Let’s Talk about Subtitles
I’m someone who needs to read subtitles when I watch a movie; if not, I find that I miss some parts of the film’s dialog. This is especially true if the movie is on TV. There’s something about the sound quality of any television set, or even computer, that seems to be the cause of this. I don’t believe I have a hearing impairment; I seem to have no problems with films on the big screen, or when I hear people in person. Contemporary audiences are lucky that movie subtitles are widely available, particularly if they do have any hearing impairments. But I would argue that not every sound needs to be accounted for in the captions.
In watching “Good Will Hunting” (1997) recently, I noticed that the sounds at the beginning of the film were documented in the subtitles. For instance, as the credits appear and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are first seen, we see the words, “Dog Barking In The Distance,” and “Airplane Flying Overhead.” As they walk towards a car, Affleck turns to say something to Damon, and “Murmuring” appears. Then “Bell Tolling” is announced as an aerial view of Boston is visible. Thus far, no dialog has developed, but the viewer has been made aware of random noises that have occurred and that will add nothing to the storyline. This is unnecessary.
Most movies are approximately two hours long. That means that viewers will be subjected to lots of subtitles, particularly when all the sounds present are reported to the viewers. At times the captions mention repeated phrases or stuttering—it seems that some of this is not needed. And some films have lots of dialog and its captioning can appear and disappear so quickly that one is forced to rewind the film back to catch what was said; this creates discontinuity. Also, some people read faster than others, which can also be a problem.
And what about music? Music, of course, is often used in film to create a mood. It can give us a sense of lightheartedness, gravity, or another element needed for the story. But mentioning in captions that a light jazz song plays or, what is often less descriptive, telling the viewer that there’s an instrumental at the moment does not help convey the intended mood. It just gives the audience more to read. This would not apply to a song with lyrics because knowing what the words say can certainly help establish the intended mood.
I would suggest that two systems for movie subtitles should be created. For each film, have all sounds and dialog faithfully transcribed. This would be useful for a “purist,” who does not want to miss out on any of the subtleties that completeness can provide. This would be one system. The other system would have much more editing. In this case, the typist would redact the dialog, boiling it down to avoid wordiness, repetitions and vagueness, and creating pithy sentences. Of course, the typist (or the editor in charge) will need to assure that neither context, nor continuity, nor plot is lost when this is done. The viewer would then choose the most desirable option when watching the film. Having these options would certainly make movie watching more enjoyable for some of us, including myself.