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ASL: "movie"


The sign for "movie" in ASL has at least a few versions all of which use a side to side twisting movement of the dominant hand held against the non-dominant hand as a base.

MOVIE-[version-01] (vertical non-dominant hand)



Keep in mind that there are other variations for the sign "MOVIE."
I do the sign like I show you above. But quite a few people do the sign with the base hand palm down.

MOVIE-[version-2] (horizontal or "palm down" non-dominant hand)

 



Notes:
I recall years ago a wonderful young man named Duane Kinner used a version of movie that had an "S" hand as the base hand.

I don't know if Duane is still using that version, and whether he is or isn't doesn't matter. What matters is that he is the Deaf child of Deaf parents, attended a Deaf school, and is highly involved with the Deaf world, an awesome signer, and was using a variation of MOVIE.

My point is that I encourage teachers of ASL to be very careful about telling a student that the student is using the "wrong" sign. Instead it seems to be more appropriate to say something to the effect of, "I haven't seen that sign much in this location, it might be used in other areas, but for this class I recommend you sign it my way because that is how you are likely to see me do it on the test. Then later if you move to an area where they sign it that way by all means switch and do it however the local Deaf do it."


MOVIE-[S-hand_version]: 
This is just a screengrab.  If you want to see the actual video go to youtube and search for 0AQHLPt8NDk.



Credit / Source: Abenchuchan, A (2019) "The Daily Moth 5-3-2019" Youtube video id: 0AQHLPt8NDk (0:38s)
Note: The above screengrab is being referred to as any other online published source of information. Its use here doesn't imply any sort of relationship or endorsement from "The Daily Moth" of this site.  However, for the record I am a fan of Mr. Abenchuchan's work and work ethic.
 



 

Additional notes:
While I do not tend to emphasize the non-dominant S-hand version to beginning level students I believe it is good for advanced students (particularly those wishing to become interpreters) to know all three main versions of the sign for MOVIE -- including the "S-hand version. I also think it is good for teachers to not mark the non-dominant "S-hand" version wrong (if it appears on the hands of their students in expressive testing) since it is "not" wrong -- it is simply a version of MOVIE.

 

Also see: VIDEO
 




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