There's no shame in using Closed Caption!

A year ago I went to the theater to watch Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy because I just love spy espionage films, and practically anything British. And TTSS had all the fun ingredients, on top of being an Oscar bait film starring the always glorious, Gary Oldman, who finally received his first Oscar nomination for playing George Smiley. But this isn't so much a review per se, even though I give the film a solid 8/10 score, I'm using this film as a confession of sorts.

While I was watching the movie in the theater, I found myself straining to understand what all the characters were saying. See, I love the British English, and I'm accustomed to it, however, when there is whispering dialogue, covert references, and MI6 code words and lingo tossed here and there in hush tones... I miss the plot, and I hate that! I was involved in watching the film, but I know in my heart of hearts, I only gathered approximately 85% of what was actually being said on screen because I couldn't hear it, or I did  not understand what was being said because of the hyperbole that was being used, along with the whispery tone.

So, when I rented the blu-ray of TTSS a few days ago, I put it in the player and I totally set the subtitles/close caption on, so that I could READ all that was being said.  I have no shame in this because again, I wanted to have a full understanding and appreciation for what was being said, albeit in MI6 code words, hyperbole, out dated British slang, etc. And when I watched it at home, I was amazed at the clarity of how the plot of the film made more sense simply because I was able to read and know with 100% accuracy, what was being said.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Gary Oldman

I do not turn on the subtitles when I watch British, Aussie, or Irish films... I tough it out, even if I have to watch the movie numerous times, I force myself to understand what they are saying. We have the ability to re-wind at home, but not at the theatre. There have been a few times when, yet again, the characters are whispering something very important, and then I select that scene to turn on subtitles to learn what was said. There should be a rule in cinema that when characters are whispering, to have subtitles come on automatically, because for the sake of realism, I know when people are whispering, outsiders are not suppose to hear, but danggit, I'm the viewer, I need to know. LOL!

Anyway, if you have been ashamed of turning on the closed caption/subtitles for accented English tongue films, do not fret, turn on that CC button and get the true meaning of what exactly is being said. I'm sure you'll enjoy the movie even more since you know what is being said.

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Communication Activism Graduate Course

For my Communication Activism class, me and my partner Virginia have decided to do our presentation on Food Activism. We have opted to create a website called F.A.C.T (Food Activists Coming Together) - I came up with the idea of the name and acronym. We will present our website and discuss it with our class on December 11th. As of today, I would like to invite you to visit FACT so that you can see what the website is all about, and I would greatly appreciate it if you could post on the blog, or on the messageboard. We would like to be able to demonstrate how people communicate and interact on the website in regards to the topic at hand, food activism. We will note how are people coming together to take our ideas and apply them to their own lives and share them with others, and become food activists themselves.

Please go to FACT and let me know what you think about it.

Thanks!

http://factcommunity.bravesites.com/