Open Forum Friday: Should British Films Be Subtitled for U.S. Audiences?

Posted by on March 25th, 2011   Filed under: Open Forum Friday

Last weekend there was an interesting debate going around the movie blogosphere that concerned Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block, a British sci-fi movie about a group of kids from the London ghetto who fight back against an alien invasion. The trailer debuted online earlier this month to some positive buzz and the movie seemed to be very well-received at its SXSW screenings, leading many people to wonder when a U.S. distributor might pick it up. However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, one of the big things holding it back is the so-called “language barrier”. It seems that all the British slang could make it difficult for the average American to understand it, leading some to suggest the possibility of subtitles. But wouldn’t English subtitles for an English language movie be a little bit ridiculous?

The idea seemed to enrage a lot of people, who took it as yet another example of the dumbing down of culture for an American audience. However, I have to admit, there have been times when I have watched a British movie on DVD or Blu-ray with the subtitles turned on (The Red Riding Trilogy being a recent example) and it has helped me out immensely. I really don’t see a problem with it, after all, you don’t necessarily have to read the words 100% of the time just because they are there. I guess some people might see it as a distraction, and it might scare other viewers away altogether, but would they really have been likely to watch a movie like this anyway? I guess ultimately something like this should be up to the director, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that particularly strong accents essentially qualify as a foreign language to some people. What do you think? Would some British movies benefit from English subtitles or does that somehow degrade the film? Would dubbing be a better alternative? If you can’t understand an accent on DVD do you turn on the subtitles or just roll with it? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.



  • Rodney Munch

    I’m English and I wish I had subtitles whilst watching the Red Riding trilogy. However, looking at the Attack The Block trailer it looks as though the problem is going to be the London slang and not the accents. So unless the subtitles translate the dialect (which would be ridiculous) there is still going to be an issue for non-UK audiences.

  • Faggymcbitchtits

    Well, to tell you the truth, not that anyone cares, but when I see British films they are indeed times I miss a line or two.. but after a few seconds the brain miraculously understands “wha the wer tra n se”. It just takes a few seconds, that’s all.

  • Honestly, the only time I’ve ever had a problem understanding a British accent in a film was Robert Downey Jr’s performance in Sherlock Holmes. Then again, I’ve watched Extras, Spaced, Peep Show, That Mitchell And Webb Look, Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, Snatch, and Lock Stock so many times that I’m probably more tuned-in to British slang and accents than the average viewer.

  • Brendan

    I’ve used subtitles to help out some British stuff, tv shows mostly if I recall correctly. Sometimes it’s a combination of an accent and some muffled audio quality, or it can also be when an unknown (to me) reference is used, or all three.

    I find that even if I don’t get the reference, the subtitles still do help me understand what was said. Like when a famous Brit is referenced, sometimes it goes by so quickly that, with the accent, I’m not sure what was said. But the caption clarify that it’s a person’s name, so it helps out even if I don’t know the person. It also helps to identify the person referenced, and then I can Google them to at least get part of the reference. Same thing with particular slang terms.

  • Jonny Ashley

    I have some Mexican American friends who had to watch REC with subtitles, because that movie takes place in Spain, and Spanish-Spanish is different from Mexican-Spanish

  • Niklas

    I need subtitles with British movies. Often Brits talk faster and its just easier to keep up with subtitles on. Then again, English isn’t my native language to begin with but I’ve lived in Canada for like 5 years now.

  • Falsk

    I LOL-ed when I read the title of this on Twitter… but slang can actually be really tricky as I found out with Australian slang. I don’t know if subtitling is really the answer, though, if its a matter of cultural slang…

  • Joe Pug

    I wonder if British audiences ever have trouble understanding American films? American slang? or African American films?

  • Maopheus

    I like to pride myself on being to understand British accents. Some are pretty tough though and the slang is definitely a challenge. It seems to vary a great deal even from neighborhood to neighborhood, especially in London. For example, I turned on the closed captioning when watching this past season of Sons of Anarchy with the Northern Irish accents.

