Re: Old ADUK...oh dear
Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 7:51 pm
fungus wrote:TripleS wrote:Strangely Brown wrote:TripleS wrote:Here's a more difficult one - though I'm not sure that it should be:
In the 1953 film "The Dam Busters", Wing Commander Guy Gibson had a black dog which he called Nigger. That is a fact, but am I now in trouble for simply reporting that fact, including mentioning the dog's name? Do we not see how ridiculous this has become?
It was also the codeword that Gibson used to report a successful dam breach. So the film now has not only an important character missing, but also an important historical element. Papering over the parts of history that you don't happen to like is no better than sticking your fingers in your ears and singing la-la-la-la.
Gibson's dog wasn't only one either.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger_(dog)
Hmm, interesting references, Mark, thank you.
Correction: for 1953 read 1955. Memory again!
Whinge time:
Is it just me, but do others also find it easier to hear what the actors are saying in the old films? I know I do.
With a lot of modern films I find it difficult to catch all the dialogue, and I don't think my hearing is seriously defective. The reasons appear to me to be that the actors do a lot of mumbling, muttering and whispering, overlaid with breathy noises but not much clear speech.
Then there is the question of incidental music, which might be appropriate, but this is often too loud in relation to the dialogue. Then there are scenes filmed in noisy surroundings which again might be necessary within the plot, but they ought to at least make sure the actors speak clearly so that we can tell what they're on about.
American films seem to have had these failings for many years, and some of the more recent British films seem to be similarly bad.
D'you know, with a bit of encouragement I could easily become quite a grumpy old sod.
Having lost some of my high pitch hearing about 15 years ago due to a virus attacking the inner ear, I sometimes have difficulty hearing conversation. The main problems are not so much local accents, but poorly pronounced words, eg. not sounding consonants, and in particular the fact that, and I'm not being agist here, many younger people talk too fast. My daughter who is 33 this year is a prime example of this. She just doesn't seem to have enough time to blurt out all that she has to say.
Nigel.