Subtitling Manifesto
Subtitling came about for much the same reason as books: for people to read. But filmmakers frowned upon titles from the very start, for the silent film was intended to be a truly international means of communication. If the film were any good, then the images would speak for themselves. This all changed, of course, when talkies made their debut with the famous or infamous “The Jazz Singer” in 1928.
The funny thing about subtitles is that they have maintained their form and function for about 80 years. Only now with the globalization and the information society have new forms of subtitling been introduced, especially on the Internet, with fan subs and DivX forums, on special content DVDs and software, and on youth oriented TV channels like MTV.
Taking subtitles’ recent past into account, what can we truly expect from subtitles? Is subtitling doomed for death when new digital techniques will soon allow us to dub films with the original actor’s voice and new lip movements?
I begin to doubt whether our interest in subtitles derives from our cultural and social fixation on the written word. Imagine someone with both a love for literature and a love for film having the best of both worlds right in front of their eyes!
Should we let Portuguese TV simply continue to show degrading voiced-over audiovisual products? Or should we demand to see our favorite shows accompanied by subtitles with mouth-opening mistakes?
I say long live subtitling! Long live strange foreign films we can watch in the same strange foreign language!
Let’s all learn Swedish with Bergman’s subtitled masterpieces. I want the actor’s breath; I want his feeling, his personal breath-hued words.
I deeply disagree with those who say that the difference between dubbing and subtitling can be put down to a difference in education or social habit, that one is no better than the other. In fact, subtitling in many instances can even add to cinematic quality. Take Alfred Leslie’s “The Last Clean Shirt”, an excellent example of subtitles’ potential. The director commissioned the subtitles from the American 1950’s poet Frank O’Hara for a dialogue in complete gibberish (a language non-existent). The result is pure poetry.
Filmmakers of the world unite! Let foreign viewers go to the movies-demand subtitles!
The funny thing about subtitles is that they have maintained their form and function for about 80 years. Only now with the globalization and the information society have new forms of subtitling been introduced, especially on the Internet, with fan subs and DivX forums, on special content DVDs and software, and on youth oriented TV channels like MTV.
Taking subtitles’ recent past into account, what can we truly expect from subtitles? Is subtitling doomed for death when new digital techniques will soon allow us to dub films with the original actor’s voice and new lip movements?
I begin to doubt whether our interest in subtitles derives from our cultural and social fixation on the written word. Imagine someone with both a love for literature and a love for film having the best of both worlds right in front of their eyes!
Should we let Portuguese TV simply continue to show degrading voiced-over audiovisual products? Or should we demand to see our favorite shows accompanied by subtitles with mouth-opening mistakes?
I say long live subtitling! Long live strange foreign films we can watch in the same strange foreign language!
Let’s all learn Swedish with Bergman’s subtitled masterpieces. I want the actor’s breath; I want his feeling, his personal breath-hued words.
I deeply disagree with those who say that the difference between dubbing and subtitling can be put down to a difference in education or social habit, that one is no better than the other. In fact, subtitling in many instances can even add to cinematic quality. Take Alfred Leslie’s “The Last Clean Shirt”, an excellent example of subtitles’ potential. The director commissioned the subtitles from the American 1950’s poet Frank O’Hara for a dialogue in complete gibberish (a language non-existent). The result is pure poetry.
Filmmakers of the world unite! Let foreign viewers go to the movies-demand subtitles!
Paula Almeida
posted by Unknown at 12:37 pm
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