Do you really enjoy movies with subtitles?

M

Mary Mando

New member
I know I've read people on here say the American version of The Ring is not a patch on the original and things about other films they've seen in other languages.

But if I'm sort of channel-surfing late at night I sometimes come across a foreign film which looks interesting, I really can't get into it because I don't know what they're saying and the subtitles really distract from the visuals because you're reading them and you can't at the same time take note of everything that's going on because your eye is taken away from the action. Communcation is not always in what is said (or what you're having to read in the case of subtitles) but it's in facial expressions, the mood etc etc.

Surely you can't appreciate a film the same way if it's not in your mother tongue?
 
All I know is I can happily watch foreign films (Anime especially) and love them in their mother tongue and despise them dubbed into crappy (American) English.

I know I've said it before, but it's absolutely how I feel on the subject. Dubbing reduces a work of art into an episode of Scooby Doo. Not good.

RegarRAB

Mark
 
Some of my alltime favourite films have subtitles - Das Boot, A Chinese Ghost Story, Downfall.... I can't abide dubbing. Each to his own I guess.
 
I agree with that sentiment.
I lived abroad for a lot of years and one of the worst things I ever saw was The Good The Bad and The Ugly dubbed into German , the voice they chose for Clint just did not fit and I found it so annoying.
Holland on the other hand rarely dubs and I watched a lot of anime there in it's original form (without the censorship of Britain too :mad:) and had no problems reading the Dutch subtitles whilst enjoying the movie.
 
I don't know, I just find it distracting.

I lived in Germany too, I remember being round a friend's and suddenly laughing when The Golden Girls came on because the gran sounded like a man with the dubbing. My friend was like "was ist los?" but that was me comparing the English and German voices, I suppose he wouldn't know any difference and would be used to living with the dubbing of many import shows something that doesn't happen much at all here in the UK as most of the import shows are from the US.

I did see Fatal Attraction in a German cinema dubbed into German and it wasn't the same as watching it in the original language it was intended to be in I'll agree but at the same time for me subtitles, whereas the original dialogue is kept, unless you understand the actual language, you can't fully get the whole tone of the film if you're sifting through a load of text when you're supposed to be just watching and taking everything in.
 
I watch everything in subtitles, soaps, tv programmes, films - otherwise I can't watch it. Then again I am hard of hearing so it helps!!

But yes, I do also love foreign films with English subtitles. :)
 
You know, I've made this post completely oblivious to people who are hard of hearing who must have to use subtitles a lot.

I suppose you become more sort of fluent (if you know what I mean) in reading and watching at the same time.

For me if I see a film with subtitles I stick with it for so long but can't keep up with all the reading and trying not to miss what's going on on the screen at the same time, so in that respect it's hard of hearing or deaf people who are at an advantage here I'd say because they're like yourself probably more skilled at the duel thing of having to read and watch at the same time when many people are just used to watching and listening.
 
I tend to find that I stop noticing the film is subtitled after 10 minutes or so and stop thinking about. Dubbing annoys me from start to finish
 
What even when you have to keep taking your eyes to the bottom of the screen to read what they're saying and sometimes there are several characters talking simultaneously so the subtitles are coming on and off like wildfire.
 
Sure, I can read faster than people speak so it's not a problem. I tend to find that once I'm used to it, I've read the subtitle before the actors have even said a few worRAB so I don't miss out on any onscreen action. Sometimes I even think that subtitles can be better than english language films because they force me to pay attention to the film whereas in other circumstances my mind may start to wander.
 
It takes a quick glance to read what's said. I'll admit to having some difficulty with peoples' names if they're particularly exotic to me, but once I'm comfortable with the characters (after a bit of concentrating and paying attention), it's a smooth and enjoyable experience. Peripheral vision helps a good deal in making sure minimal action is missed. Also most subs can be read quicker than the actor delivering the lines in his/her native language so as the actor is speaking, you pretty much know what's said.
 
Because you don't like subtitles you may be missing out on films like...

Pans Labyrinth
Oldboy
Infernal affairs 1/2/3
Ichi the killer
Battle Royale
Amelie
Audition
Kung Fu Hustle
Ong-Bak
Cronos
The Devils Backbone
SwitchBlade Romance
Belleville Rendez-Vous

All of these films , and others i'm sure , are essential viewing in their original state.
 
Maybe you're not a quick reader? Perhaps taking a course in speed reading would help? I'm not joking.

Honestly, when you can read the sub title in a split second your brain will merge the action into one and you'll forget you're watching a film with subtitles. All the while you're stumbling over the reading, then, yes, I imagine it would be somewhat distracting.

RegarRAB

Mark
 
All good points, but conversely I find it irritating when a subtitle appears so quickly that I've read it before the actor speaks the line. I'm sure subtitling is a very skilled job - and some films have really terrible subtitles (step forward Taegukgi hwinalrimyeo / Brotherhood) - so it's good to see a film which has clear, well-written subtitles which match the actors' spoken dialogue well.
 
Yeah I do, and any language too.

I love Amelie, The Science of Sleep, Nightwatch, Pans Labyrinth. I would never shy away from a film that I wanted to see because of subtitles. I was watching Twin Warriors on BBC1 last night and the dubbing just sounded and looked wrong :(


Oddly, I wish Brick (a film in English) had subtitles cos its so hard to work out what they're saying!! :D
 
Yes it is easy to go with the flow if the person has an attention span that can last more than a nano-second. Subs are not that bad. And it is way better to watch a movie in subs than in a dreaded dubbed version. Take Jackie Chan for instance his movies are terrible when dubbed, the voice is some lame american actors voice that just does not suit him at all. Where as the subs version is Chan's natural voice, with english subs, now that way has far more atmopshere than a dubbed version. Dubbing is for the lazy.
 
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