- Hardcover: 544 pages
- Publisher: The MIT Press; 1 edition (Oct 1 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0262050781
- ISBN-13: 978-0262050784
- Product Dimensions: 14 x 22.5 x 4.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 Kg
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #432,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Unlike most books about film, this actually takes the shape of one. Its unusually squat, wide format shares the horizontal aspect ratio of most movies (1.66:1), and surveying the interplay of text and image on the pages of Subtitles is reminiscent of watching a subtitled film, which is appropriate given the subject. Edited by filmmaker Atom Egoyan and York University professor Ian Balfour, Subtitles is a provocative collection of essays, interviews, and artwork that all touch on the subject of how movies are translated (and misunderstood) as they travel between languages and cultures. As the editors write in the introduction, "Subtitles are only the most visible and charged markers of the way in which films engage, in direct and oblique fashion, pressing matters of difference, otherness and translation." Egoyan himself contributes two pieces. One culls together unused publicity stills from his movie The Sweet Hereafter that have been augmented by new subtitles written by the author of the original novel, Russell Banks. The other is an interview with fellow director Claire Denis: they discuss how a conversation in her film Vendredi Soir that was meant to be largely inaudible to French viewers was fully subtitled for the English audience, changing the nature of the scene entirely.
Throughout Subtitles, the notion that subtitles are neutral translations of what the characters are speaking gets tossed out the window. In "Cultural Ventriloquism," Henri Behar relates some of the dilemmas he's experienced translating films like Boyz 'N the Hood into French. Perplexed by Ice Cube's climactic line--"Five thousand"--Behar decided not to offer any translation. Months later, he learned that "five thousand" was short for "Audi 5000," as in "I'm outta here." (Behar added the subtitle: "Je me casse.") In two other essays, B. Ruby Rich and John Mowitt reveal how foreign films get designated as such by the American industry and Oscar voters. Moving beyond issues of language to issues of culture, Negar Mottahedeh's "Where Are Kiarostami's Women?" examines how the much-celebrated work of director Abbas Kiarostami is influenced by the officially mandated marginalization and absence of women in Iranian cinema, something most Western critics have failed to note.
Though Subtitles is rarely a breezy read--some pieces are so laden with academic jargon and Deleuze references, they nearly turn English into a foreign language--it contains many valuable insights about films and the cultural baggage they carry. Veteran subtitle-readers will find much to relish between these widescreen covers. --Jason Anderson
Review
"A big treat of Subtitles is the 'art object' graphic design... and the book's unusual Cinemascope shape." Gerald Peary The Boston Phoenix
"With this lovingly edited and designed collection, filmmaker Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Ararat) and literature professor Ian Balfour celebrate the much-maligned middlemen of world cinema: subtitles. While definitely a high-brow gift-tome, it's an approachable one, thanks in large part to its exceptional attention to design. The book's gorgeous layout was created by Egoyan with designer Gilbert Li, and they've simply outdone themselves. It's the little things that matter: the book's wide-format layout mimics a silver screen, right down to an insanely anal use of the cinematic 1.66:1 ratio." Boldtype
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Useful and Entertaining Essays,
By
This review is from: Subtitles: On the Foreignness of Film (Hardcover)
This is a book for fans of film--in particular, viewers that enjoy non-native language movies and have an interest in how they are subtitled. Many subtitlers may find this interesting, of course, but in fairness it's not written for professionals in the field. This is not a criticism. The book's strength is it accessibility for the casual reader.'We need to make sense of the foreign on our own terms,' authors Atom Egoyan and Ian Balfour write. 'Subtitles offer a way into worlds outside of ourselves.' To that end, they collected essays and interviews from every area of the subtitling industry. Professional subtitler Henri Behar has an endearingly gruff and pragmatic moment, as does director Claire Denis in her discussion of the subtitles for Friday Night. Amresh Sinha's essay on how subtitles can make one's own language foreign is particularly insightful. Jorge Luis Borges' early film reviews alone, as translated by Calin-Andrei Mihailescu, are worth the price of the book. Much is made of the design, and rightly so, but the essays would be just as compelling in a standard trade paperback format. The publisher has done the material justice, however, by creating a book as fascinating to hold in one's hands as it is to read. It's not entirely convenient for most bookshelves, but that's a quibble compared to the binding, quality paper, and cinematic faux-widescreen design. There is something here for every film fan. Like all great anthologies, the book observes its theme without seeming to do so. The essays come at right angles to each other, but all oddly fit the primary goal of the text--to expose readers to this little-understood area of global cinema. In that regard, the book is a remarkable success. D. Bannon is author of The Elements of Subtitles, Revised and Expanded Edition: A Practical Guide to the Art of Dialogue, Character, Context, Tone and Style in Subtitling
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning and fascinating,
By A Customer
This review is from: Subtitles: On the Foreignness of Film (Hardcover)
I have just seen an advance copy of this book, and it is gorgeous! The design, the sweeps of colour images, the construction: just an excellent object (Egoyan was the codesigner as well as coeditor, apparently).The collection is unique. Who but Egoyan would think to do a whole book riffing on the idea and the aesthetics of Subtitles? There's are something like 30 pieces, just an amazing range. Very accessible, even funny. It opens up a whole range of ideas, from the mechanical work of subtitling to the inside/outside experience watching a subtitled film provides, to the inter-national communication and circulation subtitling enables. I could never have imagined this book before Egoyan made it, but now with its publication he's opened up a whole set of ideas. Just a tour de force. Very exciting.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning and fascinating,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Subtitles: On the Foreignness of Film (Hardcover)
I have just seen an advance copy of this book, and it is gorgeous! The design, the sweeps of colour images, the construction: just an excellent object (Egoyan was the codesigner as well as coeditor, apparently).The collection is unique. Who but Egoyan would think to do a whole book riffing on the idea and the aesthetics of Subtitles? There's are something like 30 pieces, just an amazing range. Very accessible, even funny. It opens up a whole range of ideas, from the mechanical work of subtitling to the inside/outside experience watching a subtitled film provides, to the inter-national communication and circulation subtitling enables. I could never have imagined this book before Egoyan made it, but now with its publication he's opened up a whole set of ideas. Just a tour de force. Very exciting. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Useful and Entertaining Essays,
By D. Bannon "The Elements of Subtitles" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Subtitles: On the Foreignness of Film (Hardcover)
This is a book for fans of film--in particular, viewers that enjoy non-native language movies and have an interest in how they are subtitled. Many subtitlers may find this interesting, of course, but in fairness it's not written for professionals in the field. This is not a criticism. The book's strength is it accessibility for the casual reader.'We need to make sense of the foreign on our own terms,' authors Atom Egoyan and Ian Balfour write. 'Subtitles offer a way into worlds outside of ourselves.' To that end, they collected essays and interviews from every area of the subtitling industry. Professional subtitler Henri Behar has an endearingly gruff and pragmatic moment, as does director Claire Denis in her discussion of the subtitles for Friday Night. Amresh Sinha's essay on how subtitles can make one's own language foreign is particularly insightful. Jorge Luis Borges' early film reviews alone, as translated by Calin-Andrei Mihailescu, are worth the price of the book. Much is made of the design, and rightly so, but the essays would be just as compelling in a standard trade paperback format. The publisher has done the material justice, however, by creating a book as fascinating to hold in one's hands as it is to read. It's not entirely convenient for most bookshelves, but that's a quibble compared to the binding, quality paper, and cinematic faux-widescreen design. There is something here for every film fan. Like all great anthologies, the book observes its theme without seeming to do so. The essays come at right angles to each other, but all oddly fit the primary goal of the text--to expose readers to this little-understood area of global cinema. In that regard, the book is a remarkable success. D. Bannon is author of The Elements of Subtitles: A Practical Guide to the Art of Dialogue, Character, Context, Tone and Style in Subtitling 0 of 4 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
VERY GOOD??,
By L. Y. Fiona - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Subtitles: On the Foreignness of Film (Hardcover)
The hard cover is completely detached from the body of the book, and the transparent book cover (which is part of the design of the cover) is quite torn out -- this status was not mentioned in the description of the product (it only stated that the condition is VERY GOOD without further remarks), otherwise I would not purchase it. Very prompt delivery though.
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