Re: North American SF writers?

Carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of Josh
Hill of rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated make plain:

> On Fri, 29 Jul 2005 09:00:30 +0000 (UTC), "Christophe Bachmann"
> <Chris_CII@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>I'm inclined to think it also has to do with the economic power of
>>USAmerica, which combined with the powerful advantage of the english
>>tongue being de facto international standard gives english-language
>>science fiction a very hefty boost in visibility and dominance.
>>
>>There are lots of science fiction in non english languages, I could
>>give lists of french, russian and even flemish but they are not often
>>translated in american, when US production is often translated in any
>>language.
>>
>>I would also think that the US superiority complex (most evident in
>>movies) that makes the US industry think that if it's not american
>>it's bad, and if it could be good, it would be better remade with a US
>>crew can explain some. When even french movies are shot in english and
>>dubbed in french how can one compete with the impression that english
>>language, and specifically the US hold the lion's share.
>
> A handful of urban highbrows aside, the common wisdom seems to be that
> American audiences won't watch dubbed or subtitled movies, that
> they've been spoiled by the fact that there are so many movies
> available in English.

Which is a real shame. I'm no highbrow, but I've seen a lot of foreign
films, and there are some real gems out there.

The first foreign film I ever saw was "La Chevre", with Gerard Depardieu
and Pierre Richard. There was an American remake, "Pure Luck", which I
liked, but there's just something special about the original.

Probably the funniest movie I've ever seen in any language is "Le
Placard" ("The Closet") with Daniel Auteuil and Depardieu. The sweetest
movie I've ever seen is "De Noche Vienes, Esmeralda" (Esmeralda Comes by
Night). That's one I'd like to see an American version of, but I don't
know who they could get to play Esmeralda as sweetly as Maria Rojo did.

I've seen movies in French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Japanese,
Chinese and Farsi. People are really missing out by limiting themselves
to American films.

--
Methuselah
"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your
grandmother."
-- Albert Einstein

.

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