Is there anyone here that won't watch subtitled films?

Karl Hungus

I'm curious about this. I always find it a bit of a cop out when people say that English language remakes of foreign language films need to be made, because people won't watch films with subtitles. I think that's a load of rubbish myself, we've had quite a few subtitled films doing extremely well, such as Crouching Tiger, Hero, Pan's Labyrinth, Letters From Iwo Jima or Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ to name a few. Not only that, there's a lot of American made films that are partially subtitled, Inglourious Basterds being a recent example, and quite a lot of TV shows similarly have subtitled sections like Heroes.

I just don't see that mainstream audiences won't watch subtitled films. So I put it to you.

MagicMarker

I have no problems with subtitles, but admit that sometimes I'm just not in the mood for subtitles.

Latchy

The French subtitled movies shown on British tv back in the 80s , usually in black and white, were quite popular back then and I enjoyed them .

I have no problem with them

Handsome Bob

Nope, I thoroughly enjoyed the likes of Pans Labrynth and The Passion of the Christ. More recent ones would be Mesrine and Let The Right One In. I think Hollywood's monopoly makes people automatically look down on foreign films.

titan18

I have no problem with them and I imagine that most people who post in this forum don't.Lots of people won't watch them though.

tman

Latchy wrote: »

The French subtitled movies shown on British tv back in the 80s , usually in black and white, were quite popular back then and I enjoyed them .

Have you seen anything since then?

If the film is in anyway good, you'll soon forget that you're even reading subs and just enjoy it...
The only time that I've chosen a normal film over a subbed one was when I was too pissed to make out the text, subs can be quite frustrating when you have to squint at the screen with one eye:p

Latchy

tman wrote: »

Have you seen anything since then?

I dont go to see forigen movies were sub titles are required per se and not a regular movie goer as such .

I tend to wait till the dvd comes out so any sub title movies I have seen recently would have being mainly on tv .

I did recently watch Charlotte Rampling in 'swimming Pool ' which apart from herself and Charles Dance , had an all french cast and was (I think ) part French /English dialogue .

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1123621/photo_12_hires.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/swimming_pool/pictures/&usg=__dX0AWjsY-By3_n4g9cU4C9aGBTw=&h=507&w=700&sz=89&hl=en&start=15&um=1&tbnid=8u2M5qbdkR5IyM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dswimming%2Bpool%2Bcharlotte%2Brampling%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1



If I hear of a good movie worth watching I will try catch it as when I can ,regardless of what cast /year / country it's being produced ,with or without subtitles.I dont buy into the hollywood thing and never did .

mike65

I'd sooner read titles than listen to dubbed dialogue. The only thing that filmmakers need to be aware of is that the titles need to be readable in all conditions!

bnt

Subtitles all the way, though overdubbing can be done well e.g. the US voices on Miyazaki films. There's more to dialogue than just words, it can be a kind of music too, even if you don't understand the words.

sunzz

Oh god I couldnt even think of watching overdubbing.

for me foreign films are normally miles ahead of the holywood dribble that gets thrown out.

subs all the way.

Otis Driftwood

The problem with threads/polls like this is that the tone has already been set.

The replies have all been pro subtitles so anyone that goes against the grain will feel like a bit of a plank.

My own personal thoughts on this come from renting Pans Labyrinth from xtra vision when it first got a DVD release over here.Yer one,very nicely but not without a certain condescending tone asked,"you do know this is subtitled,right?"

In general people will not admit to hating subtitles or avoiding subtitled movies,because they will feel inferior for some reason.I can understand why some dont like them but if you dont,then dont be afraid to say it.

][cEMAN**

I'll watch em from time to time, if it's a good film, but I don't like them. They don't add to the film in my opinion, though I know a few people who would disagree with that. I know some people who will only watch films with subtitles - they put subtitles on with english spoken films.

When I watch a film, I like to see the whole picture all of the time. I don't like being distracted, or missing subtlety whilst reading. I also think that reading something you don't always get the same reaction or impact as you do when the words are spoken. It's like a joke badly translated, where you get a hint of the punchline before it happens, or it just doesn't make sense.

The other thing as well is that it's never a full and exact translation. Words are missed out. Words that are put in there for a reason. If you're going to cut out words that were intentionally put it to set the mood/tone, then you may as well cut out certain scenes because you don't like them.

It's why you have director's cuts - some stuff is just meant to be a certain way in films to get what they're trying to put across to you.

