I intensely dislike closed captioning and subtitles and all the rest because I find it extremely distracting from whatever the action is, the story is, that I am trying to watch. That said, sure, captioning and subtitling are both very useful and important and I would never say, "get rid of them," but I personally don't like them.
I find subtitles a little distracting if I know enough of the language being spoken to notice errors or significant lacunae in subtitles. But when I'm watching a movie and the language is say Croatian or Turkish then I'm at their mercy for sure. Somehow my brain seems to let me watch the movie "through" the subtitles, like watching stuff happen through a doorway that has a sort of curtain made of coarsely beaded strings hanging in it. After awhile I don't notice the curtain.
Or maybe I've just worn my brain down to where it says oh great here we go again, one of these... and somehow suppresses annoyance at the blocking effect of the titles against the visuals of the film itself.
I do remember resenting subtitles when I first started watching foreign films that had won awards abroad and then landed in art houses in NYC back in the 60s. We use more and different parts of our brains to read than are required to absorb the immediacy of video graphics. So in a way it's physically more work to watch a subtitled or captioned movie.
As for closed captions in English-only movies or TV, I turn those on if available when the audio isn't great (in some remastered films put to DVD for instance) or the dialect of English isn't familiar to me.
I far prefer sub-titles to dubbing, but possibly that is because I am very comfortable wit the written word, and have been speed-reading since I stumbled on that skill while in hospital for the removal of my appendix aged 10.
However, I do remember the frustration as a smaller child not being able to read sufficiently quickly to keep up with the subtitles, and not understanding what was on the screen because it was in a foreign language.
Nevertheless, I prefer to see films/movies in their original language, with the assistance of sub-titles, (and, these days, one hopes that the translation is of a decent enough quality to convey what is meant with sufficient subtlety and nuance and meaning) - the tones and timbres are more natural, and it seems more authentic, somehow, to see - and hear - the actors convey what is being said in their own language.
Actually, in general, I detest dubbed movies.
Many hearing-impaired people depend upon captioning in films and TV shows, and if there are inaccuracies, that is really unfortunate for those who do not have enough hearing or sufficient lip-reading skills to realize that what is being captioned is not exactly what was actually said..... Subitles in foreign films, well, yeah, we can almost expect that some things will be lost in translation!
I am fortunate that I do not need to depend on captioning in films or in TV shows, but it is a very valuable service to those who truly require it.
Agreed.
Why am I not still sleeping. Oh right, work. 😴
And probably worrying about your mother, too.
When you are in a place where there is stress at home and stress at work, it is important to try to carve out someplace else, or someplace in-between (physically or psychologically) that offers you some sort of a sanctuary, or someplace that is relatively stress free.
