Help me understand America... - TranceAddict Forums

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-- Help me understand America...

Posted by Subey on Sep-24-2004 02:08:

Help me understand America...

I live in Canada.
If I want to watch british shows then I have two choices. 1) TVO which is the canadian "educational channel" or 2) PBS which is american "education channel".

Here's the crazy part. The americans ADD A LAUGH TRACK to the british sitcoms! The canadians present the shows as is. I noticed that they even dubbed out the british guys voice from the Teletubbies! No doubt it would corrupt their kids english or something...

However canadians are still pretty lame... I was at the movies today, and they had all these signs warning people going into HERO that it has subtitles! cause apparently all these people were coming out furious about it... subtitles oh the horror!!!!!!

Posted by BTG on Sep-24-2004 02:12:

subtitles aren't horrible, reading is!

Posted by Halcyon+On+On on Sep-24-2004 02:57:

hahaha, I went to go see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in a movie theatre in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

Needless to say, I was the ONLY person at the 8pm, Saturday showing

Guess some people just don't like to read... but obviously YOU do, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this.

Posted by Lira on Sep-24-2004 03:06:

We're used to subtitles down here... I wonder why

Posted by Mebot on Sep-24-2004 04:51:

Because Americans like everything to be quick, fast and instantaneous.

Theres no such thing as purity anymore in television and film. By purity I mean, being able to watch something for it's qualities and substance. Something that will be able to communicate to the audience that something spectacular is happening.

Great novels do this. We read and become acquainted with the characters and fold ourselves into the story. We read to become one with the book. Its only after you read a really good novel, that you realize how good it actually was, the characters, the pace, the setting, everything just melded into one. It can happen to any book and anyone.

Films are the same way, they can move us, they can bring us to tears, they can acquaint us with characters so rich and fulfilling.... but is that the mark of a good movie? sometimes yes, and sometimes no...

thing is, a film shouldn't be just a way to leave the real world behind, it should be a way to immerse ourselves in the director's vision, through sight, sound and images (cinematography and editing).

Same thing with television. We are a smart society, we can deduce things to a great extent, so why do we need applause signs to tell us when to clap? why do we need laugh tracks to tell us when to laugh?

A good show(whether film or television) should be great because it makes us clap or laugh without using the artificial instigator. We know when to laugh, when to cry and when to clap... At the end of a great film, novel or television show.

Posted by Floorfiller on Sep-24-2004 04:52:

because english is better than other languages

Posted by Mebot on Sep-24-2004 04:55:

quote:
Originally posted by Floorfiller
because english is better than other languages

goddammit you ******! i spend all this time writing out what is probably the most longest post ever on TA

and you respond with that!

hahahah

Posted by Floorfiller on Sep-24-2004 05:00:

quote:
Originally posted by Mebot
goddammit you ******! i spend all this time writing out what is probably the most longest post ever on TA

and you respond with that!

hahahah

well if it makes you feel better...i did read your post hehe

Posted by Mebot on Sep-24-2004 05:01:

quote:
Originally posted by Floorfiller
well if it makes you feel better...i did read your post hehe

you get a cookie

Posted by j_spot on Sep-24-2004 05:40:

you can watch Coronation Street on CBC, but thats not a sitcom

Posted by Derosas on Sep-24-2004 08:48:

Americans are too lazy to read Out of all my friends, I am the only one who watches subtitled foreign films and reads. I am the only non-american in my group of friends.

Posted by nchs09 on Sep-24-2004 08:51:

i odnt like t3h r34d|ng either

Posted by DjSimonB on Sep-24-2004 17:29:

I don't like canned laughter in shows, especially if it's used too much, like on Friends and Will and Grace... can ruin it a bit for me.

Subtitles I don't mind. I've got a friend who watches a lot of Hong Kong movies and now he always watches DVD's with subtitles, whether the speech English, Chinese, or whatever else. So from watching movies with him, I don't mind subtitles.

Posted by Mebot on Sep-24-2004 17:56:

quote:
Originally posted by Derosas
Americans are too lazy to read Out of all my friends, I am the only one who watches subtitled foreign films and reads. I am the only non-american in my group of friends.

agreed, either lazy or they dont read fast enough.

I personally enjoy foreign films with subtitles, but heaven forbid I ask my roommate to get a foreign film from Netflix, because it might be in black&white and there might be subtitles!

Posted by Orbax on Sep-24-2004 23:57:

Its mainly that Americans dont read.

Posted by Lira on Sep-25-2004 00:03:

quote:
Originally posted by Nou
I can see how that might be annoying, try watching a movie with the subtitles on and also in the language you understand.

Happens all the time, but it's not annoying at all. Translation never meant to be taken so literally. Saying "You suck! I'm going to kick your ass!" would sound incredibly pathetic in Portuguese. People are just too picky sometimes.

I'd rather watch a film with subtitles than a film that's been dubbed. I still haven't watched "Ghost in the Shell", for example, because not only the anime is annoying as hell, whoever dubbed it should die. Unless it's dubbed in Spanish. Then it's pure comedy

Posted by Thunder5 on Sep-25-2004 01:13:

quote:
Originally posted by Lira
Unless it's dubbed in Spanish. Then it's pure comedy

Oh this reminds me of the last January when I was in Canary Islands, and we were watching Pulp Fiction (Dubbed in Spanish of course) and drinking Smirnoff.. Couldn't stop laughing...