yeah, I saw the review threads but was going less for what you think about particular films and more about what you think about "non-mainstream" film in general, and why, and whether you watch it or not (and why).
I watch a very good deal of foreign and independent family, mostly Asian, much more so than the average viewer.
Me, too. Is there a particular reason you watch more Asian films than European?
It pains me to say it, but yes most American's are willfully ignorant to foreign film (not as much indie these days). I guess because I watch so much of it, I assumed other people at least partook in it once in a while, but you'd be surprised.
Alas, you are right. Indie is accepted, but mostly
American indie, right? It got popular, and things like Sundance helped. Now there's the IFC, etc.
I was stunned to the point of speechlessness last year when at the end of a semester a teacher decided to show Cinema Paradiso during one of the last classes (a class on society and aging) and she asked before showing it, "How many people have seen a movie with subtitles before?" I thought she had to be kidding with such a laughable question and I was floored by a room of 30 or so people with only a handful (I'm talking 6 or 7) hands up. That's criminal.
This is the standard in our schools (pre-college). Our schools often show movies to "supplement" the education you're getting, but the films they show are often:
1) to kill time so it's whatever the teacher agrees to but it doesn't teach you anything related to the course (ie, the teacher is not teaching)
2) may supplement the lessons but are from a very narrow selection that almost never changes. So, you'd watch "To Kill A Mockingbird" in English class, which is a classic, but, are you ever going to watch "Wilde"?
I think it all boils down to acculturation and your family upbringing. If you're born into a family that is very culturally aware, you're far more likely to be so yourself and partake in those venues as well. If you grow up in a family that never, ever watches anything that isn't mainstream American, you're never introduced to the fruits of the world.
I sorta agree. Do you think the parents have to actively show you foreign films of quality for you to appreciate foreign or independent film?
With myself as an example - I grew up overseas in a strongly multicultural environment where American films arrived 3-6 months after the American release date. Naturally, I didn't see American films - it just didn't occur to me. It also didn't really occur to me to actively pursue seeing movies at the theater in general, because many films shown weren't in my language, but they were languages like Tamil, Hindi, and Mandarin.
The only films my dad ever watched in a foreign language are what he called "chop chop" movies. Jackie Chan kinda stuff, only back then it was Chow Yun Fat and Shaw Bros productions. He certainly had no interest at all in watching anything beyond that, and the only movies outside of those we watched were bootleg American movies.
So I agree that if you don't grow up in an atmosphere that embraces culture/other films, you won't even consider them. But I did consider them, I just didn't have an interest in them.
But speaking to your subtitles point - back then, I was scared of them. It's not like I didn't know how to read, I just felt like the film was intimidating in addition because it had subtitles. Also sometimes the subtitles were poorly done (keep in mind, these were other culture's films, like big Indian musical film productions), or nonexistent.
While I think ignorance does play a good deal into it initially, I think that person's lack of exposure will gestate into an active dis-interest in foreign film and media - not that they feel it is bad or unworthy of their attention, they've just never been given any reason to bother.
I think lack of awareness leads to "active disinterest" but I think it also leads to "active avoidance." There's a difference, in that if it doesn't occur to you to try a new food, you'll be like, "No, thanks," when someone offers it to you.
But if you've tried it (or not), and someone offers it, many will go "Hell, no, and this is why ..." And basically get into how they hate watching those kinds of flicks and the subtitles bug them or they just can't relate or the directors are so fufu and full of themselves, or boring, or they just don't understand what these other film styles are ... etc. It's like, a whole genre they're dissing, and they do not understand that "not being made in the USA" does not group you into one type or quality of film. There are sh|tty films and good films, just like in the USA. Big budget and low budget, period pieces and action pieces, romances and comedies ... it's as broken out beyond the US as it is IN the US.
And the American media and studio system doesn't help at all. Rarely does something get a wide release and extensive marketing if it has subtitles. It kills the deal for people. Reading subtitles is almost too natural for me now, I never ever think about it, but to some people that is a complete deal breaker. You'd be stunned at how many people of our generation are universally resistant to subtitles. It honestly never popped into my mind that this would be a problem, but a good deal of our cohort just doesn't give a damn.
My best friend as an example - I slowly introduced her to foreign film, and now she very often will prefer it to American film. I think I finally won her over with "Dirty, Pretty Things" and now she'll ping me with info on Asian flicks coming out, actively trying to find new ones that interest her. But, she still resists subtitles wherever she can unless the movie seems so interesting and there's no other option but to watch in the original language.
Is it ignorance, or is it laziness? She would actually prefer to see it dubbed, which freaks me out.
This anti-subtitle thing makes me sad. Over time I realized that while subtitles can be intimidating and distracting, if you watch films with them enough it becomes as second nature as watching a movie and ignoring the breathing of the person sitting next to you. We just do it. You get over it. You can't help it if the translations are off, or if they appear out of sync, but when they're on, they're fine.
No dubbing means you hear the nuance of language used, inflections, and see the "real animal in its habitat." It's not hidden or Americanized. You see the source material, as the creators intended, the true spirit and heart of the film without filtering or watering down.
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), I think a writer/director with an independent budget/release generally possesses the capacity to manufacture gold. He/she commands the screenplay and its application, and is usually free from the typical Hollywood constraints: famous director and actors attached to the project to drum up publicity (whether they're right for it or not), a compromise of the story to draw the largest possible audience, and an attention to revenue over resonance.
