Customer Reviews

Cinema Babel: Translating Global Cinema

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Abe Mark Nornes has a gift of gab to match his fine mind and provocative ideas. He has written a book that's genuinely interesting on a topic that is no longer relegated to obscure art houses. Global marketing is part of the film industry. Many movies gauge success not only in domestic box office receipts, but also in international profits. Nornes addresses the dollars and cents of the industry as clearly as he does the ethical and pragmatic challenges of translating subtitles. Ultimately that's what this book is about: subtitles and what they mean to global cinema.

The book is accessible to the general reader, but those who enjoy non-native language films will be especially pleased. Nornes rants, he cajoles, he coerces, grumbles, advises and insists. Each chapter is informed by his considerable experience and emphatic opinions. He admirably rises to the challenge of informing and challenging readers on an area of film that is seldom discussed. And he does so with considerable wit and panache.

Film lovers will find Nornes' book provocative at times--and always entertaining.

D. Bannon is the author of The Elements of Subtitles: A Practical Guide to the Art of Dialogue, Character, Context, Tone and Style in Subtitling

Unless you only watch your own country's movies (and maybe only Americans do that), a lot of our movie experience is about films from abroad. Cinema has always been a global art. But when we see a foreign movie, it is after it has passed through many translations. It is subtitled or dubbed, it is introduced and interpreted at film festivals, etc. These don't just show the movie as is. They interpret and shape it. But even though these translations always go on, many don't think about it. Nornes' book is a new view of cinema because it researches this important problem. It looks at the practices themselves and how they shape the film. Some countries like dubbing and some like subtitling, but they have histories and ideologies. We also have to ask about the ideology of not thinking about translation in cinema. Nornes does that.

Although the book is readable enough, the author has less ability to discuss films in terms of the global position. Lots of parts of the book lack convincing discussions. The book has only a poorly interpreting power. You have to save your precious time and money not to get this book.