Mixed emotions,
Not at all sure,
What hat to wear?
Bold or demure?
Waiting for this,
Hoping for that,
Will it work out?
Will i get my pat?
At times, I'm sure of my moves,
At others, i just want to undo,
Only if i knew what you think,
I'd do exactly what u want me to.
Now its the either way,
The pendulam can swing,
I have played my cards,
Now lend me some hope to cling.
What if the coin falls the other way,
Will i still stay in this play?
Do i need to hope one more time?
Or do i just give it all away.
By: Amit Bharti
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
"The Subtitled Itch"
It started about an year ago when almost all English-content based TV channels in India began to run subtitles. The broadcasters assumed that it will increase their viewership because, according to them, we, the Indians, could apparently only read English but not understand it when spoken. The very country which got so many Americans bangalored purely on the strength of its English speaking middle-class was here being helped in making sense of dialogues spoken in English. Wow!
My initial reaction to it was mixed, as I felt it violated my belief that we watch Hollywood movies & TV shows because we enjoy it. We don’t enjoy it because its in English, but because its entertaining. We wouldn’t watch it in the first place if we didn’t understand it. Right? Soon this initial reaction gave way to a feeling that these subtitles could help many other Indian viewers who have poor listening comprehension in English. But will such viewers switch to this content because of the subtitles? Will they be able to catch the context & expressions of the actors while parallely trying to read what is about to be spoken or read as it is spoken? What would be more important? Enjoying the story or reading the subtitles? I left these moot questions for time to answer; and began an effort to get used to these forced English tuitions.
I also wondered if this “assistance” would one day creep into our mutiplex screens. I reckoned it only as a distant possibility since they were already dubbing English movies for their non-English audience. However, every time I tuned in to my favorite channels like Star Movies, HBO, Starworld, WB, Zee Café et cetera, I was dutifully insinuated that I needed help in understanding what was being spoken on the screen. It was like you were being helped as a handicap when you could win a half marathon. I started ignoring it and instructed my retina to focus only on the upper half of the screen. But those obnoxious subtitles distracted me every time. Before I’d gave up, I tried using a different technique where I would read the text quickly and immediately move my eyes to the upper half. But soon I figured out that I could never read fast enough to make this work for me. As if it wasn’t already enough, it further made me feel that my reading speed is miserable. To my chagrin, here I was. I could neither tame the beast nor befriend it. I could only succumb to it.
Like most of my fellow Indians, I accepted this “help” as a thing that I’ll have to learn to live with, just like my grumpy neighbor who once called cops cuz I played AC/DC a little too loud on a Saturday evening. I found the solution in my Bose Headphones. But I could never find a workable solution for my subtitle itch. I even once thought of pasting a wide opaque tape on the lower part of my TV screen but that would have been a little too much. Gradually, I got accustomed to this but was occasionally ridiculed as an Indian viewer when, for example, the actor said “Oh Shit !!”, and the subtitle read “Oh Crap!!”. Why change the text? Einstein! I would ask the channel guys in my head. Do they really think that I can only read and not hear, that I don’t know what “shit” meant, that “shit” must be replaced by a seemingly less offensive “crap” for an impressionable “Indian” viewer like me? If something is really offensive, why not beep it? Why to run “modified” English subtitles for a movie/a show in English being watched by an audience that very well understands English, both colloquial & formal?
But early this evening, I was in for a surprise when I tuned into on my favorite English sitcom channel. The screen looked different. Subtitles, they were missing. It felt like a wide road that has just got itself rid of its encroachments. I watched the entire show with a nostalgic feel and enjoyed the story like I did in good ol’ days, when I was treated as a viewer without any “India-specific” connotations. I hope they leave the onus on us to understand what we choose to watch. Life sans subtitles would bring the old charm back and the way we always enjoyed Hollywood.
By: Amit Bharti
My initial reaction to it was mixed, as I felt it violated my belief that we watch Hollywood movies & TV shows because we enjoy it. We don’t enjoy it because its in English, but because its entertaining. We wouldn’t watch it in the first place if we didn’t understand it. Right? Soon this initial reaction gave way to a feeling that these subtitles could help many other Indian viewers who have poor listening comprehension in English. But will such viewers switch to this content because of the subtitles? Will they be able to catch the context & expressions of the actors while parallely trying to read what is about to be spoken or read as it is spoken? What would be more important? Enjoying the story or reading the subtitles? I left these moot questions for time to answer; and began an effort to get used to these forced English tuitions.
I also wondered if this “assistance” would one day creep into our mutiplex screens. I reckoned it only as a distant possibility since they were already dubbing English movies for their non-English audience. However, every time I tuned in to my favorite channels like Star Movies, HBO, Starworld, WB, Zee Café et cetera, I was dutifully insinuated that I needed help in understanding what was being spoken on the screen. It was like you were being helped as a handicap when you could win a half marathon. I started ignoring it and instructed my retina to focus only on the upper half of the screen. But those obnoxious subtitles distracted me every time. Before I’d gave up, I tried using a different technique where I would read the text quickly and immediately move my eyes to the upper half. But soon I figured out that I could never read fast enough to make this work for me. As if it wasn’t already enough, it further made me feel that my reading speed is miserable. To my chagrin, here I was. I could neither tame the beast nor befriend it. I could only succumb to it.
Like most of my fellow Indians, I accepted this “help” as a thing that I’ll have to learn to live with, just like my grumpy neighbor who once called cops cuz I played AC/DC a little too loud on a Saturday evening. I found the solution in my Bose Headphones. But I could never find a workable solution for my subtitle itch. I even once thought of pasting a wide opaque tape on the lower part of my TV screen but that would have been a little too much. Gradually, I got accustomed to this but was occasionally ridiculed as an Indian viewer when, for example, the actor said “Oh Shit !!”, and the subtitle read “Oh Crap!!”. Why change the text? Einstein! I would ask the channel guys in my head. Do they really think that I can only read and not hear, that I don’t know what “shit” meant, that “shit” must be replaced by a seemingly less offensive “crap” for an impressionable “Indian” viewer like me? If something is really offensive, why not beep it? Why to run “modified” English subtitles for a movie/a show in English being watched by an audience that very well understands English, both colloquial & formal?
But early this evening, I was in for a surprise when I tuned into on my favorite English sitcom channel. The screen looked different. Subtitles, they were missing. It felt like a wide road that has just got itself rid of its encroachments. I watched the entire show with a nostalgic feel and enjoyed the story like I did in good ol’ days, when I was treated as a viewer without any “India-specific” connotations. I hope they leave the onus on us to understand what we choose to watch. Life sans subtitles would bring the old charm back and the way we always enjoyed Hollywood.
By: Amit Bharti
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