I just feel something is 'lost in translation'

RobD_

subtitles annoy me,

they get in the way of the movie and always hard to look away from them :mad:

Kiith

No problem whatsoever with subtitles. Started watching Kung Fu movies on Friday nights on Channel 4 years ago, and got used to it that way. Also, i like seeing films in the cinema with subtitles as it pretty much gets rid of any stupid assholes from the cinema.

"Subtitles, **** this."

Vic Vinegar

I have no problem with subtitles, but if a foreign film has really good dubbing (like Nightwatch, say) i would watch the dubbed version instead out of laziness more than anything. Dubbing always works out better if the actual actors from the film are doing the lines instead of some randomer.

TanG411

I'd prefer an English movie, but subtitles don't bother me.

In fact, one of my top 3 movies is a Korean war movie called 'Brotherhood'. That's subtitled but it's a fantastic movie. Very emotional.

Burning Eclipse

Your poll won't prove anything to be honest. The population sample is not reflective of the whole... i.e. People who post about movies on an internet forum are not representative of the moviegoing public at large. We are the subtitle embracing group so to speak.

I can't abide by dubbing. I have to watch something in it's native language. I play JRPG's a bit and prefer to have a Japanese dialogue option in the game and read the subs.

missingtime

I love foreign movies but can only watch them with subititels. When the movie is dubbed, it impacts on the performace of the actors

I used to work in a video store and there used to be war over subtitles movies. They gave out so much over Downfall. Initally hearing that it was a great movie but dismissing it because of the subtitles.

"If I wanted to read, sure I'd by a book"

Philistines!!

ADTR

No problem with subtitles.

Latchy

Anybody remember the overdubbed Italian spagethi westerns ?

The dialogue as well as the gun shots were out of sync and very painful on the eyes to watch .

Delirium

Watch subtitle films myself, but my dad and brother refuse to watch a subtitle movie, even if the story appeals to them.

ttm

Nothing wrong with subtitles but I wish they would get someone who can speak both languages to do the translation! Watched a DVD with subtitle/dubbing options the other night and the dubbing was very different from the subtitles .

unreggd

Yeah, its badly dubbed films I dont like


And if its gonna be dubbed, they should do it properly, like Nightwatch
[Russians speaking English]

Sometimes im not in the mood to read subs. If I wanted to read, I'd read the book, which is universally known to be 10 times better

3nero

I have a good few subtitled films in my collection..Night watch, day watch, host, taxi (the original french one not the queen latiffa joke) pans labyrinth and so on ,but the thing that bugs me about some of them is when there is something white in the scene and the subtitles vanish because of it or when they have huge long subtitles that only appear on screen for mere seconds and you have to rewind and pause just to catch up with what was just said. Also some DVD players just wont show the subtitles correctly and skip whole sentences. I have 3 players and only one will play pans labyrinth correctly and its a cheap €30 tesco player

I also find that when friends want to borrow movies they never borrow the subtitled ones which means i don't have to worry about them going walkies

indough

Latchy wrote: »

Anybody remember the overdubbed Italian spagethi westerns ?

The dialogue as well as the gun shots were out of sync and very painful on the eyes to watch .

not a chance, it added to the brilliance of those movies

TeganRainIsGod

i dont watch subtitled films and i never watch movies produced from england (eg hot fuzz) or movies starring clive owen!!!!

the only exceptions are - green street, layer cake and city of god!!!

Mikey23

My only problem - and it's not something that's bothered me personally - is underhanded tactics from movie distributors. Say "Coco avant Chanel" or "Coco Before Chanel", as advertised on tv at the mo. There's no reason to stress that it's subtitled (like in the patronising manner that other posters have mentioned suffering - "You do now it's subtitled, right?"), hate that. But the flip side is disguising a foreign language film by showing dialogue-free sections as I recall with "A very long engagement". At least give those who are bothered a heads-up.

Dreadful films both, subtitled or not

missingtime

TeganRainIsGod wrote: »

i dont watch subtitled films and i never watch movies produced from england (eg hot fuzz) or movies starring clive owen!!!!

the only exceptions are - green street, layer cake and city of god!!!

I'm confused?

tarbuck

I'll watch a movie with subtitles, but the film would have to be something pretty special to make me endur it. People are kidding themselves if they think watching subbed movies is a 'normal' thing to do and that everyone should be encouraged to do it. Films with subs are less enjoyable than they would be if you were watching it with fluency in the language. The rare exception to this would be movies by Kurosawa and Jenuet which are usually strongly based on sound and visuals rather than dialogue but then deep down I suspect I'd even like them more if I could speak Japanese/French fluently.

