Memoirs of a Geisha : Why English?

Why English?

It's very weird when an Japanese talking with another Japanese using English...I think they should make the movie in Japanese, just like The Last Samurai.

Re: Why English?

Truly agree, I really didn't liked the idea that Japanese using English. It could have been great if they had used the original language.

me ENGLISH fail? Thats UNIMPOSSIBLE

Re: Why English?

It's a Hollywood film, and unfortunately if it was made in a foreign language with subtitles a lot of (stupid) people would be put off going to see it. Sucks to be stupid!

Re: Why English?

It's a Hollywood film, and unfortunately if it was made in a foreign language with subtitles a lot of (stupid) people would be put off going to see it. Sucks to be stupid!
_____________________________________________

It sucks harder to have 20/700 vision and miss the action because I'm trying to read the GD credits. It sucks even harder to call the visually impaired "stupid.'





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Re: Why English?

As someone thisclose to being legally blind, I'm gonna have to say that's a ridiculous assumption to make. With my glasses, I can see the credits (by which I'm guessing you meant subtitles) and watch the action. They weren't calling the visually impaired stupid, they were talking about the people that immediately yawn and write off a movie that's in another language.

Re: Why English?

The same reason...

Schindlers List was in english instead of german
Marie Antoinette and The Three Musketeers was in english instead of french
The Last Emperor was in english instead of chinese/mandarin
Girl with Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher's) was in english instead of swedish

Most Americans would not spend 20 bucks just to read subtitles.

Re: Why English?

Because Girl with Dragon Tattoo was alredy a Swedish film.
And the book "Memoirs of a Geisha" was, after all, written in English by an American autor.

"Things we lose have a way of comming back to us in the end" - Luna

Re: Why English?

This argument fails. Look up Shogun. When it first aired, there were no subtitles when Anjin-san was still an outsider. It wasn't until half-way through that they began.

--
Once upon a time, we had a love affair with fire.
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Re: Why English?

I thought the main reason was because not all actress were Japanese, some are Chinese and some others were born in Malaysia, They would have to dubbed in Japanese to make look more authentic.

Re: Why English?

Actors are from different countries, so they spoke different languages... The easiest way was to standardize to English.

Protective, Detective, Electric Eye

Re: Why English?

A subtitled film is way riskier and harder to sell. Unless you're a film producer with money to finance a film, then you can't really understand why a producer makes decisions like this. If you're company was in danger of losing money due to your film having subtitles instead of English, what would YOU choose?

Why do we have "Anna Karenina" in English instead of Russian? Why do we have Keira Knightley in the lead instead of some Russian actress?

The casting of Chinese actresses is for the same reason. There are no Japanese actresses today that have the recognition that Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, and Gong Li have. And to be fair, they tried to cast as many Japanese in the major supporting roles as possible. Pumpkin, for example, is played by Youki Kudoh-an authentic Japanese.

Re: Why English?

I agree. It felt a bit strange. Sadly, this is the case with many US films. I guess it's because the majority of US viewers don't want to read subtitles. Here in Sweden, we always have subtitles for foreign movies and TV shows, only cartoons and movies for children are dubbed, and I've never had an issue with it. Reading subtitles doesn't make you miss out on the movie, in my opinion. Maybe if you're not used to it. :)

Dennis Alexis
http://dennisalexis.com

Re: Why English?

If you are reading subtitles you are missing things. This is important in a visual medium in real time.

Different matter when you have your own copy at home and can pause, replay and so forth. That is not the nature of the beast in a cinematic release.

It annoys me when people insist films be in the languages in which the action is set. There is no legitimate dramatic advantage to this whatsoever.* To insult people who think differently on this subject is cheap and nasty and does that person no credit.

What I do not get is why characters need to speak in broken or badly spoken English to convey, in this case 'Japanese-ness'. Now that really does reveal an underlying insistence on 'otherness' that makes no sense at all when the characters are in their own place.

*There are exceptions to this but they are rare. One example is Shogun, in which for most of the early episodes, the Japanese speak Japanese, without subtitles, in order to give the viewer the same sense of bewilderment as the main character.

Re: Why English?

Because at the time this film was released, the US box office was by far the largest market. And movies released in this market aren't nearly as successful if they are subtitled. That's just the preference for Americans and Candians (as a whole). Considering the lavish production costs for this film, the surest way recoup their production costs was to tailor it to American audiences. Let's face it: subtitled films are a niche market in the US, reserved for arthouse movie theaters. Their box office power is very limited. Not saying they can't succeed. They are just much less likely too; a much bigger financial risk.

Re: Why English?

If you are reading subtitles you are missing things. This is important in a visual medium in real time.

Yes. I am a very, very fast reader; I am a professional writer. I still miss things in the action because I'm reading the subtitles. I miss a facial expression, and intonation, a quick movement. I'm reading the words, so I'm not hearing them.

And as far as pausing and rewinding…while you're right about that, these days I don't watch movies with subtitles because I'm usually doing something else while the movie is playing anyway, like cleaning, making dinner, etc. I can glance up, and I do often pause and rewind if I've missed some important action, but if I can't listen to the dialogue I'm just generally not watching whatever program or film, and moving on to something whose dialogue I can listen to. (The exception being if it's something my husband and I really want to watch together, in which case we will sometimes watch things with subtitles but my first objection still applies.)

Re: Why English?

Its not really weird just because a movie takes place in a country were the primarily language is not English does not mean the movie can't be in English.
There is this Indie film that was made by an Asian Man that had an Asian Setting with All Asian Actors and they all speak English in it

Also the Three Musketeers is a French Story and most of the adaptations have been done in English






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Re: Why English?

Exactly how much immersion do you need?

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