Original version

There is an animated Japanese film in town that I’ve really wanted to see, and a friend has also really wanted to see it — so we’ve decided to go later this week.

The film is being offered in both dubbed and original (subtitled) version. When we compared notes we found out that we both greatly prefer the original version. Which is interesting, because neither of us speaks Japanese, so we will both be reading subtitles to follow what’s going on.

Of course the case for seeing the original version is most compelling for a live action film. In that case, the people you see up on the screen are, literally, the voice actors. It is understandable that we may prefer to hear Alain Delon or Sophia Loren speak their own lines. I once inadvertently rented a dubbed version of “Et Dieu… créa la femme”. Every time Brigitte Bardot opened her mouth, a horrible brassy American voice spewed forth. I had to rent it again in the proper language, just to restore my sanity.

Yet who is to say that one language is preferable to another for an animated film?

I think my preference comes down to the following: Japanese and American culture are very different (“Lost in translation” is more than just the name of a Sophia Coppola film). The intention of the writer and director, with their particular cultural sensibilities, will likely be accurately reflected in the original voice acting. This is much less likely to be the case in dubbing sessions half a world away by voice actors who grew up in America.

This is particularly an issue in the case of Japanese animation, where subtlety of emotion is paramount. One of the wonderful things about Japanese animation for children is that it starts with the assumption that children are very intelligent and emotionally sensitive, and can appreciate complex and contradictory relationships.

I’ve seen American kids in screenings of Japanese films. It’s like seeing food given to someone who has been starving. It’s clear that the children in the audience are amazed and delighted that somebody has made a film that understands and trusts in their intelligence.

By comparison, American animated films — even the best ones — treat kids pretty much as idiots. This is not a criticism of American animation, but rather a reflection of the patronizing way American culture acts toward its children in general. I suspect most Americans are not even aware it is possible to make an animated film that does not talk down to children.

GIven all that, and given the privilege of seeing a good Japanese animated film, who would want to take the chance on viewing it with American voices?

3 thoughts on “Original version”

  1. Very interesting point. I had a similar thought but in exactly opposite situation. With all the ads for season 3 of Game of Throne I realised I missed it completely. “Lucky” my friend insisted I borrow season 1… but dub to Russian. I understand English very well and always prefer to watch the original, but did not want to offend a friend. I was hooked right away and was amazed by acting of dub actors and the complexity/ realism of the language. After finishing season 1, I managed to get a copy of season 2 in English. I could not watch it. Russian was much much better. Voices/ acting was amazingly better.

  2. I find it also has to do with the “aesthetics” of Japanese language and how this fits in with the scenes. Watching “Princess Mononoke” is a good example of this. The English Dub was written by Neil Gaiman with lots of attention to detail re: cultural nuances, and the actors were a talented and famous bunch. But the English version of Mononoke sounds… hammy. If you compare individual scenes even, the lines are being delivered in similar ways–but in English, they come off as over-the-top, while in Japanese they sound eloquent and very emotional, but in a good way. The way words are pronounced/enunciated in Japanese may allow for a different kind of expression, just like how English-language films dubbed into Japanese sound weird acting-wise, even if they get talented voice actors to do it.

    It’s fascinating that you notice the loss in translation even when you don’t speak the native language. Watching dubs/subs myself as a student of the Japanese language, I get frustrated in both cases. The dubs frequently dumb down the material or just change lines altogether to match the mouth movements, but the subs are often just plain wrong as well. I find myself saying, “that’s not what they said at all” all too frequently while watching subbed anime.

  3. Ridiculous sub-titling has always been a major charm of Wushu films and I’m still tickled by the unintentionally random nonsense poetry. It’s like a game of Telephone without the middle men: http://tinyurl.com/c2cawnk

    With anime, on the other hand, poor translation and ‘westernizing’ edits can often trivialize and introduce confusing incomprehensibilities. While it’s true that the original voice acting can have greater cultural and emotional authenticity, well dubbed anime (no, not Billy Crystal’s Borsht Belt Calcifer) can often add a dimension for the English speaker that would be missing with incomprehensible Japanese and sub-titles of whatever quality. *Interesting clue: I was going to link here to a specific anime on youtube that I think illustrates well my point about the benefits of quality dubbing and I came up against this warning:

    “TV-14 Parents Strongly Cautioned, The video you have requested has been rated “TV-14” and may contain content intended for mature audiences.”

    The more I think about that censorship the more confused I get. So I guess that helps make your point about American kids being treated as idiots. Here’s the link anyway: http://tinyurl.com/bwql8tg

    Often, when watching anime, I wish I could understand the language, the historical references, the idioms. I’ve actually picked up some phrases, like two ways for saying “I’m sorry” and “good morning” and “wait a second!”, but that’s so trivial. Sometimes I imagine having someone familiar with the culture nearby to explain the all the complex references to me.

    Interestingly, in my ignorance and without that translator, as with the Wushu films, I’ve developed my own personal understanding of and relationship to the material. It likely has little connection to the original intent but I guess that’s what art is for. In fact maybe it’s more interesting because of my ignorance.

    Sorry for this very long comment. It’s a near and dear topic. Also, I wonder what film you saw that motivated this?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *