In America, you could see two kinds of foreign films: ones that were dubbed in English or ones that were subtitled in English. I actually had some friends that wouldn't see a foreign film if it was subtitled (ie. friends who were too lazy to read, or friends who were trying to make excuses not to see a foreign film). In my opinion, dubbing is for the lazy people who might not be smart enough to follow text on a screen. Who knows where the practice of dubbing foreign films comes from, but it is stupid. You completely lose the feel of the acting when a movie is dubbed, which, like a bad translation, changes the whole movie experience.
Greece, for the most part, does not participate in the practice of dubbing foreign films. Sure, they dub children's movies, which is understandable, but they usually also release a version that is subtitled as well. The really fun shows to watch are the ones that are dubbed in one language and subtitled in Greek. They showed a Matlock like that once, I think the dubbing was French. It was terrible.
We get a variety of channels from a variety of countries here, and the biggest dubbers of Europe (at least of the channels we get) seem to be Germany and the former Russian states, like Bulgaria and the Ukraine. The latter have a way of dubbing that is so bad, you hear the original language for a few seconds before the dubbing comes in. The Germans, however, have made an artform of their dubbing. It is apparently a huge industry, full of professional actors and such, all ready to perform your favorite U.S. TV shows and movies in fully dubbed German. While in general I find it terrible, I do get some amusement from watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air dubbed in German. Somehow the Germans just can't do Will Smith justice, and the result is funnier than the show ever was in the first place. Imagine Will getting "jiggy with it" in that high pitched German accent. Still, you have to wonder sometimes why the Germans can't just use subtitles. It is offensive to them to hear the English? To appreciate the original actors? Why even bother with U.S. films and shows then?
Still, I guess I should be grateful Greece doesn't dub, because I would be screwed when it comes to watching new movies. Thank god for DVDs.
6 comments:
I know EXACTLY what you mean! We have two home entertainment stores which means I get to watch all the movies for free...even the crappy ones...just to see how bad they really are. LOL Now that you can often choose dubbed movies on DVD, I tried it once. Picture this..."Do ya feel lucky today, punk? Well, do ya?" in ITALIAN! Horrible. Absolutely horrible. There ought to be a law. Who else BUT Eddie Murphy can DOP Eddie's laugh? In Poland, they have narrators who narrate the movie...no subtitles just the movie in the original language (which you can hear) and a narrator doing all the lines..male, female, children...all of them. That's got to be the weirdest thing.
Well I also am glad that Greece doesn't dub movies on the whole. The movies that are dubbed suck, I remember watching E.T in Greek and totally not enjoying it. Movies should ALWAYS be in their original language. The movie La Vita e Bella was a fantastic movie but only if you watched it in Italian. Friends of mine who saw the English dubbed version didn't like it. I said watch it again in Italian and they loved it. I bought a movie recently on DVD and one of the audio optiones was Russian but it said "voiceover", so they are at least honest. However the problem with subtitling movies highlightes a problem that SeaWitch highlighted recently in one of her blogs. Your at the movies watching a comedy movie that's in English, and thanks to the subtitles, the whole cinema erupts with laughter at a funny part before the line is said. I do it all the time. You can't help reading along with the subtitles. In fact I can't watch a movie without subtitles for some reason even though in theory I understand the soundtrack.
I will not watch a kung fu movie or an Asian movie if it's dubbed in English.
It takes so much away from the essence of the film.
How people could sit through the English dubbed version of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is beyond me. It was AWFUL.
The New York Times Magazine had a cool story on indie movie director Jim Jarmusch (July 31, 2005 if you want to look it up).
In it, he says that he strongly resists his films being dubbed.
Bart Walker (his agent): ''Jim feels that an actor's voice is a part of who they are in the film. The integrity of his film changes when the actor's voice is changed.''
It's so true. I don't understand why some countries are so hard core about dubbing. I mean, I understand why children's movies have to be dubbed, but you at least need to offer the subtitled version too. I tried to watch Shrek dubbed in Greek and it was so bad. The voiceover people were trying to be like Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy but they just weren't cutting it.
Again, I'll say that it is pure laziness on the audience's part to choose dubbing over subtitles.
And yea, there is the downside of knowing the joke or what is said before it is being said. I've even learned enough Greek to have that spoiled for me now and then. It is still better than dubbing, though.
Dubbing ruins a lot of really good movies. But I guess it is necessary so children, illiterate, and blind people can enjoy the movies too.
I generally agree with most of the posted opinions, but I have to argue that sometimes certain cartoons sound better dubbed.
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