Switched at Birth "Taking Charge of Life"

One of my favorite scenes from SAB (The Door to Freedom 2x01) of Melody (Marlee Matlin) confronting Daphne (Katie Leclerc) about taking charge of life and making every opportunity count. All rights go to ABC Family. I own nothing. Used for educational purposes only. (Stephanie Nogueras)

[@czeckeredcat]

I love that the subtitles are placed near the actors, letting you read without missing the movement and emotion.

[@kalebr560]

One detail i always loved in the show is that when Daphne is not talking to a hearing person she doesn’t use her voice.

[@aradda555]

how is she acting like this? everytime i watch her action it's just speechless.. her eyes. her hands. her energy. that kind of charisma is hard to get

[@umairashraf5167]

She is an actual deaf person

[@daria5846]

@@umairashraf5167 I know it's a year later but still. It's not because she is deaf, being deaf doesn't automatically make you a great actor, there are deaf people who could never be that because they don't have the skills. This woman conveys emotion beautifully. She is a great actress that happens to be deaf.

[@Nobody-wj4tm]

@@daria5846I know it's late, but still, I can't agree with you more. You are so right. It's not because she is deaf that she is such a great actress. She possesses the skills that enables her to act this great. She just happens to be deaf, which doesn't change anything.

[@bernhardrulla]

@@daria5846 Fully agree with you!! Marlee Matlin is a great actress!!!👍👍🤟

[@natalieharshman]

@@daria5846 I mean facial expressions are part of sign language so not necessarily being Deaf but being a fluent signer I guess helps. But still, you're right that "acting" itself is a totally different skill. ~:~

[@hayleydoesthings]

Daphne made the worst choices and almost always got away with it without any long term consequences and everyone still adores her and feels sorry for her. Bay screwed up too, but everyone got mad at her and her parents almost disowned her.

[@kerriethompson2073]

Exactly! Bay was always open and honest with her parents and they always gave her grief about it. Meanwhile Daphne sneaks around, lies, puts John's career in jeopardy, and all she does is come back with some fake tears and all isforgiven. Bay saves Daphne's ass on more than one occasion and they treat her like she's the black sheep! So annoying!

[@katymvt]

@@kerriethompson2073 I don't know that I would say Bay was always open and honest. She did steal money from the car wash to pay her friend zara(?)'s bail. But, yeah. Daphne started out nice, but she devolved fast and everyone was always kissing her butt.

[@amywonderland9297]

@@katymvtyeah but she did try and pay it back. And she did tell Kathryn when she realised it was all going to fall on Travis

[@katymvt]

@@amywonderland9297 And that's great and probably more than Daphne would have done. But, it doesn't change the fact that she lied in the first place.

[@Kat-sb2vh]

this woman deserves nothing but respect

[@littlemen9917]

to be honest with you i think yes

[@framptone25]

Yes

[@victorbugarin5409]

🦅🙏Yes and Amen Yes!!!

[@S25Mable]

This is definitely the Emmy-worthy scene!

[@Alyverse_asmr_audios]

Melody was a hard ass because she cared. She wanted everyone to succeed.

[@Headpfones]

There are moments where you need that third party to give you that tough love, telling you to wake up and get your act together

[@frankmiranda707]

What a powerful scene!!! She is such a talented actress!

[@77Amnita]

I never realized, but Marlee Matlin is an Academy Award winning actress. Holy shit! 😮

[@TheMusicalHarmonee]

Yep, for Children of a Lesser God, her acting debut. Great movie!

[@waspie1690]

The youngest academy award winning actress

[@addie-eileenpaige6460]

It shows in this scene. You can really see the emotion she brought to this. I know she was acting, but having lived in a hearing world as a deaf person in real life, she brought that emotion from personal experience.

[@jankidhanani7253]

I am immensely grateful that 'The L Word' introduced me to such a great actor, Marlee Matlin. Now I am feeling like, where I was living till now? How can I miss such a strong actor? Disappointed in me but happy to finally watch this talent. Keep shining and acting and inspiring us Marlee :)*

[@bernhardrulla]

Have you watched "Children of a lesser god"? That's how I saw her first, more than 30 years ago. Well, you don't get an Academy Award for mediocre performance, for sure!

[@Nathan-ti9pm]

Literally the only scene in the series where I have respect for Melody

[@sweetlife031]

I thought Melody was a guidance counselor at Carlton. What class are the students in, in this scene?

[@Fer-fy8dx]

Why don’t you have respect for Melody in other scenes?

[@victorbugarin5409]

@@Fer-fy8dx I totally agree she deserves respect all around. Great Deaf actress to nail it all the way.

