Americans Should Embrace Subtitles

This year, the Oscars shocked everyone by giving their biggest award of the night, Best Picture, to the movie “Parasite.” The film is described as a comedic thriller that deals with topics on class discrimination and greed. It had amazing reviews, won other major film awards like the Critics Choice Award, and made over $200 million in the box office. It has everything an Oscar-worthy film would need: controversial topics, an amazing cast, and an unforgettable plot twist.

Yet despite that, no one thought it would win. In fact, many were sure it would be snubbed and not be nominated at all. But, in the end, it was nominated in six different categories and won all of them. The reason people were so skeptical over it doing so well is simple, it isn’t in English and, if you want to watch it, you will need to read subtitles as the movie is in Korean.

In America, it’s hard to imagine a film with little to no English doing so well. It's happened before with films like “Amélie,” “Life is Beautiful,” and “Roma.” But, it’s rare and doesn’t happen as much. It’s so rare that Americans are stereotyped as a nation that refuses to read the dialogue.

This causes distributors to reconsider bringing foreign-language films and leaves us with a limited list of movies to watch. If these foreign language films are shown, they are usually shown only in states like California or New York. It’s hard to imagine why a country with over 400 languages spoken has a hard time dealing with subtitles. It should be easy since other countries do it all the time, especially with how big the American film industry is. The rest of the world tends to watch the same films that we do that are in English only and are ok with it.

With recent movies like “Roma” and “Parasite” becoming hits, it seems like people are now more open to the idea of watching films in another language. And with streaming services like Netflix providing many TV shows and films from all over the world, more people are watching things they would have never imagined due to language barriers.

In fact, Netflix had a hard time with the hit series “Narcos.” In order to ease the audience into using subtitles for a whole episode, the show would switch from English to Spanish. Netflix didn’t want the show to be strictly English because they thought it would be silly to have these characters from Mexico speak only English. This tactic seemed to work as it is now in its second season. Its success will hopefully lead to entertainment companies accepting more non-English entertainment for a country that speaks mostly English.

It’s not hard for everyone to accept it. Those that grew up in bilingual households are used to it. Many families across the country grow up watching television in both Spanish and English. Cindy Lozano, a film student at UC Berkeley, had such an upbringing. As a result, her goals include winning an Oscar, working with director Martin Scorcese, and introducing foreign films to those that are indifferent to them Lozano’s love for movies started when she was young. She uses to constantly replay films like “Pretty in Pink,” “The Shining,” and “Friday the 13th.” Her favorite genres are still horror and coming of age stories.

“It's a weird combination, I agree,” Lozano, the 22-year-old film major said. “But my parents love horror so it’s normal for me to have a horror film playing in the background as I study, people get freaked out but I love it. As for teen movies I don’t know, I feel like the 80s got it right. I’ve seen all of them too many times.”

She talks about spending hours online watching the behind the scenes process of these films and how that sparked an interest in filmmaking. “The process is fascinating to me,” Lozano said, “and to be making it is even more fascinating, it's a mixture of everything honestly.”

Throughout the years, she has kept track of all her favorite films and while that list continues to grow she has noticed that she has a deep love and appreciation for foreign films. She recalls her first exposure to TV or any other form of entertainment was in Spanish. “My parents didn’t speak English well so I obviously grew up in a Spanish-only environment until I started going to school,” Lozano said.

For her, it’s only right to favor foreign-language films. “ I have a soft spot for them, many of my happiest memories involve those films,” Lozano said. “I never thought much of it if anything I thought it was normal and that everyone else was living and watching just like me but, I found out I was wrong.”

Her love for Spanish films led to her love for French cinema with the film “Amélie.” It’s a French rom-com film that was released in 2001 and became one of the highest-grossing French films at the time. “It blew my mind,” Lozano said. “Sure it was a rom-com but it was in French and it taught me a few things about French culture.”

The older Cindy got the more films she discovered in both her native and non-native language. She didn’t care what language it was in as long as the story was good, as long as she felt some sort of emotion, she enjoyed it. Whenever people would ask for recommendations, she would give them two options, one in English the other in another language.

“People would often give me a look after,” explained Lozano. “I guess they thought I was joking and were waiting for me to say ‘just kidding,’ but I was serious.”

She says she’s baffled by people’s hatred for subtitled films.

“They would mostly always respond with ‘I don’t want to read’ or ‘I feel weird watching it.’”

All she could do was respond with light laughter. “It’s really interesting to hear people complain about reading,” Lozano said. She explains that maybe it’s because she’s used to it, but she does not find the process of reading subtitles difficult but gets why it might be for some.

“Subtitles aren’t always reliable,” Lozano explains. “It depends on who translates it and sometimes they can be a bit off. You have to pay attention, you have to learn to how to focus on the visual language, body language of the characters, scenery, and other things that help [us] understand a movie better.”

She thinks maybe this is what scares many Americans into avoiding these films. “It can be overwhelming,” Lozano said, “I enjoy observing those things but the average movie goer might not, and I get it.”

Despite some of the struggles that come with it, Cindy still tries her best to persuade people about the beauty of foreign films.

“I think the best way to watch them is on the big screen,” Lozano said, “It’s important to pay attention to the background, scenery, details, facial expressions, basically everything in order to really take it all in.”

She laughs a little as she realizes how descriptive she gets when talking about these details. “As a film major, I pay attention to these things but if you don’t it doesn’t matter,” Lozano said. “Really it doesn’t matter how you enjoy a film as long as you really do end up enjoying it.”

Her big selling point is the chance to experience new cultures through the comfort of your own home or movie theater “At the moment, I don’t have enough money to take a trip out of the country, so, the next best thing is to visit them via film,” she said.

While of course a film’s main purpose is to entertain and make audiences forget about their worries for an hour or more but, according to Lozano, it’s different when it has a cast, background, location, and storyline from a place you have only seen in pictures or video.

“Honestly it just feels different in many ways,” Lozano concludes. “These foreign films get their point across much better than a film shot in America. It’s important to step out of your comfort zone and expand your mind and this, to me, is a great way to start.”