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by david927·3y ago·view on hn ↗
This article would be fine but it tries to argue that subtitles lower the degree in which you experience a film and that the "film snob" take is to not have them if it's the same language.

I have never heard of this take before, and I'm not sure it exists. The author cites only one film creator when asking, "But what about art?!" and it's someone making their first TV series with Kate Mara as a predatory teacher. I'm unconvinced.

Any strong reader is absolutely capable of enjoying a film with subtitles in full. In fact, any film connoisseur knows that the greatest films are spread out across all cultures and is used to subtitles when enjoying great films. Which is what Bong Joon Ho is trying to say when quoted at the start of the article. He's not saying, "You might need subtitles for a Korean film," but rather, "Get used to subtitles so it won't interrupt the film for you -- and that will open up a rich oeuvre of great films which you can full experience and which you might be missing out on."

2 comments
Both of these things can be true:

1. You can enjoy and appreciate films with subtitles 2. All other things equal, subtitles take attention away from other visuals details of a film

I'm kind of curious how "oeuvre" ended up in that translation haha

It seems like a really rare word and looking up the definition makes me think that the more idiomatic translation would be "world."

I wasn't directly quoting him