#WATCH FREE MIND YOUR LANGUAGE TV#
Yet the captioning of films and TV in the language being spoken is not without controversy. Gen Z may indeed be open to the walrus herders (even if dubbed) Perhaps our imagined cultural commissar really has been vindicated. The speed of delivery is such in the 1940 classic that only the super-powered will catch every word without textual assistance. A few years ago, I found myself putting on subtitles for a rewatch of Howard Hawks’s His Girl Friday. Whatever the reason, a technology originally intended largely for viewers with aural impairment is now an acceptable option for anyone who finds Succession too frantic. If that were the case then the increase in caption use would be greater among older people – those less able to hear clearly – than those from Generation Z. But the shift does not seem to be a result of more intrusive music and more naturalistic acting styles. The old bores who write to newspapers complaining about mumbling on Poldark will feel vindicated. How would we now get Prue Leith’s accidental double entendres to our followers? There was much gnashing of teeth – and more serious complaints from those with hearing loss – when Channel 4’s subtitling system collapsed as The Great British Bake Off was getting into gear. An added bonus is the ability to easily snatch key stills and make memes of them on Twitter. If you are rude enough to watch it without headphones you may not be able to hear the dialogue over the cacophony of tinny audio emerging from competing phones. You may not bother to plug in your headphones when catching a TikTok parody on the bus.
The convention is common on social media sites whose video is often streamed in the company of others. The old bores who write to newspapers complaining about mumbling on Poldark will feel vindicated
#WATCH FREE MIND YOUR LANGUAGE SERIES#
It has become the norm to keep the titles on when watching films or series in one’s own language. Lest you jump to the conclusion that the youth now prefer the fables of Apichatpong Weerasethakul to adventures on Star Wars Island, it should be clarified we are talking here about captions on streaming services and broadcast television. Less than a quarter of those aged between 56 and 75 said the same. Four out of five people between the ages of 18 and 25 declared they regularly watch subtitled content. A recent study from Stagetext, provider of captions for live and online events, has confirmed what many of us have suspected. “Go and see that elliptical Icelandic film about walrus herders.” “Don’t go and see that cacophonous Star Wars,” they once wrote. For close to a hundred years, snooty cultural commissars have been urging the dreadful hoi polloi – particularly the dreadful young hoi polloi – to take a chance on subtitles. An ancient motion-picture technology is finally in the ascendant.
0 kommentar(er)
