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Vaguely Racist 'Hancock' Subtitles Prompt Fledgling Fan Revolt
Posted by STV at 5:50 AM on August 8, 2008
The Dark Knight may have its curse, Transformers 2 may have its star's busted hand and Terminator 4 may face the opprobrium of its own franchise anchor. But another summer blockbuster faces an unfortunate — if totally foreseeable — development of its own. Those viewers who remember Hancock's introductory action sequence may have been too rattled/busy/overwhelmed to have been paying attention to the subtitled conversation of its Asian bad guys, but nothing got past an eagle-eyed blogger who caught the slightly insensitive translation pictured here. Follow the jump for an enlarged image and a summary of one man's! total! outrage!
Look, would we have translated the dialect into a little more elegant English, as opposed to the more stilted "Engrish" of Hancock? Yeah, probably. But we're not quite ready for the boycott action proposed by this particularly incensed viewer:
I don't know the grammar of Chinese or any other Asian languages, so I don't know if this construction is correct according to whatever language they're speaking, but come on. Have the writers of this movie ever seen a foreign film? Subtitles don't translate word-for-word. It's not like German movies are subtitled with shit like "You like when I making the food, jaaaaa?" Japanese films don't have "Ridicurous!" along the bottom of the screen. Seriously, do they get what subtitles are? These people are speaking their native language. ... I no pay for next Will Smith movie.
That's fine — judging by the ready availability of this screen grab, he didn't pay for this one either. But anyway, don't hold it against Smith; we hear the especially insidious "subtitle thetans" will be among the first to go at the megastar's swanky new school in Calabasas.
- Producers of 'Hancock' don't understand what subtitles are [Rottin' in Denmark via THND]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
crofty
Posted August 8, 2008 7:41 PM
OMG!
People will bitch about anything these days, eh?
jwick25
Posted 6:35 AM 8/8/08
@Leviticus_71: ...another thing that people complain about because of their "violent" nature. Sorry, but I grew up watching Tom & Jerry, yet I never attempted to end someone's life by pushing a baby grand out of an 11th story window. (Sorry if that was off-topic.)
jwick25
Bogart Shwadchuck
Posted 6:30 AM 8/8/08
He doesn't sound THAT angry, and he's right, subtitles in Engrish for "lol foreigner" effect is kinda racist.
Bogart Shwadchuck
Leviticus_71
Posted 6:29 AM 8/8/08
Racism is only allowed in cartoons.
Leviticus_71
Breadbowl
Posted 6:12 AM 8/8/08
@Werrick: Weren't you in "Birth of a Nation"?
Breadbowl
Werrick
Posted 5:55 AM 8/8/08
Actually, those asian kids WEREN'T speaking their own language... they were American kids who spoke English with a better accent than they did Japanese and I think that's what the characters were supposed to be.
Seriously, is anyone else getting tired of EVERYTHING being racist? Why is it that we can't poke fun at stereotypes? Nobody called them ricers or chinks or japs or zipper-heads or anything, seriously, can we give it a rest?
As far as I'm concerned, unless you can prove actual intent in terms of someone being racist, then just let it slide, huh? Take it from a white guy whose race is almost constantly under attack, sometimes you just gotta let it slide, and sometimes, well... sometimes the joke is ACTUALLY funny!
Werrick
everfade
Posted 6:58 AM 8/8/08
@Werrick: You're RACIST!
This is blown way outta proportion by one Sensitive Sally.
I will confess that when I answer my cell I say "Herro" Why? Prolly cause I'm racist.
everfade
TurdBlossom
Posted 6:52 AM 8/8/08
Me no likey. Five dollah!
TurdBlossom
Fry_Bread_Power
Posted 6:50 AM 8/8/08
I've tried to kill someone by dropping anvils from the sky while The Anvil Chorus plays in the background.
Fry_Bread_Power
Spideyrex
Posted 7:20 AM 8/8/08
Why am I laughing so hard right now??
Cause it is funny. Yes it was racist, but c'mon the whole scene was one characture after the other. What no problem with the black superhero who is also a drunk and a bum?
It so funny, it make me laugh long time.
Spideyrex
Shumina
Posted 7:19 AM 8/8/08
Mickey Rooney in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" = Racist.
This bullshit right here = Not racist.
If you *want* to take offense at a bad joke, go ahead, I can't stop you. I am, however, going to say you're oversensitive and not hang out with you at parties. Mmmkay, soldierboy?
Shumina
everfade
Posted 7:06 AM 8/8/08
@Fry_Bread_Power: Me no rikey. Five dorrah.
everfade
Fry_Bread_Power
Posted 7:03 AM 8/8/08
@TurdBlossom: I believe the proper phrase is "Me no rikey."
I'm just sayin'!
Fry_Bread_Power
franimaljones
Posted 7:32 AM 8/8/08
i didn't know ricers were roofers
franimaljones
MartyPants
Posted 7:29 AM 8/8/08
@Spideyrex: See, sensitive blogger?
People make grammar and spelling mistakes in their native languages, too!
Characture = caricature
Perhaps the subtitle writers were just trying to keep it realistic.
MartyPants
el smrtmnky
Posted 8:01 AM 8/8/08
i always refer to Strangers with Candy
[www.comedycentral.com]
el smrtmnky
Citizen Kang
Posted 8:38 AM 8/8/08
@Werrick:
Their Japanese was atrocious probably because it wasn't Japanese. I think it was Vietnamese and the accent was pretty spot-on whereas their English was not. Granted, what do I know? I'm only Vietnamese.
Citizen Kang
kookla
Posted 8:56 AM 8/8/08
@jwick25: @Fry_Bread_Power: Those of us that work at The Acme TNT Company take offense at those statements.
kookla
Citizen Kang
Posted 8:48 AM 8/8/08
@Werrick:
Also, one of the credited screenwriters, Vy Vincent Ngo, is Vietnamese and was born in Vietnam. Not that I'd expect you to know the difference between Japanese and Vietnamese, but it's usually a good idea to know what you're talking about before you get on a soapbox. Just a suggestion...
Citizen Kang
EuroDad
Posted 9:57 AM 8/8/08
i like that not only did Mr. Complainy-Pants misidentify the language he is trying to stand up for, but he also starts out by basically saying "i don't know anything about this, but..."
EuroDad
Little Mintz Sunshine
Posted 11:40 AM 8/8/08
So awesome...this is how wars start.
Little Mintz Sunshine
DrAftershave
Posted 5:25 PM 8/8/08
i hate white people. wait a minute, uh...
DrAftershave
regisgoat
Posted 10:33 PM 8/8/08
Despite thaat inspiring filmstrip by the one and only Principal Onyx Blackman, I still think the Vietnamese gangsters who could really speak English if you beat them up was completely racist.
And as for the Vietnamese scriptwriter, did you hear about how he took the money and ran to Vietnam to start up a school for orphans, because he was so sickened by the decade-long rewriting of his script?
regisgoat
Werrick
Posted 1:11 AM 9/8/08
@Citizen Kang:
Okay... The non-Asian language speaker got the Asian language wrong. Better get the nails and two-by-fours!
Regardless of my mistake, the fact remains that this is hardly racist, but if one wishes to make a big stink about it then fine... as long as we caucasians can make a big stink about every "white" stereotype that comes out of any part of Asia.
Seriously... let it slide, it's just not that big a deal and insisting that this was racist smacks of desperately seeking something, anything to be outraged about.
Werrick
kylo4
Posted 3:00 PM 9/8/08
I'm sorry, but when you go to buy the bootleg of Hancock at one of those malls, the writing on the box will be much worse than this. Just a fact.
kylo4