The dawn of the Barbie doll was projected on the big screen in the opening scenes of Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster film, but Simon Andersson was still waiting to take his seat.
Andersson, who is deaf, had requested cinema staff provide him with a closed-captioning device, called CaptiView, which allows cinemagoers to watch subtitles on a small screen that is attached to their cup holder. But the staff at the cinema were unaware the technology was on offer.
“I waited 20 minutes so I missed 10 minutes of the movie. Apparently it’s the best start,” he says.
“It’s a common experience when the staff don’t know what it is and have to find out. It’s really stressful.”
For members of the deaf community, going to the movies is an experience that they say is often frustrating and inaccessible due to glitchy closed-captioning technology.
As captions and subtitles have become increasingly common for audiences streaming content at home, particularly millennials, there is a renewed push in the deaf community for cinemas to provide open-captioned films, where captions appear at the bottom of the main screen.
Andersson is among a group of six Victorians who have launched legal action against one of Australia’s largest cinema chains, Hoyts, alleging the majority of movie sessions are inaccessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences due to technology issues with the CaptiView equipment.
The matter, lodged with the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal, argues not having access to the full movie because of the device amounts to discrimination by breaching the state’s equal opportunity legislation.
Philip Waters, who is among the group of six, says the device is commonly called “Craptiview” in the deaf community.
Waters, the general manager at Deaf Victoria, says he wants to be able to see movies with his children but can only go to screenings with open captions because of problems with the device.
“I miss out on a family experience which is not great,” he says.
CaptiView was rolled out in Australia in 2009 across the nation’s big four cinema chains – Hoyts, Village, Reading and Event.
The six applicants argue it has a multitude of technology problems and cinema staff are often unequipped to set up the device. The device, which runs on wifi, sometimes picks up the signal from an adjacent theatre, meaning it displays the wrong captions. It is not possible to focus on the movie screen and the device at the same time, so neither the dialogue nor movie are seen in their entirety.
If a person physically shifts in their chair, like uncrossing their legs, the equipment has to be physically readjusted, leading the viewer to miss out on dialogue.
Waters, who wears glasses, says the device often leads to eye strain because it requires the user to focus on the equipment, about 30cm from their face, then change their focus to the movie screen.
“It’s quite difficult on the eyes and fatiguing,” he says.
Waters says he wants all cinemas to show open captions for all films and sessions.
“This is a social experience that I would feel included in,” he says.
“If someone complains about the captions, if a hearing person says ‘oh, there’s captions, I don’t like it’, it’s kind of like complaining about the ramp into the cinema,” he says.
“You can’t complain to somebody about something that provides access.”
Hoyts offers open-captioned films in select cinemas for some movies. Waters says cinema chains have ignored feedback from the deaf community and says a complaint “often just results in a free ticket”.
“It’s ironic because a free ticket can’t be used. I wouldn’t get any use out of it,” he says.
Andersson says many people beyond the 3.6 million Australians with hearing loss, could benefit from captions including audience members with English as a second language, neurodivergent people and parents watching a film in a baby-friendly screening.
He pointed to comments from acclaimed director Christopher Nolan, who last year said muffled dialogue was his “artistic choice” due to his use of Imax cameras, which are not completely soundproof.
“It is now more common in the mainstream for everyone to be OK with captions,” Andersson says.
“I’d feel relieved if there were open captions on every film and would go to the movies more. People will accept open captions.”
Waters says while cinemas have argued in the past that open-captioned films are unpopular and do not attract large audiences, they are often only displayed in off-peak screenings at unpopular times.
Lauren Rosewarne, an associate professor and popular-culture expert at the University of Melbourne, says there is evidence that perceptions towards subtitles are evolving.
“Squid Game was a good example of an international show with subtitles that can actually get a huge audience in a country like Australia, because most of us don’t speak Korean.”
But she says some audience members would view open captions as a disincentive to go to the cinema.
“Cinemas are struggling to compete with at-home offerings, in the sense that people have bigger screens at home, it’s cheaper to watch a film at home and there are no transport costs,” she says.
“There’s lot of research that talks about people’s perception with subtitles [being] that it breaks their feeling of feeling immersed in the film.”
In 2022, Netflix revealed that 40% of its global users have subtitles on all the time, while 80% switch them on at least once a month. In 2012, Netflix reached an agreement with a deaf-rights group to provide subtitles on all its streaming content by 2024 after it was sued for failing to do so.
Julie Phillips, a disability advocate who helped the group lodge their claim, says they chose to only launch legal action against Hoyts but hoped it would also spur change in other companies.
A spokesperson for Hoyts confirmed the application before the tribunal.
“Hoyts continues to be committed to making the cinema experience accessible to all its guests by providing technologies and services for people with varying mobility, hearing, visual, and neurodiverse needs,” the spokesperson said.
Dolby, the manufacturer of CaptiView, has been contacted for comment.
Andersson has opted to watch movies at independent cinemas, saying they have more open-captioned screenings and are receptive to requests for subtitles.
He saw Oppenheimer at Hawthorn’s Lido cinema last year and says it was an “amazing experience”.
“The first minute is just a huge [atomic] bomb and you could feel the vibrations through the cinema. It was really dark. It was so amazing,” he says.
“The cinema is a really important experience because it’s an immersive experience. You can’t get that from your TV at home.”
