Why is so much dubbing necessary in China? The reason most serious fans of foreign productions prefer “subbing” to “dubbing” is, it’s more fulfilling to hear the emotional content of the actor’s voices without the distraction of sound not matching the mouth movements. In Chinese productions I notice we’re often getting bad subtitles plus dubbed voices, which is very frustrating. I was told dubbing is used in China because few actors have good language skills, and there are so many different languages and dialects, they have no choice. Is that true? Coming from the Hollywood system, I know it’s sometimes necessary to dub voices. The example we often hear about is Arnold Schwarzenegger. He apparently never learned to be a skilled actor because, even if he had studied his craft, and spent years perfecting it, like most actors do, he would have been dubbed in many roles anyway due to his thick accent. However, nobody considered him a real “actor” and he never performed a role that required any serious acting ability. I want to like Chinese productions despite the difficulties of understanding poorly subbed plots, obvious propaganda aspects, intense censorship, limited intellectual freedom, and excessive governmental control. But, they lack things that sustain my long-term interest such as varied and unique plots, layered performances, and the adventure of breaking traditional rules in order to be relevant, emotionally honest, innovative, thought provoking, and original.
