Great / thoughtful review. I chuckle at your insightful reference to the footnote about Anna Karenina. I’m having a hard time in the last year with English / British appropriation (not sure if this is the right word) but adaptations for sure of continental European and Russian tv and cinema. My sensitivity was first heightened with this in watching “Chernobyl” which was lauded as being prime prestige tv about the 1986 nuclear power plant accident and disaster but which I had to exit because of Jared Harris! But not just him because it stirred in me a challenge. It’s important to highlight these events so they are remembered but it always made me pay more attention to production side of the house and representation from people from the places they are depicting.
Yes, that's a great example and you make a great point - I absolutely think these stories wouldn't have the same reach that they do, had they been produced in the original/appropriate language but including crew from those places is certainly a step towards the right direction.
I think there is also a lot to be said about the resistance from English speaking audiences (native speakers) to foreign film and the general concept of subtitles. Obviously, this is another can of worms entirely but it reminds me of my first film class in university (in the US) where multiple people stated that they didn't like a film because they had to read the subtitles. I can't remember now what film this was but as someone who grew up in a non-English speaking country, subtitles were so normal to me that it shocked me quite a bit that someone would see them as an issue! Perhaps I need to write a post about this sometime soon:)
I have always gravitated to foreign (non-English speaking) films, so subtitles have been a mainstay for me for as long as I can remember. I am hearing impaired (I was born so), and it's only gotten worse over time, so I use subtitles all the time now. It's one of those things that I need to get used to when I go to a theater; if I see in-language films naturally, there are no subtitles, and it's not an easy transition. Some theaters will have dedicated showtimes with in-language films subtitled (it's usually once every few days), and I think it's because they acknowledge that the average age of a theatergoer who is not a film critic and assuming it's not a family film is 68. So likely they will also benefit from subtitles!
I see a lot of comments and jokes online about how people watch Netflix/whatever streaming service with subtitles for acoustic reasons (as do I every now and then, usually when I'm watching and eating haha) but that's a great point on theatres! I can definitely see how it could be an issue. I mentioned this above in the review but with Orlok's accent and voice work it was genuinely hard to make out what he was saying at times and I can only imagine how that's even worse if you're hearing impaired. I'd like to see more theatres do CCs for regular screenings!
We have very similar feelings about Aaron Taylor Johnson in this film 😂
Great / thoughtful review. I chuckle at your insightful reference to the footnote about Anna Karenina. I’m having a hard time in the last year with English / British appropriation (not sure if this is the right word) but adaptations for sure of continental European and Russian tv and cinema. My sensitivity was first heightened with this in watching “Chernobyl” which was lauded as being prime prestige tv about the 1986 nuclear power plant accident and disaster but which I had to exit because of Jared Harris! But not just him because it stirred in me a challenge. It’s important to highlight these events so they are remembered but it always made me pay more attention to production side of the house and representation from people from the places they are depicting.
Thank you!
Yes, that's a great example and you make a great point - I absolutely think these stories wouldn't have the same reach that they do, had they been produced in the original/appropriate language but including crew from those places is certainly a step towards the right direction.
I think there is also a lot to be said about the resistance from English speaking audiences (native speakers) to foreign film and the general concept of subtitles. Obviously, this is another can of worms entirely but it reminds me of my first film class in university (in the US) where multiple people stated that they didn't like a film because they had to read the subtitles. I can't remember now what film this was but as someone who grew up in a non-English speaking country, subtitles were so normal to me that it shocked me quite a bit that someone would see them as an issue! Perhaps I need to write a post about this sometime soon:)
I have always gravitated to foreign (non-English speaking) films, so subtitles have been a mainstay for me for as long as I can remember. I am hearing impaired (I was born so), and it's only gotten worse over time, so I use subtitles all the time now. It's one of those things that I need to get used to when I go to a theater; if I see in-language films naturally, there are no subtitles, and it's not an easy transition. Some theaters will have dedicated showtimes with in-language films subtitled (it's usually once every few days), and I think it's because they acknowledge that the average age of a theatergoer who is not a film critic and assuming it's not a family film is 68. So likely they will also benefit from subtitles!
I see a lot of comments and jokes online about how people watch Netflix/whatever streaming service with subtitles for acoustic reasons (as do I every now and then, usually when I'm watching and eating haha) but that's a great point on theatres! I can definitely see how it could be an issue. I mentioned this above in the review but with Orlok's accent and voice work it was genuinely hard to make out what he was saying at times and I can only imagine how that's even worse if you're hearing impaired. I'd like to see more theatres do CCs for regular screenings!
Thx for understand and me too. If it helps translate Orlok’s voice basically sounds like the grown ups in “Peanuts” or Charlie Brown cartoons