Howl's Moving Castle

innerSpaceman · 03-05-2006, 10:25 AM

As drums! What kinky beasts! (where can I find me some?)

GD: As far as original or locale-appropriate languages go ... a few odd points:

1) Shakespeare is ok in English no matter where the "film" takes place, because the film cannot escape its source theatricality and, well, it's Shakespeareian uber-alis that trumps all common sense.

2) Accents do wonders. If a movie takes place in Italy, I am fine with the suspension-of-disbelief method of using an Italian accent to speak in English. It's silly, but it works for me. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't think Japanese can be spoken in a foreign accent.

3) Through long cinematic custom, French accents are not necessary ... as British accents have come to be synonymous with French. It's a movie weirdity that I love and gleefullly ascribe to. I'm not aware of a similar convention existing for any other two languages. Certainly not Japanese.

I will watch Howl's in both English and the native Japanese. But I'm willing to bet I'll enjoy the English version better. It doen't hurt that they tend to get real actors to dub the Miyazaki films.

03-05-2006, 10:25 AM	#11
innerSpaceman Kink of Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inner Space Posts: 13,075	As drums! What kinky beasts! (where can I find me some?) GD: As far as original or locale-appropriate languages go ... a few odd points: 1) Shakespeare is ok in English no matter where the "film" takes place, because the film cannot escape its source theatricality and, well, it's Shakespeareian uber-alis that trumps all common sense. 2) Accents do wonders. If a movie takes place in Italy, I am fine with the suspension-of-disbelief method of using an Italian accent to speak in English. It's silly, but it works for me. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't think Japanese can be spoken in a foreign accent. 3) Through long cinematic custom, French accents are not necessary ... as British accents have come to be synonymous with French. It's a movie weirdity that I love and gleefullly ascribe to. I'm not aware of a similar convention existing for any other two languages. Certainly not Japanese. I will watch Howl's in both English and the native Japanese. But I'm willing to bet I'll enjoy the English version better. It doen't hurt that they tend to get real actors to dub the Miyazaki films.
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