Monday, October 29, 2007

How do you say "Genius" in spanish?

Family Video is nice enough to warn people of those potential annoyances that might come from renting movies. For example, for those with regular, squarish TV's, Family Video is sure to place a "WIDESCREEN" sticker on movies that retain their aspect ratio from the movie theater cut of a film. (If you didn't know, movies in the theater are rectangular to fit the formatting of the screen. Many films are adapted to Full Frame, which chops off the sides of the film, making it more square to fit conventional screens. Watching a widescreen movie on a full frame tv usually leads to those black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. That's why some people have purchased widescreen TV's, so the black bars are eliminated, and movies can be seen just like they were intended to.)

Family video also places stickers on adult content. Some movies, although rated R, contain content too disturbing for younger audiences. Some movies are marked "MUST BE 18 TO RENT", signifying that the movie is a bit extreme for younger audiences.

Finally, with the increase of releases from foreign markets, Family Video has labeled subtitled movies with an appropriate sticker: "THIS FILM IS SUBTITLED."

Very rarely do all these stickers make an appearance together, but it does happen. The crossover from these stickers brought me to a very interesting conversation the other day at work.

A lady called on the phone with what she believed to be a stupid question. (I am usually a firm believer that there is no such thing as a stupid question, but this job has proven me wrong quite a few times.) She recently rented a movie, and was upset that she grabbed a subtitled version of the movie. She wanted me to go to the shelf and grab the English version of the movie. What movie was it?

Pan's Labyrinth. Which deals with the rise of the Fascists in Spain in 1944. And was directed by a guy with the first name Guillermo. From Spain. All the actors? Spanish. "Do you have a version of the film where everyone isn't speaking Mexican?"

I explained the movie, the circumstances surrounding the film, and the nationalities of those responsible for producing the film. Quite frankly, she didn't want to have to read while watching a movie. After all, that's why they make the movie version: So you don't have to read the book.

I hung up the phone, and hung my head.

No comments: