Kermode: "LEARN. TO READ. SUBTITLES."

Question

Forwarded from alt.horror:http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/01/opinion i vill say ziz only vo.html I'm with Mr. Kermode on this one, although I believe his advice will fall on deaf ears.Tschuss,B

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[nq:1]Forwarded from alt.horror: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/01/opinion i vill say ziz... I'm with Mr. Kermode on this one, although I believe his advice will fall on deaf ears. Tschuss,[/nq]
I agree. And when you watch a few movies with subtitles you realize that a good storyteller tells the story with images, not a lot of dialogue.

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[nq:1]Forwarded from alt.horror: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/01/opinion i vill say ziz... I'm with Mr. Kermode on this one, although I believe his advice will fall on deaf ears.[/nq]
There was a section in the middle that was as good as "Who's on first",
and it has nothing to do with ears, the 'greenlighters' in h'wood can't read.

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[nq:2]Forwarded from alt.horror: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/01/opinion i vill say ziz... I'm with Mr. Kermode on this one, although I believe his advice will fall on deaf ears.[/nq]
[nq:1]There was a section in the middle that was as good as "Who's on first", and it has nothing to do with ears, the 'greenlighters' in h'wood can't read.[/nq]
If Americans learned to read subtitles they actually might learn something (I've picked up a smattering of Japanese, Italian, French and even Mandarin from watching subtitled movies). And then at least Hollywood wouldn't remake movies the same year they came out!

Cheers,
B

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"Brian Christgau"
[nq:1]If Americans learned to read subtitles they actually might learn something (I've picked up a smattering of Japanese, Italian, French and even Mandarin from watching subtitled movies). And then at least Hollywood wouldn't remake movies the same year they came out![/nq]
I speak fluent Afrikaans so I don't need to read the subtitles of Afrikaans productions, but I do; and I find myself thinking, "I wouldn't translate it like that they left out a phrase poor English no need to translate that bit too literal: an English speaker would have said..." It's a running critique in my head that detracts from the watching experience.

Martin

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[nq:2]Forwarded from alt.horror: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/01/opinion i vill say ziz... I'm with ... I believe his advice will fall on deaf ears. Tschuss,[/nq]
[nq:1]I agree. And when you watch a few movies with subtitles you realize that a good storyteller tells the story with images, not a lot of dialogue.[/nq]
You are soooooo right. Familiar with Kim Ki-Duk? There are three of his films that are a must if you're into pure cinema: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring, *3-Iron* and The Bow. These films exemplify image-over-word taletelling in such a wonderful way that it makes me want to pop out singing about them...but I won't because I'm a bad singer!
W : )

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[nq:1]http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/01/opinion i vill say ziz only vo.html[/nq]
Quite honestly, this is silly. It's common knowledge that all the dumb normal people out there are too timid to go see anything that's not in their native language, and movies like Valkyrie are big enough gambles as it is. Letters from Iwo Jima doesn't count because the Hollywood bigwigs make not necessarily profitable movies every year in an attempt to buy prestige, and The Passion of the Christ was a total fluke.
THEY. ABSOLUTELY. WON'T. LEARN. TO READ. SUBTITLES.

alt.flame Special Forces
"Who's the snob?
"The one who consciously or unconsciously equates attendance at the #1 Movie in America with an invitation to high tea at Buckingham Palace, a seat in a Fortune 500 boardroom, the keys to a Mercedes, and the free run of the Playboy Mansion, or
"The one who looks upon proven or predictable popularity as one of many things that might factor into his decision to attend a movie, ranking in importance somewhat below the title, the identity of the cinematographer, the poster design, and the running time?
"The one who goes to see what everyone else is seeing because it saves the mental anguish of decision-making while at the same time assuring him of being where the action is, or
"The one who spares the time to gather information and figure out for himself what sounds interesting?
"The one who, with an eye to such considerations as in-touchness and with- itness, calculates the worthwhileness of a movie in terms of the number of conversations it will open up to him in the office lunchroom, the hair salon, the happy hour, or
"The one who counts the social benefits of a given movie as less significant than its potential contribution to what he is prone blushingly to call his Inner Life?"
"The one who looks to box-office statistics for reinforcement of the wisdom of his choices in entertainment and the accuracy of his critical opinions, or
"The one who, reflecting that not for nothing are these known as 'grosses', regards the box-office take as foremostly a barometer of his appropriate emotional depression?"
"The one who, in the familiar phrase, knows what he likes and likes what he knows, or
"The one who finds sufficiently occasional recompense in giving and taking chances?""The one who would no sooner go to a Goldwyn/Landmark 'art house', a museum or university film program, than enter a restaurant at which no one else was eating, and who deems a major-chain multiplex to be as reliable a guarantee of quality as the Golden Arches of McDonald's or the teetering KFC pail on a pole, and who regards the Beaten Path as the confidence-booster on the magnitude of designer jeans and a six-pack of Bud, and who would feel like a chump passing up the closest theater and ******* away good gas to get to a remoter one, or "The one who thinks one blank screen looks pretty much like another, who does not automatically assume that if a movie is playing at only one theater in town it must have the social desirability of the proverbial skunk at a lawn party, who does not succumb to instant anomie and alienation when following the Road Less Travelled, and who likes to imagine that a new neighborhood or new country might have something to offer in the nature of a new experience? "The one who believes that if he has to read subtitles, he might just as well have stayed home to read a book, in which event better yet to watch TV, or "The one who considers subtitles a minor inconvenience in comparison with a transoceanic plane flight and a Berlitz crash course? "The one who thinks of black-and-white photography as something akin to vitamin deficiency, hair loss, limb amputation, and cataracts, i.e., something to be more pitied than despised, or
"The one who sees what black-and-white can do that color cannot, and appreciates it no less?
"The one who can't look at a silent movie, and won't if he can possibly help it, without wondering why Thomas Edison didn't wait a little longer before he invented the medium and do it right, or
"The one who can't look at a silent movie without noticing what has been forever lost from the screen as opposed to what has since been gained? "The one who holds that any movie which predates the Steadicam belongs to the Dark Ages, and would be no more profitable to go back to than the rotary telephone, the manual typewriter, and the dirt road, or "The one who perceives that different modes of expression than the preferred current mode are capable of expressing different things, not all of them barbaric and imbecilic?
"The one who, when in the presence of the finest special effects that money can buy, a reported production budget of upwards of $50 million, and a star salary alone in the eight figures, fancies that he now knows how it would feel to be paid a visit by the Publishers' Clearing House Prize Patrol, or "The one who questions the purpose, the function, the fitness of all those expenditures?
"The one who interest in and admiration for and envy of Hollywood celebrities are stepped in strict relation to the celebrities' per-movie salaries, and whose name-recognition does not stretch outside the radar screens of 'Entertainment Tonight', 'Entertainment Weekly', and Liz Smith, or "The one who, in deliberate disregard if not total ignorance of financial deals and press coverage, values Frances McDormand over Demi Moore, James Gammon over Brad Pitt, Annabeth Gish over Meg Ryan, Cris (sic) Cooper over Kevin Costner, Stockard Channing over Michelle Pfeiffer, Ernie Hudson over Eddie Murphy, Suzy Amis over Sharon Stone, and Max Perlich over Arnold Schwarzenegger?
"The one who doesn't see why, when he's already using his eyes and ears, he should be expected to exercise taste as well, or "The one who is not put out about bringing all his faculties indiscriminately into play, including memory, logic, conscience, idealism, even in leisure-time activities?
"Just asking." Duncan Shepherd

Kermode: "LEARN. TO READ. SUBTITLES."

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