Post a response to this discussion thread
Zorro,
Thanks for the info re: subtitles. I didn't watch a whole lot of movies before 1980, and so wasn't aware about the shift from dubbing to subtitles. Must have slept through that lecture in film school - or was it because the text the lecturer read from was published in 1968?
Subtitles are a form of filmic elitism, as not everyone in the community can read. Then again, not everyone can both see and hear, and filmmakers have for the most part happily ignored that since 1927 (or 1895, depending on your position).
Somewhere along the line, subtitles have come to signify arthouse, and the gap between "intellectual" and "mainstream" cinema widened. I suspect that there is a form of loose conspiracy to perpetuate this, so Hollywood can ransack the mainstream cinema of other countries.
bored,
'Tis flattery indeed to be welcomed, complimented and parodised in a single sentence. You're about the only person so far to do it well.
Faelan
Post a response to this discussion thread