Accessible 'Grinch' stole hearts

by Deborah Kendrick

One of the first times I remember seeing the original Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch stole Christmas was about 20 years ago. It was the day after Thanksgiving, and we were with relatives in Chicago. All of our parents' first grandchildren were babies and toddlers, who were eager to see the show. For years afterward, the warmth of that occasion was conjured up each time I gathered with my own children for the annual viewing.

This year, an entirely new and wonderful layer was added to that family experience.

It was again the day after Thanksgiving, this time my daughters and I were visiting my brother in Toledo, and the movie selected was againthe Grinch.

This time, however, I didn't have to poke my 12-year-old with an intrusive "What's happening?" when there was an unidentifiable sound effect with no accompanying conversation. The film was last year's box-office hit starring Jim Carrey and offered much more for me personally to celebrate than just good old family entertainment.

In a collaborative effort by Universal Studios Home Video and the Media Access Group at WGBH-TV, Boston, a first-of-its-kind product has been released that I hope will be the wave of the future. The Collector's Edition DVD of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (released Nov. 20) is the first commercial product that contains all features for all viewers on every DVD. Video description for viewers who are blind or visually impaired, closed captioning for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing, deleted scenes, background information on the making of the movie, and more are all on every DVD. Also new is the ability to navigate the selection of such features through "talking menus." Description or captioning are activated each time you watch, so you can choose to use the same DVD for varying occasions.

Searching for "Harry'

Like most households including children, mine was counting the days till the Nov. 16 opening of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone . My daughter has read each of the four books several times, and I've become something of a fan myself. When I learned, however, that the movie had been produced with video description and closed captioning, the allure of seeing it in a fully accessible format was too enticing to resist.

Since the release of The Jackal in late 1997 and Titanic in 1998, a number of first-run movies have been produced with video description for visually impaired viewers and captioning for deaf viewers. Theaters opting to install equipment to display the Rear Window Captioning on a personal viewer and broadcast the video description via DVS Theatrical on personal headsets have made these movies accessible to all moviegoers.

Through the collaborative effort of Warner Bros. and the WGBH Media Access Group, the first Harry Potter movie is being enjoyed in equipped theaters in Boston, New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and elsewhere across the country.

Unfortunately, no theater in the Tristate has yet installed the equipment.

Heading to Chicago

Movies are at the core of our culture, and a growing number of producers and theater chains are recognizing that moviegoers who don't have to depend on their family members or friends to translate the words being spoken or relay the key visual elements on the screen are more likely to dig in their pockets for the price of a ticket. In other words, making movies accessible to all audiences is not only doing the right thing, but the profitable thing.

I want the Harry Potter viewing experience to be at least as pleasant for my family as The Grinch was in my brother's living room a week ago. I want to appreciate every visual detail of that wonderful wizard boy's life simultaneously with my daughter, not two hours later when someone tells me about it.

That means we won't be buying tickets at home to see the movie we've been waiting for. We're driving to the General Cinema Yorktown in Chicago.

Contact Deborah Kendrick by phone: 673-4474; fax: 321-6430; e-mail: dkkendrick@earthlink.net.