The battle of the young Alessandra: «Subtitles in the cinema for those who cannot hear»

When did it all start?
Until high school I felt very well, but it was in class that I realized I had some problems: I was 17 and I was no longer able to follow the teachers’ lessons well. Thus began the long journey of medical investigations and the diagnosis was tough: neurofibromatosis, a rare disease that involves a series of damages including deafness. A benign tumor on the acoustic nerve made me lose functionality in the first ear, then the hearing went away in the other too, but I didn’t let it stop me: I continued to study and fight.

I enrolled in the Faculty of Letters of the Federico II University of Naples and thanks to teams, which has the subtitle function, I was able to take almost all the courses. Sometimes even in the classroom with colleagues. I fell in love with Vincenzo Gemito’s art, with his portrayal of faces and reality without filters, like ne The water carrier; I dedicated my bachelor’s thesis to him. At home I have a reproduction of one of her bronze sculptures (mail her in chat as we talk: a young Neapolitan with flowing hair: she even looks like her ed). I then chose to write the master’s thesis in Modern Philology, in particular in Comparative Literature, tracing an itinerary between Woolf, Proust and Svevo.

Visionariness, psychoanalysis and recherche: congratulations.
I can’t help but read and study: I’ve always been an omnivorous reader and writing came to my rescue even when the disease got tougher. In addition to reading, I started writing and have already published three novels.

I take the titles from the curriculum: Agatha Island (PlaceBook, 2020) The Fugitives of Padua (Indomitable Work 2021) Only in his eyes (By Leandro Partners, 2022). One a year. What do they tell?
The first is a saga that continues with the third: the protagonists Natalia and Lorenzo grow up in an orphanage. From here they are adopted and I tell their story outside the institute, in the neighborhoods of Naples. Their lives will have various turning points: we will see them meet again and move away. The fugitives… openly autobiographical: six boys suffering from neurofibromatosis decide to escape from the Padua Polyclinic and take refuge in Naples, in a villa, where they begin to invent stories. I was inspired by Decameron obviously.

Reading is listening with the imagination. You just can’t go to the cinema.
That’s why I want to try to change things. Why preclude an immense art to the deaf? Our country flaunts equality, but this equity of rights must also be put into practice. How annoying can subtitles be? It wouldn’t take anything away from other viewers. The most frequent answer given to a deaf person is “wait for a film to be shown on TV”. Going to the cinema, however, is also a social ritual, a cultural necessity, a “cure” all the more necessary for those who are not exactly at their best. Adapting a bit to support others less fortunate doesn’t penalize, it helps the species to survive. Technology has always helped the disabled: why can’t we also benefit from it at the cinema on a permanent basis? Guaranteeing the viewing of subtitled films would truly make citizens equal: an investment in humanity.

In his RunawaysElena while listening to the doctor, has only one wish: to go home to watch series on Netflix.
There are subtitles on the platforms, but you have to stay at home, perhaps alone. What I miss sinking into a great story to watch on the big screen, laughing with the friend who is next to me. Luckily I have many friends, old and new, but I can’t share the cinema with them, a habit that gives relief. How to write: I have also published quite a few articles and I am a freelance journalist. I wish I could continue….