  • Derek McFarland

    I’ll have to admit, there are times when I watch a British film, and have trouble following some of the thick accents like, in “Gangster No.1″(which doesn’t even have optional subtitles on dvd), Green Street Hooligans (1&2), and even some of the parts in Alien 3. I could keep going, but I don’t really mind all that much, for the most part; and I would definitely prefer dealing with that, than hearing some stupid dubbed voice over. Either way I don’t see anything wrong with having a British film subtitled in U.S. theaters. Just because it’s “an” English language doesn’t mean everyone in the states can grasp there foreign accents.

  • Gil

    I have to watch EVERYTHING in subtitles. I’m not deaf or anything, just a few cluster fucks with my hearing here and there. I can hear the sound of someone’s voice and all that kind of detail, it’s me not being able to match up vocal-sounds with word pronunciations; very weird.

    I think ALL films should be subtitled. I think that might be one of the reasons I prefer watching movies at home on DVD/Blu-Ray as opposed to going to the theater.

    It isn’t something that ruins a film. It just makes me wanna buy the Red Riding blu-rays to watch at my own comfort.

  • Gil

    @Jonny Ashley
    You bring up a very important point. I am Mexican-American, and even for Cronos I had to turn the subtitles on. It’s fucked because even within Mexico, different areas will speak Mexican-Spanish differently, kind of like a southern, or east coast accent in the US of A.

  • Liney

    In response to Joe Pug, I’m a Brit, and I know that one or two people here have relied on subtitles during the Wire, just so that they don’t miss anything. I didn’t personally, although it might have been useful at times – bizarrely my girlfriend often understood lines that I missed, and she’s Bulgarian but speaks fluent English!

  • Jay
  • Jago

    One of the things I noticed in the trailer is that – apart from the accents – there are cultural references which will play well in the UK and be completely lost in the US.

    At one point a terrified character says ‘I just wanna hide in my room and play FIFA’ – FIFA being the football (soccer!) video game which is incredibly popular over here.

    This would get a big laugh in the UK and Europe – plus other football mad countries – but US audiences wouldn’t get it at all.

    I have the same problem when I watch Family Guy. Some jokes are based on US advertising and make absolutely no sense to a Brit. That massive talking jug that crashes through the wall? WTF?!

  • MJS

    The only English language movie I’ve needed subtitles for was the Jamaican flick The Harder They Come, and I insist that half of that was because the sound recording on that wasn’t great.

    No, I don’t want subtitles on British film, mostly because I don’t want to give the Brits something else to make fun of us over and partly because it would be a big distraction. And really, these accents aren’t that hard to understand, if audiences would just pay attention rather than text-message or whatever the hell they shouldn’t be doing in the first place they probably wouldn’t have a problem.

  • Yes, I definitely need subtitles if it’s not American English. British, Australian,New Zealand… it’s all gibberish without subtitles.

  • Joe Pug

    Thanks Liney and Jago! I have always wondered about US film and TV in the rest of the English speaking world. Canada and the US are pretty much interchangable and I have no issues with stuff from New Zealand….Australia too I guess. I have also marvelled at how well music translates between the US and UK…..those accents seem to disappear.

  • djangoscud

    Snatch worked just fine. This decision should be made by the director. Another example of the degradation of intellect in the U.S.

    The catch 22 is that an audience willing to see a British film is the same audience that would likely watch a film with subtitles.

    If the studio is trying to entice a wide base then adding subtitles will scare away joe six pack and he will be viewing some other less creative crap like Battle:LA.

  • swarez

    Fuck it, just remake it. Problem solved.

  • Mikey T

    Yeah Sean, The Red Riding Trilogy, especially the first one of the series was utterly frustrating to watch without subtitles when I first watched it on a direct stream from Netflicks. I had to stop watching half way through because I was so freakin’ lost. I rented the Blu-Ray, clicked on the subtitle and I was fine. Too bad it sucked anyway. Thumbs up on subtitles though.

