Review

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0412/is_2_34/ai_n16832655

Journal of Popular Film and Television, Summer, 2006 by Angelica Fenner

SUBTITLES: ON THE FOREIGNNESS OF FILM
Ed. Ian Balfour and Atom Egoyan. Cambridge: MIT P, 2004. 544 pp. $35.00 cloth.

"Amresh Sinha points out that this ideology of invisibility is threatened on several fronts. Verbose subtitles may not only rob attention from the image but may fatigue viewers struggling to synthesize visual, aural, and textual signification. However, adopting a more colloquial language could be perceived as an act of domestication. And if the translation is from a former colonized language into a formerly imperial language (say, from Hindi to English), one runs the danger of being reproached for engaging in cultural colonialism. Such challenges are further compounded by the difficulty of translating slang, puns, and sociolects, where there is the risk not only of unintended humor but also creation of stereotypes offensive to entire social groups."