MovieChat Forums > Cidade dos Homens (2006) Discussion > Intolerance of subtitles

Intolerance of subtitles

posted 16 years ago by shawnkjr
12 replies | jump to latest

I had been watching the series for hours straight (finished in less than 2 days) and my mom comes in my room and says. "why are you watching this stupid show?" and I ask her "You haven't even seen it, why is it stupid" she replies "Cuz you gotta read it". I reply "That is so sad"

What's with this? Why can't people enjoy foreign movies. Are the majority of us American filmgoers that lazy? We barely have any foreign films relesed widely here and missing out on great filmmaking thats much superior to anything in Hollywood.

*Common sense is not so common

[–] ThoughtCriminal84 16 years ago

I used to have the same problem with the people I worked with. We'd all take turns bringing in movies to watch during breaks and they'd moan when I tried to bring in movies with subtitles "ughhh! I dont wanna sit here and read a movie!!" so I eventually gave in and turned on dubbing (where possible) or just stuck to american popcorn films to keep them happy

I found your post amusing cause I just had the opposite happen. I'm in the basement/den watching the lost poodle episode and my mom was around doing something, heard a foreign language, came over interested and started asking questions. soon enough, after I explained how to watch it ("just read it real quick and look back up and try to follow the acting") she was sitting next to me, laughing along at Laranjinha dancing in drag =)

[–] Giles18 16 years ago

i totally agree!
i have so many foreign films and they are just so different and more original and subtitles i don't mind reading at all.

[–] SpySly 16 years ago

I don't think this fits this series, but I have quite a lot of foreign films, Brazilian, Mexican, Far East, Danish, Morrocan etc. and I do sometimes feel like when you don't speak the language you focus on the story and words more than the acting. I think it would be much more difficult to spot poor acting when you aren't really listening to the words as much. One example from this is Acerola, I do think sometimes the acting is below par, but then it is excellent some other times.

There's also the slightly snobbish pretentiousness that many of us who like foreign cinema have, we give too much credit to a movie because it has subtitles and is foreign and a lot of us delude ourselves that watching foreign cinema somehow makes us more intelligent and that it is above US cinema.

The other thing is a lot of the movies that are exported to the relevant regions are the best to come out of their country. If you are an American or from the UK you pretty much hear of, or see every movie that comes out of Hollywood, the good and the bad, but you only really see the big hits and best that come out of other countries so it's easy to wrongly deduce that these countries have a higher quality of film...there's a hell of a lot of terrible Brazilian TV and Cinema.

[–] Giles18 16 years ago

That's a very good point I'm in UK and I think what you say about we only really see the great foreign movies is true.
But even so it's different cultures and different ways of movie making and for that i just love them.

[–] ThoughtCriminal84 15 years ago

thats a really great point bama2k2. I do wonder sometimes if I'd still like alot of the foreign films I watch if they were in my native english tongue.

I guess it probably goes the other way too huh? people in non-english speaking countries reading the subtitles and loving plebian english dreck like "The Hottie and The Nottie" or "Killer Klowns from Outer Space", lol

[–] marvoh 15 years ago

anyone know where i can get english subs? got avi's from a friend but they're all in portuguese and cant find them anywhere on the net. I'd really appreciate your help

[–] Amaru_wolfs-edge 15 years ago

Well that's what you get for ripping off a company that may actually need the money...also, Pirate bay normally has everything, try there.
But honestly, first two seasons you can buy together for like uber-cheap:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/City-Men-TV-Daniel-Zettel/dp/B0002HSDUK

See, under a fiver! Surely you can afford that for something that'll give you 270 minutes worth.

Temaru ch3 p7
Blindness befall all who behold the dragon For its beauty is that of divine elegance

[–] zephyrboy 15 years ago

Food for thought...

It's common knowledge that most American films that are shown in any non-English speaking country is about 99% of the time dubbed.

For example my girlfriend is Italian, she only recently moved to England with me, anyway when I went to stay with her family we watched Gangs of New York on TV. Completely dubbed into Italian, I asked if they ever had films with subtitles on and they said no.

I however, agree with the above post, it is difficult to judge whether someone is acting good or bad if it's dubbed. You can only judge off their NVC, which is a huge amount of communication, but in an area such as movies a lot of it's script based.

"Is that you John Wayne? Is this me?"

[–] Amaru_wolfs-edge 15 years ago

I don't think you meant my post, mine was fairly pointless.

However I do agree with your post >_< That's my main problem with dubbed film - the dub just always seems totally out of character, I can't get into a film where the police chief of a japanese special branch of police speaks like a stereotypical new york 30's newspaper owner/runner (Infernal Affairs, in case you're interested).

I just feel totally detached from the film - the voices rarely fit the character, and more than that just watching the film is an odd experience with the words coming but the mouths not fitting...by drawing attention to the voice you seperate it from the film, creating two different stimuli which just ruins it.

I actually find it easier to read the subtitles and watch the film, then just watch the film with a dub. This is something that is better in animation, but even then again you often have a voice that just sounds comic and stereotyped rather than anything that would actually fit the film/show.

Temaru ch3 p7
Blindness befall all who behold the dragon For its beauty is that of divine elegance

[–] rmwizard 14 years ago

99% of american films are dubbed?? really is that so.. as someone said earlier in this thread common knowlodge it's not so common or accurate as it should be.. The majority of the films are subbed, not dubbed.. and by the way, when you see a movie with subtitles they don't distract you from seeing the performances of the actors.. it's only a matter of training.. if you only see a sub movie once in while you'll loose something but if you're from a countrie like mine that all the movies... all of them, no matter what nationality, are subbed... well, you'll have a lot of practice... and you can use the movies to learn new languages.. to gain vocabulary... for instance... the dubs are for the lazy people..

[–] pninson 13 years ago

Watching a subtitled film is difficult for some people. It's not a question of intelligence; it's more how people's brains are wired. Some folks just have trouble reading and watching at the same time.

I always prefer watching a film in its original language, because you get the flavor of the dialogue, even if the meaning can't be translated exactly. I speak three languages besides English, and I'd learn more if I had the time.

City of Men was a bit challenging in places, I have to say. Sometimes the camera moves around very fast, and the editing is quick-cut, so that it is a little hard to read all the subtitles and savor each shot. Still, listening to this dubbed in English would rob it of much of its atmosphere.

Dubbing can be effective if well done. When I was learning Spanish, I watched a few of the early James Bond films dubbed into Spanish. Since I knew the story and much of the dialogue, I could follow it pretty well. What surprised me was how good the guy who did Sean Connery's dialogue was! It didn't seem at all strange for this Spanish voice to be coming out of Connery's mouth. So if you find the right actors and do a quality job, it can work. Some filmmakers prefer it, as long as it's done right.

Still, given the choice I'd rather listen to the music --- the music of the language --- even if I'm just getting a rough idea of what they're saying.

We report, you decide; but we decide what to report.

[–] Fedorevsky 12 years ago

That's all a bunch of rubbish pninson. Dubbing can never be effective no matter how it's done. It can never work. Also, people who aren't able to read subtitles when watching a movie (but are physically and psychologically healthy in other ways) are definitely less intelligent than ordinary people. If one's not able to do those two things at the same time that's a definite indicator that you are slower than normal and a clear sign of lesser intelligence.

Hidyho!