Vision 2020

Short story for the day:

This was told by my sociology lecturer to our class. Several years before, he had gone to a foreign film festival which was being held in Malaysia. Hishamuddin Rais (for those who don't know who he is, he's a social activist who went into a self-imposed exile from Malaysia many years ago) had just returned to the country and he too attended the festival. They chatted amiably before entering the theatre area to watch a show. The whole thing was a pretty big do, done with government support.

Now since it's an foreign film festival, it was pretty much artsy stuff, so not really mainstream films. But since the government was involved, FINAS (the national censorship board) was involved. And since FINAS was involved... there was a lot of blurring and pixelisations at various parts of the film.

According to my lecturer, every time this occurred, Hishamuddin Rais would pipe up with, "Inilah Wawasan 2020!" (This is Vision 2020!)

[Vision 2020 being then prime minister Dr Mahathir's plan for Malaysia to become a developed nation by the year 2020]

Heh, amusing. Wish I'd been there to witness that.

Finas and subtitling

Short story for the day:

Spoke to a friend some time back. We were discussing subtitles and FINAS (the national censorship board) in general.

My highlight of the conversation, I went to the cinema to watch Bruce Almighty (yes, that controversial film according to some of our politicians / religious leaders) and there was one scene that struck my mind. In it Morgan Freeman was introducing himself to Jim Carrey with the words, "I am god." Of course FINAS butchered the word "god" out of that sentence (they cut just that part of the film, leaving the "I am" untouched). The irony of it though was that the Malay subtitles was maintained, "Saya adalah tuhan" (literally, "I am god.").

So butcher the English verbiage out, but maintain the Malay written script of it. Hilarious.

My friend's highlight though truly out-trumped mine. He had gone to see the film The Day After Tomorrow at the cinema. This show was about the Earth facing a weather apocalypse for those who haven't seen it. Anyway at the beginning of the show when the title appeared on-screen the Malay subtitle that appeared was "Lusa" (literally "day after tomorrow"). He broke out laughing hilariously at that. Have to love our translators at the effort that they take in their work.

Another amusing subtitle incident from the past, there was a Batman and Robin cartoon showing over local television. In one scene:

Robin: Batman, Batman! Joker is getting away!(Orang Kelawar, Orang Kelawar! Orang Kelakar melarikan diri!)
Batman: Don't worry wonder boy, we shall stop him.(Jangan risau budak ajaib. Kami akan menangkap dia.)

For those who don't understand Malay, the translations here were very literal. I.e. Batman is a name, but the translator made it out as Bat Man. Joker was translated to the equivalent of Funny Man, and Wonder Boy was translated literally as mystical/magical boy.