Right now I have backlog of DVD's to watch and the pile with subs is the slowest one to clear purely because I have to mentally prepare myself beforehand to say *sigh* "right, I'm watching a subbed movie now....". That's no way to do something that you're meant to enjoy.

monkeyfudge

I hate the way that foreign language films are sold though.... like they don't want people knowing film is subtitled.

Saw the trailer for Coco Before Chanel recently and the trailer is edited together with a mentality of 'THEY MUST NOT KNOW THIS FILM IS IN FRENCH!"

Decuc500

Subtitles don't make any difference to me at all. If it's a good film I'll watch it, no matter what country it's from.

One thing that annoys me though is the attitude that subtitled films are always better than American or English language films. There's nothing wrong with preferring Tony Scott to Lars von Trier.

Valmont

Doesn't bother me especially when you have gems like Hero or Old Boy. My dad can't watch any subtitled movies but that's only because of eyesight, so maybe that would be a factor for quite a few people?

Dont be at yourself

I'll watch subtitled films over dubbed ones, but I completely understand why people don't like them.

At the end of the day, constantly scanning the bottom of the screen does take you out of the film. You're not hearing the stresses or intonations on the dialogue as you would in an English language film. Subtitles must also generally be more compact and succinct than dialogue, so often a lot of meaning is lost.

It was actually quite eye-opening to re-watch some of my favourite Japanese movies with subtitles after learning the language.

Latchy

indough wrote: »

not a chance, it added to the brilliance of those movies

I would also say it added comedy value to like when somebody spoke their mouths didn't open till 2 secs later .

norrie rugger

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I'm curious about this. I always find it a bit of a cop out when people say that English language remakes of foreign language films need to be made, because people won't watch films with subtitles. I think that's a load of rubbish myself, we've had quite a few subtitled films doing extremely well, such as Crouching Tiger, Hero, Pan's Labyrinth, Letters From Iwo Jima or Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ to name a few. Not only that, there's a lot of American made films that are partially subtitled, Inglourious Basterds being a recent example, and quite a lot of TV shows similarly have subtitled sections like Heroes.

I just don't see that mainstream audiences won't watch subtitled films. So I put it to you.

My only problem is that I will can find myself giving more attention to the subtitles than the film itself.

Saying that I watched, in cinema and/or own Crouching Tiger, Hero, The Passion of the Christ, Fearless (outstanding movie), Let The Right One In and a huge number of martial arts flicks etc so it is not a great problem to me but it can be a distraction

indough

Latchy wrote: »

I would also say it added comedy value to like when somebody spoke their mouths didn't open till 2 secs later .

ah yeah i definitely think it added a little character to the movies

ScumLord

I don't really like subtitles it might turn me off starting to watch a film but the dubs can totally ruin a film like in ong bak.

Galvasean

I prefer subtitles generally. Only if I'm extremely tired will I avoid subtitled films. I watched Brotherhood of the Wolf subtitled and loved it. They were showing it on Sky Movies a while back dubbed and it just wrecked my head.
Anyone who just out and out refuses to watch subtitled films is missing out.

994

sunzz wrote: »

Oh god I couldnt even think of watching overdubbing.

for me foreign films are normally miles ahead of the holywood dribble that gets thrown out.

That's because bad foreign films don't escape their home country, but bad Hollywood movies do.

faceman

I dont like to call them "subtitled films" as it suggests that its a genre, which it isnt.

I have no issue with films that are subtitled as long as the subtitles are legible. There are just as many awful films with subtitles as there are hollywood films that are awful.

I prefer to watch movies in English though because no matter how good a film with subtitles is, unless you speak the language, you are missing our on an essential part of the actor's performance.

I dont think there is anything wrong with people who dont like watching films that are subtitled. Not everyone has the same level of passion for films as some of the people who post here. Its no different than 2 football fans who support the same team, yet one watches any football game no matter who the teams are, and the other only watches games where his own team are playing.

davej

I'd say 1/3 of all movies I watch are subtitled. I tried to watch the dubbed version of Crouching Tiger, but couldn't stick it. For the Ghost in the Shell series I alternated between dubbed and sub-titled and found both agreeable.

I understand enough French to know that often the subtitles are really only summarsing/simplifying what is being said. This can be a little annoying from time to time, but unless you are fluent in the language, what choice do you have ?

davej

djkeogh

Like most here I wouldn't let the fact a film has subtitles deter me from watching it if I had a genuine interest in the story. Can't abide dubbing though. It's clear as well that with subtitles you are missing out on alot of what is being said. It's unfortunate but other than learning a language we're left to rely on the subtitles and their accuracy to convey the dialogue for us.

Karl Hungus

faceman wrote: »

I dont like to call them "subtitled films" as it suggests that its a genre, which it isnt.