  • CrazyBuff

    Is it maybe just down to Americans being slower then the rest of the english speaking nations? :D

    Only american film i’ve ever had a problem with was In the Electric Mist, and that was only a few words here or their.

    Just watch them without subs maybe you’ll learn a bit of slang.

    Innit blud

  • Drewsifer

    “Don’t go Runnin Round To Re Ro”

  • john s

    yes,i think we need subtitles for british movies..they are really hard to follow..although i can understand the point anyone trying to make…but,come on,you can watch a japanese movie without subtitles,still you can understand the storyline and dialogues(i mean,in the context of the story&expression)..but thats not important…i want me to understand all the dialogue..so i need subtitles for britsh movies..

  • Candi

    Personally, I’d like all movies to be subtitled. Everyone here seems to be complainging or vouching for the use of subtitles to ‘understand’ the concept of a movie. But did anyone stop to think about those of us whom are deaf or hard of hearing? Next time you want to argue whether a movie should have subtitles… Watch the movie in ‘mute’ mode. Then tell me if you can understand the concept of the storyline and dialogue.

  • James

    I don’t think its the fact that its British English its the fact that its AN EXTREMLY ROUGH London accent. I have a watered down version of that accent and still there are some people even in the UK that don’t always understand everything I say. Remaking this would be pointless and end up like the MTV remake of Skins (which is beyond shit!)

  • Karen

    I’m an American but my mom is British and we lived in England for 3 years when I was growing up, so you’d think I’d understand British accents pretty well. But I recently watched season 1 of “Wire in the Blood” (on DVD through Netflix), and while I really liked the series, I REALLY wished it had had subtitles because I often felt like I missed some words, especially if they were spoken very fast or very softly. At some points I turned the volume up obscenely high and listened to the same lines 2 or 3 times, which helped some but was very annoying to have to do, and even that didn’t work every time. (Then again, I often have substitles turned on even when watching American TV shows — sometimes the DVD sound isn’t great and I miss a word here and there. I don’t find the subtitles distracting at all, although I might in an actual theater.)

  • Rhyaan

    I don’t know, maybe. But to be honest I don’t really get their accent. I miss many dialogues. British accent is kinda tough to get.

  • Las

    I think this is one of the best alien movies Ive seen unlike the incredibly cute Super 8 which shows American children as all wonderful and lovely this movie hits right to the bone. Teenagers are scary no matter what country you live in and who better to fight aliens than them. Yes I didnt understand some of the slang but alot of times I dont understand slang any teenagers speaks but I got it.Why is that shows and movies made in England are so much better than American version maybe because they dont worry about the happy ending factors or if the characters are likable.Some people like variety not formula like characters or boring stupid endings

  • In our house, we, too, use a lot of subtitles in our movie watching — certainly with British stuff, and even with American movies. As others have said here, some of the problem is audio-related and muffled, or swallowed, sounds. I do resent the idea of subtitling in British films being yet another ‘dumbing down’ of culture for Americans. Culture? This implies that they are cultured and we are not. There’s no superior and inferior here, just DIFFERENT. And many Brit films employ a variety of regional accents, from northeast to Scottish to north Scotland — now you’re hearing a glottal stop instead of any T’s and you’re lucky to hear any ending consonant at all! And common among many accents is this tendency to use a long U sound for just about ANY vowel! And depending on where you go, more glottal stops for ending K’s, and now you’re hearing things like the word ‘me’ instead of ‘my’ and ‘were’ instead of ‘was’. And you may be listening to all these accents in once scene! So put all these multiple accents together with expressions that we are not familiar with, like the dog’s bullocks (inexplicably, this means something good!) or drop a clanger, or knock up (not what we mean here Stateside!), then subtitles are a great way to at least understand the words that are being said in a way that we are not expecting, and then we can look up what it means. Noting inferior about that culture-wise, and in fact I personally believe that our American accent is often ‘more cultured’ than some of those working class accents over yonder.Ya’ll funkin’ on what I’m jivin’?