# Things That Don't Translate Between Cultures: the Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636 "2014-05-17T15:43:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/123 "2014-08-07T19:28:17Z")
They were using US visual shorthand. The brown paper bag with the bread and occassionaly celery sticking out is the archetypical visual denotation of “gone to the grocery store.” I guess the producers didn’t want to confuse the US audience by having Liam use the French method. Come to think of it, whenever I’m watching a foreign flick I always wonder what visual shorthand I’m missing that would be obvious to the home audience. In one anime, a guy in power armor is shooting down into a subway tunnel and there’s huge billowing smoke clouds. I didn’t know it until later, but there’s a visual joke because in the midst of all this is a prominent sign in Japanese saying, “No Smoking.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/124 "2014-08-07T19:28:56Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > (The most amusing part is that the building he walks into really \*\*does \*\*look like a genuine Haussman _hotel particulier_, and of course there are plenty of panorama shots of Paris. That don’t look like CGI. Which means the crew brought their own New Yorkese paper bags across the pond, specifically so that Liam Neeson could look like he’s in foreign places but not \*too \*foreign :)) I don’t think it’s a matter of being foreign enough or too foreign. Filmmakers have concerns other than a faithful representation of reality, such as visual shorthand. A paper bag is shorthand for groceries. Furthermore a guy like Liam Neeson might just looks better carrying a brown paper bag in his arms rather than swinging a white plastic bag by the fingers. Of all popular media, the movies in general are the least concerned with faithful representation of reality. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/125 "2014-08-07T19:54:05Z")
Well, obviously - but I don’t think US audiences would have been _thoroughly confused_ by Liam Neeson bringing “home” a few heads of celery and/or a lone leek sticking out of an otherwise nondescript plastic bag, y’know ? The foreign/not too foreign bit refers to the architecture - Parisian buildings look nothing like NYC, or even Vancouver (which is apparently architecturally designed to look like every \*other \*city in the world 🙂 ). So the background suggests that Liam is Not Home - but the foreground implies it’s Just Like Home. Dichotomy. Pedantic Euro Humour. Ah, maybe you had to be there 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/126 "2014-08-07T21:44:37Z")
It’s not that audiences will be confused. It’s that some images are shortcuts for the brain. They don’t use any of the brain’s attention. It makes it a background matter instead of a foreground matter. It makes a difference. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/127 "2014-08-07T22:32:56Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > I watched the first \*Taken \*recently, a large part of which takes place in Paris, and I had to chuckle when undercover Liam Neeson went to the place his daughter had been taken away (SPOILER !)… carrying a big ol’ brown paperbag full of groceries, notably a pair of baguettes sticking out for extra Frenchness. > > Yeaaaah… we don’t do paper bags. At all. We either bring out own canvas wheeled trolleys to the supermarket/corner grocery store, or they hand out white plastic bags (used to be free, now for a few cents. Ostensibly because “the environment”, cynically because cents add right up). But not paper, never paper. > > Also, everybody’s a Philistine who buys supermarket bread. I don’t care where you live, in the entirety of France’s territory I guarantee there’s a bakery within walking distance of your home where they bake fresh bread. > Those don’t hand out paper bags, either :). Well _Taken_ was directed by a Frenchman, so you can’t blame the paper bag on ignorance of the culture. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/128 "2014-08-07T23:14:31Z")
How about the Billy Mack scenes from _Love Actually_? Most of his story is based on whether his record is going to be the “Christmas Number One” single, and he spends his time promoting the hell out of it for just that purpose. In the US, a Number One record is a Number One record, and having it be on Christmas doesn’t have any greater cachet than having it be in, say, April. When I first saw this movie I thought the “Christmas Number One” was something the writers had made up for the movie plot. Turns out it’s a Brit cultural phenomenon going back decades. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/129 "2014-08-07T23:30:34Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I agree - there’s nothing quite like the word “jaws” in German. Jaws itself is not a common word, but it is known, referring to the separate parts of the jaw. “Jaw” has an an equivalant, kiefer, but jaws doesn’t. Maul is probably the next-best guess, but still doesn’t quite work. And the name Jaws itself would be mispronounced in German. What about “A Mouth of Teeth”? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/130 "2014-08-08T05:25:43Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I’ve heard that Bollywood movies have become cult movies here. I can’t understand why. I’ve watched clips of two releases. I personally found them way over the top and I doubt I could watch more than ten minutes of them. YMMV. For the “cultists,” being over the top is a feature, not a bug. It’s the same reason I liked Commedia dell’Arte versions of Shakespeare. For this thread, all I can think of is a particular manga that made the US news for supposedly sexualizing kids by some here in the US. To anyone more acquainted with Japanese cartoons, they were clearly of age, and it really wasn’t all that sexual, other than short skirts. The comic was clearly horror, yet the news tries to portray it as porn. There was no nudity or even sexual situations in it, seeing as the two characters are straight women. ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/131 "2014-08-08T10:48:58Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > There were a couple of European films I’ve seen that simply blew my mind, for different reasons. > > _Ma Vie En Rose_ (_My Life In Pink_) was a Belgian film about a young boy who wished he was a girl. **In 2014 in the US, we’d call him a “trans girl” and let the chips fall where they may**. > > But apparently in 1997 France this was _a big deal_. He and his family get a lot of hate, and eventually… well, I don’t want to spoil it, but let’s just say that his sexual identity causes problems for the family. > > The problem for me was that I thought western Europeans were supposed to be so much more tolerant and advanced than the U.S. when it came to such issues Completely disagree. Firstly, 1997 was 17 years ago. A _lot_ has changed in that time with regard to LGBT rights- an awful lot has changed in the last decade, I’d argue, in both the US and European countries. _Lawrence vs Texas_ was in 2003. But I particularly disagree with your bolded claim. It seems awfully optimistic. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/132 "2014-08-08T19:58:07Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > When “Jaws” came out in '75, the Germans had to call it “Summer of the White Death,” because they have no word for “jaws” :dubious: (it’s what I heard). I always wondered if that affected ticket sales–terrible title. German has no word that means jaws? The language of Goethe, Heidegger, Kant, Mann, is that primitive? Urban legend. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/133 "2014-08-08T20:00:35Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > I wonder what the movie title for “Superman” was. heh. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/134 "2014-08-08T23:21:11Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > German has no word that means jaws? The language of Goethe, Heidegger, Kant, Mann, is that primitive? > > Urban legend. > [@Ulfreida](#): > > heh. Did you bother to read any of the rest of the thread? Are you trying to make some kind of a point? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/135 "2014-08-09T00:33:02Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Did you bother to read any of the rest of the thread? Are you trying to make some kind of a point? Not grokking this comment. Sorry if I offended in a way unknown to me. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/136 "2014-08-09T01:05:04Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > Adele is only fifteen years old, yet she and her peers light up during breaks at school. (I went to high school in the USA in the 1980s. Students at my high school could smoke outside, too.) Today, it is rare to see any character in a movie or TV program smoke unless the story is set decades ago. > > Do French teens really smoke so much? Yes. They’re more likely to smoke than adults. Remember: by definition, anything forbidden is cool to idiot teenagers, and every teenager is an idiot (some manage not to do it full-time). **Ulfreida** , “having a word which literally translates as ‘jaws’” isn’t the same as “having a word which means exactly the same as ‘jaws’”. **psychonaut** already explained the different connotations of the closest literal translations, do you disagree with his information? As has been mentioned, the Spanish name was _Tiburón_ (Shark); _Mandíbulas_ would refer to the bones minus the teeth, it sounds as if the movie will be about archaeologists (perhaps they disturb an ancient fossil site where a dinosaur was executed for his evil deeds, bringing him back from the dead? Either that or it’s a documentary on human evolution). Wolverine, also mentioned several times, became _Lobezno_ (wolf cub, which has connotations of “small, fierce, hardy, doesn’t give up because he doesn’t have the fucking concept”) because both _Glotón_ and _Carcayú_ sound like clown names. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/137 "2014-08-09T01:41:36Z")
**Ulfreida** , please excuse my snark. And **Nava** , thanks for explaining it. For the record: **Ibn Warraq** was expecting “Superman” to translate into “Überman” or “Übermensch,” as the Nazis had co-opted “Superman” for the Aryan movement. (I think it was something like that). Since “Superman” is a proper noun, it was used for the movie posters. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636/138 "2014-08-09T02:16:26Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > **Ulfreida** , please excuse my snark. And **Nava** , thanks for explaining it. > > For the record: **Ibn Warraq** was expecting “Superman” to translate into “Überman” or “Übermensch,” as the Nazis had co-opted “Superman” for the Aryan movement. (I think it was something like that). Since “Superman” is a proper noun, it was used for the movie posters. I understood Ibn Warraq’s point. I was finding the story of the German title for Jaws not believable (nor did it turn out to be true in any sense). Perhaps I expressed it badly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-dont-translate-between-cultures-the-movies/688636.md?page=6)