At the time, and still, two years later, no other foreign-language movie had ever won what is regarded as the top Oscar. Even President 45 weighed in with \u201cWhat the hell was that all about?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On social media, Parasite<\/a><\/em>‘s win welcomed a fray of awful takes from users suggesting that they want to watch<\/em> a film, not read<\/em> a film. As such, it prompted a great snippet from Parasite<\/em> director Bong Joon-ho<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.<\/p>– Director Bong Joon-ho<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Fast forward just two years, and perhaps we could say the disdain from western viewers for subtitles has somewhat dimmed, as Steve O’Brien<\/a> notes for Yahoo in his article “Why 2021 was the year pop culture finally overcame the subtitle<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just twenty-one months on from that triumph, the idea of a film from South Korea becoming one of the biggest cultural talking points of the year, doesn\u2019t seem nearly so absurd.<\/p> Squid Game<\/a><\/em> (South Korea), Money Heist<\/a><\/em> (Spain), Lupin<\/a><\/em> (France), and Who Killed Sara?<\/a><\/em> (Mexico) are now among Netflix\u2019s most popular TV shows. For the streamer\u2019s German-language sci-fi thriller Dark<\/a><\/em>, more than 50% of its audience is international . . .<\/p> What\u2019s remarkable now is that Gen Z-ers are almost four times more likely than those aged between 56 and 75 to plump for subtitles over dubbing, despite those in the older bracket being twice as likely to be deaf or hard of hearing.<\/p> Many point to TikTok and Instagram, which regularly marries images with text, to explain younger people\u2019s ease with subtitles.<\/p>– Steve O’Brien<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n While it’s nice to see more people watching foreign films with subtitles, let\u2019s explore why you too should be watching English-speaking movies with subtitles turned on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As previously mentioned, the first and foremost way that watching films with subtitles is excellent is the most direct reason\u2014it forces you to follow along with the dialogue<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a lot more to good screenwriting<\/a> than just dialogue, and subtitles aren\u2019t going to give you the vast majority of what’s included in a script or screenplay. Let’s get that out of the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To truly learn to screenwrite, I recommend that you pick up several of the numerous book format screenplays from Amazon, or at least download the free offerings online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But dialogue is one of the most essential parts of any script and, truth be told, it\u2019s often the hardest to do well. That\u2019s because screenwriters tend to write in ways that people don\u2019t usually talk about, whether with excessive exposition or awkwardness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I love watching movies with subtitles because it forces you to focus on what\u2019s being said by each character and why. You can see the awkwardness on-screen, at times, as some of the text stands out for being unnecessary or redundant, yet might flow just fine in the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following way subtitles help teach you about writing and filmmaking is that it also forces you to focus on breaking a scene down beat by beat. While writing a project or reading a script, you don\u2019t feel how a scene works just by looking at dialogue and narration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, once on set and when watching a final version of a scene, you\u2019ll quickly notice that there are lots of moments with no dialogue or direction. These are called beats, and they\u2019re tough to teach\u2014much less describe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best way to learn these beats is to focus on catching them as they happen organically in scenes. And with the subtitles on, it becomes much more apparent which parts of the scenes are meant to be providing context with dialogue versus which pieces are meant to be dialogue and direction free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a subtle subtitle feature that, while not a huge game-changer, is one I quite appreciate. Specifically for hearing-impaired audiences who might not usually get to enjoy this, music in film can be a real game-changer for how a scene or movie is watched. And, with subtitles on, you get to appreciate the how and why of what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, if you\u2019re watching a horror movie<\/a> and a big reveal is about to happen, you might not notice that background music has been laid under the dialogue as a normal watcher. However, with subtitles, you\u2019ll often get a little note saying \u201cforeboding music builds\u201d (or something like that) to let hearing impaired audiences know that the tension is heightening\u2014an excellent resource for looking at the editing process<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are also plenty of examples of where songs in films are chosen not just for how they sound in a scene or montage, but also for what they say. Many subtitles are aware of this and will include lines from the song with musical notations around them to let the audience know that these words are coming from the song, which might mirror elements of the narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Director](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Oscar-Quote.png\")
\n\n\n\nFocus on the Dialogue<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Subtitles](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Inglorious-Subtitle.png\")
\n\n\n\nFollow Along for the Beats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Subtitles](\"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/China-Town-Subtitles.png\")
\n\n\n\nHow Does Music Play into the Scene?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAdding Subtitles to Your Own Projects<\/h3>\n\n\n\n