I don't think that's really been suggested.

monkeyfudge wrote: »

I hate the way that foreign language films are sold though.... like they don't want people knowing film is subtitled.

Saw the trailer for Coco Before Chanel recently and the trailer is edited together with a mentality of 'THEY MUST NOT KNOW THIS FILM IS IN FRENCH!"

This I definitely agree with, it's a pet hate of mine and it's not just a case with foreign films either. It happens a lot of times with English language films where they don't quite know how to market it, they'll make it out to be a different kind of film, or just focus on one aspect. The trailer for In Bruges is a pretty good example, they made it out to be completely a comedy, which it wasn't. Extremely irritating.

One of the worst was the American trailer for Pan's Labyrinth, they not only hid the fact it was subtitled, they hid all the darker aspects and made it out to be more of a kid's film.

SeekUp

I'm not a film buff, but I do enjoy watching movies that are both in English and subtitles. (Dubbing kind of annoys me.) Although I must admit, if I know I'm going to be watching something with subtitles, it's almost as if I have to "gear myself up" for it. I know that I have to pay attention or else I'll miss something, whereas with an English film, as long as I can hear what's going on, I'm usually okay.

norrie rugger wrote: »

My only problem is that I will can find myself giving more attention to the subtitles than the film itself.

I find this true as well . . . yes, I can see the entire screen, but I'm not always paying attention to the details in the scene because I'm reading the words at the bottom. It's kind of like going to the opera where the translation is running on the back of the seat behind you (or even above the stage!); I have to tear my eyes away and just listen to the music. With subtitled films, I can't really do that.

LiamMc

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

I'll watch subtitled films over dubbed ones, but I completely understand why people don't like them.

At the end of the day, constantly scanning the bottom of the screen does take you out of the film. You're not hearing the stresses or intonations on the dialogue as you would in an English language film. Subtitles must also generally be more compact and succinct than dialogue, so often a lot of meaning is lost.

It was actually quite eye-opening to re-watch some of my favourite Japanese movies with subtitles after learning the language.

I agree with you. Sometimes I find myself conciously watching the faces of the actors and ignoring the subtitles at the bottom. 'To get a more authentic view, y'know'.
The gap is very pronounced in purpose built cinemas with a digital display apart from the screen so that the actual film is screened without s/t's but any language can be placed underneath on the display.

I have watched films in foreign cinemas where neither org. or s/t language is in English. I am in control I decide what the characters really mean.

Galvasean

Karl Hungus wrote: »

I don't think that's really been suggested.

Well HMV kind of do this. They generally lump anything subtitled under 'World Cinema'.

LiamMc wrote: »

I agree with you. Sometimes I find myself conciously watching the faces of the actors and ignoring the subtitles at the bottom. 'To get a more authentic view, y'know'.

I did this when watching Inglourious Basterds for the second time. Since I knew the story I could focus more on teh actors' performances.

Karl Hungus

Galvasean wrote: »

Well HMV kind of do this. They generally lump anything subtitled under 'World Cinema'.

Well that's no more suggesting it's a genre than them suggesting that Television is a genre, as they lump all TV series' together in one section. Or for that matter, having a separate section for Bluray doesn't imply that Bluray is a genre. I don't think the way HMV or other shops organise their products are any indication of genre.

Miss Lockhart

I prefer subtitles to dubbing (cos that's just horrific), but I would prefer a good film in any language I understand (unfortunately very few), as I do find reading the text distracts me from other aspects of the film.

I'm always willing to give subtitles a chance though - it certainly wouldn't rule a film out. I love Cinema Paradisio and Amelie and would hate to see a remake or a dubbed version of either. :eek:

FruitLover

Are we talking dubs vs subs here, or just subbed foreign-language movies vs English-language movies?

People who would rather watch (and consequently encourage) dubs over subs are mouth-breathing scum who should be purged from civilization.

Galvasean

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Well that's no more suggesting it's a genre than them suggesting that Television is a genre, as they lump all TV series' together in one section. Or for that matter, having a separate section for Bluray doesn't imply that Bluray is a genre. I don't think the way HMV or other shops organise their products are any indication of genre.

Well the one I usually go to has its World Cinema section between Horror and Westerns (two genres). Obviously Im not suggesting subtitled films are a genre (really cant see Cinema Paradiso and Battle Royal being in the same genre), but that seems to be the way places like HMV place them, seperated from films they actually share a genre with.

_ZeeK_

Cidade de Deus (City of God) . Brazilian movie.

One of the best movies I've ever seen and not a single word of English.