#why can't germany accept subtitles

[swordsonnet-bardofwar]

I'm trying to get the motivation to torture myself through gomens season 2 and just looked at the episode description....

Tell me why the German translation for Aziraphale is Erziraphael and why that sounds so funny

In general, I've just noticed the differences between German and English good omens.

Like, what are those voices?? Erziraphael saying okay during thenflaming sword scene????

[mariuspompom]

Dubbing is not acceptable for me under any circumstances if it's not an animation for kids. I am probably the most fervent hater of dubbing that you can find, my ears just bleed, whether the dubbing is "good" (it's not) or not. You just can't watch cinema like that. The voice of the actor is an essential part of the artistic product, as essential as the meaning of the words that are spoken. Can you watch a Godard movie in English, having Belmondo speaking like an American? Is he still Belmondo then, or something else? How can I watch for example James Bond speaking German? Is he still James Bond or something else? Can I watch a western of Clint Eastwood speaking Spanish and still pretend that I am watching the same medium an American is watching? The answer is a big fat no. Changing the voice with another and in another language just kills coherence, context, style, impact, everything. And I genuinely, GENUINELY don't understand the need for it. Reading subtitles is extremely extremely easy, it literally takes no effort. Why not add them? Just why? Why hire actors to do the same job that an actor is already doing, in the medium you are consuming?

I have been raised in a country where we don't dubb anything (apart from animation for kids who can't read/have just learned how to read, and telenovelas like Maria del Barrio) and the reason we don't dubb is cause nobody speaks our language and we know it very well. So the need to open ourselves to the world, get in direct contact with foreign languages, get the foreign references and not isolate ourselves is very present from the get go. It's a question of survival for us. I genuinely don't know what happens in the Anglosphere, they rarely dubb I think cause like 80% of media they consume is English speaking anyway lol. But apart from the Anglosphere, I do have the impression that western countries that are more influential than mine, and very attached to their language, like Germany, France, Italy, Spain, just don't make the effort that we make, and it is very frustrating to see that because for me it translates as a privilege, the fact that they are willing to just flat out dismiss the actual artistic value of a movie in the service of hearing their own fucking language all the fucking time.

TLDR: subtitles are better and obsession with dubbing is a sign of privilege.

[farosdaughter]

Wow, kudos to you for remembering so much about this version: you have actually brought my attention back to many details I'd overlooked!

-I can't remember whether Eliza uses du or Sie when talking to Higgins, but she definitely addresses him by the latter at the end when she's trying to distance herself from him. Only then Higgins answers back in the same manner as a joke, but I *think* he always says du to Eliza. Eliza's dialect is something I can't place either, so I would also wager it's a made up language comprising different regional dialects.

-so that's what Eliza's instrument is! Thank you for specifying! I loved how often and prominently it is featured throughout the movie: even Higgins who seemed to detest it starts playing (with) it at the very end, just as he's accepting Eliza's role in his life. Her song cracked me up at first, but paying attention to the lyrics gives it a whole different (ie creepy) meaning. It's indeed very telling and appropriate for the time period and place this movie was made and indirectly set in. As far as I can tell this version likes to pretend it's set in England, unlike the more creative Dutch film. However, it has so many quintessentially German details about it that they immediately give away the lie. Mrs Higgins' flat being turned into what looks like a villa by the lake is a very glaring one: it just screamed Berlin to me. I'm guessing keeping the original setting was an intentionally superficial choice to divert the audience's attention from what was happening in Germany at the time.

-Higgins playing Schubert and then behaving like a Romantic hero for a bit is an interesting choice. Gründgens absolutely sells the emotionally stunted intellectual who doesn't see love even when it's staring him in the face, so it doesn't feel as jarring as some of Higgins' romantic moments in the Dutch version. IIRC, after his confrontation with Eliza he opens the door to Pick's bedroom (they have connecting rooms?) and starts ranting about how dangerous it is to get involved with a young woman, no matter her social class. Schopenhauer said that women are a joke of nature, so it must be true. Pick is half asleep so he asks Henry what the matter is with Eliza. Higgins answers that she's asking to be taken seriously as a woman. Pick asks why that shocks Henry? He's surprised by her 'sudden' change, since she'd seemed so passive for months. He wants to know out of scientific interest whether this change was brought by his lessons or if Eliza has always been her own woman. Then he starts admiring the night sky and the moon. Pick just leaves him at it.

-Johnny does have a more prominent role in this movie. I thought he looked younger than Eliza (he looked like a teenager to me), so I never picked up love interest vibes from him but I could be wrong. He's definitely fascinated by her transformation when they meet again at the races though, and he offers her an ice cream. There's a man about to go away without paying, and Eliza first jumps a fence and then breaks her umbrella trying to defend Johnny from the thief. I liked how much attention was given to Eliza's old way of life. The movie's apt subtitle being 'Elisa, das Blumenmädchen' really reinforces how Pygmalion is first and foremost Eliza's story.

-the final act is the one with the most changes from the original play! Higgins does start mixing cocktails at some point, but it's during Mrs H's tea party, while Eliza is telling everyone about her aunt. In the final act he just walks around disgruntled and tries to order Eliza to come home. Mrs H berates him and tells him to behave. I loved the moment where Eliza asks him to call her Miss Doolittle and Freddy immediately calls her Eliza. Their confrontation on Mrs H's porch/balcony is much shorter, and Higgins muses that she's turned out exactly like all other society girls. He also congratulates her on her upcoming nuptials and social advancement but warns her never to reveal her origins, as it could compromise her relationship with Freddy. Eliza goes to get ready for dinner and puts Higgins' ring back on! When she intentionally reveals her background to the Eynsford Hills at dinner, Higgins raises his glass to her and is obviously delighted. I got the impression that was all the confirmation he needed that Eliza wasn't after a social position, and had indeed a sense of self outside of her 'education'. Their second confrontation is also much shorter, she basically threatens to teach phonetics and 'steal' his methods, then she corrects his grammar (he gets a verb wrong) when he gets angry. Finally, she asks him what she should choose to do between marrying Freddy, selling flowers, or teaching. He answers that she should choose to stay with him (and still calls her Fraulein Doolittle). It's definitely missing the spark present in the 1938 movie, as Higgins is more flustered/embarrassed than angry! But I found it endearing nonetheless.

got my hands on German Pygmalion from 1935🦫