[@Fer-fy8dx]

Victor Bugarin Totally with you!

[@Headpfones]

I have two deaf family members so this show spoke to me more ways than one

[@user-rv3we4fe1n]

what makes marlee good is that she is sincere " that is what makes her an Elite actress. she is absolutely the most alluring actress ever.....

[@romyannhoover4424]

God. I love Marlee Matlin!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@melissawilliams2975]

Romyann Hoover, I do, too. She's, beautiful, amazing, just a fantastic actress

[@sweetlife031]

I think everybody who's a fan of the show does! Myself included :-)

[@necolewill]

Amazing scene.

[@melissawilliams6635]

necolewill, I do too. She my favorite deaf actress

[@gabriellelee4558]

Damn. That's powerful.

[@OrionOlamPiksie]

Oh yeah. Love this actress.

[@ashleypanzica4924]

Go Melody! 🤗👏

[@alanaterrel9914]

you can't put the weight of a while 'community' on one person not every decision she makes has to benefit deaf people that's stupid it's her life

[@junbh2]

She didn't say that, though. She said you won't get that many opportunities so don't waste the ones you get or you may regret it later.

[@juliettev2290]

alana terrel why did you put quotes around community?

[@mendingwall3823]

I agree. Dont get me wrong I see what she was saying on how some deaf people have opportunity others dont. However not everything has to be a deaf rights issue. Missing an opportunity doesnt mean youre letting down the whole community, nor is it your responsibility to be some leader

[@sexyfatbastid]

At the VERY LEAST, she owed EVERYONE who made a presentation that day an apology for ignoring them & drawing all the while. The teacher also should have closed that girl's book AS she was drawing.

[@lynerjy]

I'm trying to learn asl by watching some of these.. the line at 1:38 .. what sign is she using for "badly"? it doesn't match what i know for "bad" or "seriously"

[@ryleesmith5067]

It's the sign for huge. A lot of deaf people don't sign exactly what they say or mean, they use a sign that best fits the context for the conversation. Instead of signing bad, signing huge shows the severity of the situation

[@sweetlife031]

I was wondering kind of the same thing at the line: *I'm serious, enough with this guy!"* - what signs did Melody (Marlee) use for "enough" and "serious"? Because I didn't learn to sign them that way.

[@ryleesmith5067]

I'm not sure what sign she used for serious, but for enough, it looked like throw away. Maybe the point she was trying to say, was to throw the idea of Jeff away? The sooner Daphne realized that the idea of dating Jeff wasn't going to happen, the sooner she could move on.

[@sweetlife031]

Okay. Thank you *signs thank you* I know you can't see, but I am learning sign. I'm hearing ...but I'm needless to say, intrigued by ASL! Marlee herself has plenty to do with this, and so does the series as a whole :-) I just wanted to be sure I hadn't learned the incorrect signs for powerful words like "enough" and "serious"...cuz Marlee obviously knows her stuff lol haha :-) But now I have seen *enough* signed a few ways: the first (universal) way is to make a fist with the non dominant hand, and then you hit the top of it a couple of times with the open palm of your dominant hand. You could also use the sign for stop to tell somebody to cut it out lol

[@pootsu5840]

@@sweetlife031 For serious it looked like she signed "serious-work" but that can't be correct xD but for "enough with this guy" she signed "enough-that-guy"

[@CP-yd7lp]

I'm not saying that Melody didn't have some legitimate points here but I think she was way too harsh with Daphne considering how heartbreaking this was for her

[@elizabetha8076]

😊

[@TheCherrykye]

That's what I didn't like about Daphne, she would date whatever guy she's working with instead of being professional.

[@denniceperez475]

Dennice Perez deaf England and Scotland yard box 📦to on Wednesday to the time of mine have been working with your phone and family holiday weekend in happy birthday 🎂and and about you know how the new job your deaf people playing thanks a good day back home for England know where they have been good 👍is and family holiday deaf asl

[@lukewaltertinsdalemiller7130]

Let dafine be in love for once

[@alanaterrel9914]

why are they so animated in their signing

[@junbh2]

Because it's a dramatic scene and that's how you express strong emotions when you're signing?

[@katymvt]

Because that's how you emphasize with sign. There's no inflection or volume, so it has to be done with facial expression and such.

[@CP-ll6qg]

Also, people who communicate primarily by sign tend to be more animated in general. It's a visual language.

[@crpsaiyan]

What most hearing people don't understand is that sign language is more than just using your hands. You're using your body to communicate. You'd be very surprised how expressive deaf people are.