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Contact this writerI am currently sitting here, watching the ending of a little known Spanish horror film called Zombie Flesh Eater. It's taken 4 hours to go through an 89 minute DVD for one simple reason: the dubbing.
There is an inherent problem when dubbing is used in any film. The original performances of the actors is completely changed with the addition of voice over work. This, in turn, compromises the director's original artistic intent by changing the impact of the performances he coached and the scenes he shot. This can potentially ruin the impact of a film, reducing it from entertainment to nothing more than a ridiculous joke.
Subtitles help reduce this problem immediately. You may not necessarily understand the language being spoken, but you can connect the performances with the emotion of a scene, helping to create the desired impact by the actor. In turn, the screenwriter's words are carefully translated to bring the story to life as close as possible to the original language. These efforts pay off in showing the film to a much wider audience in the way the director intended the film to be seen.
Subtitles can be problematic for people at first. There is the initial barrier of trying to keep up with the written word while watching a visual medium. The standard white subtitles don't always stand out enough on screen to be read. Even worse, some movie theaters actually cut off the four edges of the shot to fill up as much of their screen as possible, cutting off the dialogue completely from the bottom.
With practice, however, subtitles become second nature to the viewer. The beauty of the original film is preserved, and anyone who sees it will feel a stronger connection with what was trying to be accomplished.
I can only imagine how well some of the scenes in often mocked foreign horror films, like Zombie Flesh Eater, would work if given a proper treatment with subtitles. Pan's Labyrinth's subtitled wide release in America showed how successful this process can be in a genre film. Subtitles should truly become the standard procedure for international cinema.
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Which is better for foreign language films, dubbing or subtitles?-
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I am currently sitting here, watching the ending of a little known Spanish horror film called Zombie Flesh Eater. It...read more
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by Susan Hicks
Personally, I would rather see a foreign film with subtitles. Whether or not you may be interested in learning the la...read more
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The main importance of watching a movie in my opinion, is to be entertained. To sit back and watch a movie should be a mindless effort on my part. It is supposed to allow me the opportunity to unwind and relieve stress, and maybe enlighten me just a bit.
I really do not want to have to sit there and read an entire movie. If I want to read, I can grab a book and do it at my own pace.
To me it is extremely annoying to have to read the subtitles while watching a movie. There is just too much going on on the screen at one time. I prefer just watching the actors perform their craft.
Often, the subtitles are not at enough contrast to the background of what is going on on the screen. Sometimes entire words or letters blend in wth the screen shot so much they are difficult to read. Most times while I am in the middle of trying to decipher a certain word, the new subtitle is put on the screen and there I am trying to play catch up and instead of being able to concentrate on the acting going on onscreen, I catch myself squinting in an attempt to recognize the words. I most times remember the movie experience as a negative one, loaded with agitation, eye strain, frustration, a headache and stress, besides having not much of a clue on what the movie was about.
Movie dubbing also however has drawbacks to it too. Often, the emotion in the voices of the actors is not portrayed quite the same as in the original version. Most times the intonation of emotion is not the same either. Often the voices of the actors are not the same quality either. Many actors are recognized by their distinct voice, it is their trademark, and if the dubbed voice is not a precise match, the movie loses much of the intended originality. Besides this, you know darn well the timing is going to be a bit off because the voice you are hearing does not match up with the mouth movement.
Another point to bring up is that often many words or important phrases are lost in the translation. This means that you are getting a brief broader statement many times instead of the poignant one in the original version. I can speak both French and Spanish and a bit of Russian, and I know for a fact while watching a movie in one of these languages, the subtitles do not match for the most part what the actors are really saying.
Yes, this also occurs in a dubbed version of a movie, but at least I am not forced to concentrate on what I am reading while the voices of the actors in the other language is also distracting me from what is being acted out on the screen.
Movies with subtitles are not much of a step above the original talkies when the motion picture industry first started. During those films the words were projected on to the screen while instrumental music played appropriately coordinated with what emotion the actors were portraying. Often the music was loud and annoying too.
Anyway, I prefer to watch a dubbed version of a movie.
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