Subtitles and noir...and shameless self-promotion

[Aaron Gerow]

One question that came to mind reading that article on subtitling is  
how this might relate to the use of telop in contemporary TV. I for  
one can't quite accept the statement that "many young viewers are  
finding this speed to be too daunting for their reading  
comprehension" when contemporary TV variety shows feature such a  
large number words on screen. Some like Kibun wa jojo (an Utchan  
Nanchan show from a couple years back) presented every single word  
spoken by all the characters plus additional commentary by some  
external narrator. It was an awful lot to read and it went by at the  
speed people talked. If anything, one would think today's youth are  
MORE adept at quickly reading words on the screen. So could the  
problem really be the lack of knowledge? Or could we say that perhaps  
viewers of TV never actually read the telop, or at least not for  
comprehension? Or are youth, now used to telop, expecting subtitles  
that just repeat the dialogue, not translate it?

Lots of questions, but I remain a bit suspicious about how this  
"trend" is being described.

Aaron Gerow
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Film Studies Program
Assistant Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University
53 Wall Street, Room 316
PO Box 208363
New Haven, CT 06520-8363
USA
Phone: 1-203-432-7082
Fax: 1-203-432-6764
e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
site: www.aarongerow.com