbal and visual codes – highlighting Teddy’s use of Simultaneous Communication (SimComm) and Theo’s abrupt, atypical shift into spoken language; and 4) a syntactic-semantic examination of word and sentence choices. This comprehensive framework, which could be extended to broader conversational contexts, sheds light on how linguistic and semiotic strategies shape Theo’s characterization, his social and ethnic positioning, and the broader representation of D/deaf identity in the media.