Each year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents the Oscar for Best International Feature Film to a deserving foreign film.  Usually, they are in other languages but subtitled into English.  Unfortunately, this turns many viewers off from seeing great films, just because they require the use of subtitles.  

 This shouldn’t be the case; subtitles exist to make films more accessible to audiences, not less.  Learning to appreciate subtitles opens the door to a whole new world of great films that otherwise would be left on the opposite side of the language barrier.

Filmmaking is an incredibly complicated task.  Even creating a short film takes the combined work of dozens of people across multiple disciplines. Dubbing a film into another language adds another layer of complexity to an already complicated process.  

Not only is it selfish for audiences to demand foreign films be translated and re-recorded into their own language but it’s unnecessary when subtitles exist to do virtually the same thing.

Subtitling allows for the preservation of the original dialogue. English-speaking viewers may not be able to understand the spoken dialogue in a Japanese film but they will be able to get a sense of the emotion behind the words, which is just as important.  Dubbing risks changing the emotion or delivery of the dialogue for the sake of convenience, which poses a risk to the integrity of a film as a whole.  

While a good English dub can boost the viewing experience for the audience, a bad dub risks ruining the experience entirely.  

Some viewers see subtitles as intrusive and distracting, taking the eye away from the film itself, but this isn’t really the case.  Most subtitles are designed in such a way that reading them is quick and does not detract from the scene itself.   In fact, “Night Watch,” a Russian horror film from the early 2000s, uses subtitles to guide the viewer’s eye around the scene with the text.  

Subtitles in foreign language films are simply the easiest, truest and most cost-effective way to translate a film into another language.  Dubbing is not always possible, especially for lower budget films, and can often ruin an otherwise great film.  Don’t be deterred from great art just because it requires a little more effort than normal; give subtitles a chance and maybe you’ll find your next favorite movie.

Categories: Arts & Entertainment