The Babadook (Blu-ray SteelBook) [Germany]

[Lollypop]

Release date: September 18, 2015
Purchase links:
Amazon DE
Media-dealer DE
Price: €16.99 (Media-dealer) - €17.99 (Amazon) €18.99

 

[Geek Tragedy]

Its not that bad mate and to own this on steelbook it has to be worth overlooking! You could always scratch it out [emoji6] [emoji1]

With all they hype around this film I'm confident a UK release is coming.

 

[C.C. 95]

DER is the deal breaker for me.

You mean it is DER deal breaker...(sheesh!)

 

[eLviS1987]

You mean it is DER deal breaker...(sheesh!)

 

[monsterzebra]

Sorry for all you non-german members..
But hey... we have to deal with english titles all the time eh?

#thuglife

 

[C.C. 95]

Sorry for all you non-german members..
But hey... we have to deal with english titles all the time eh?

#thuglife

I think the best way is this- all titles in their own language. I certaintly would hate it if my La Femme Nikita copy was 'Woman Nikita'. Keep all titles in their native languages, I say!

 

[Bunk]

I think the best way is this- all titles in their own language. I certaintly would hate it if my La Femme Nikita copy was 'Woman Nikita'. Keep all titles in their native languages, I say!

La Femme Nikita is the American title, the French title is Nikita. I guess they added "La Femme" so people could immediately figure out it's a French film — from a grammatical standpoint, La Femme Nikita (= The Woman Nikita) is really awkward phrasing.

I understand the need to translate titles sometimes. Two examples from recent films:

- Far from the Madding Crowd could be difficult to say at the box office if you're not familiar with the English language (and especially tough for this film that targets a more 'mature' audience, it appears). So it was translated as Loin de la foule déchainée (also, that was the title of the original novel too, but it seems to me it would've been translated even if it wasn't).

- Trainwreck has "wr", a combo of letters you'll never hear together in French ; it could demand some effort to pronounce it, so marketers prefer to just change it completely — it's titled Crazy Amy in France... yep, another English title, but simpler words, I call that the Very Bad Trip effect: the French title for The Hangover , and the first time I can recall an English title replaced by another English title for the French market, there have been a few instances since, usually comedies. "Very", "Crazy", "Bad", "American" & "Sex" are often used in these new titles. It'd be funny if it wasn't a bit sad and also a commentary of the English level of most people, who understand basic words but are thrown off when it gets a tad more complicated, so marketers simplify it for them. Also, Pitch Perfect became The Hit Girls in 2012 only to release the sequel as Pitch Perfect 2 yesterday... now that's a first.

Anyway, I agree it's not useful to change the title from "The Babadook" to "Der Babadook". There really was nothing lost in translation here.

 

[C.C. 95]

La Femme Nikita is the American title, the French title is Nikita. I guess they added "La Femme" so people could immediately figure out it's a French film — from a grammatical standpoint, La Femme Nikita (= The Woman Nikita) is really awkward phrasing.

I understand the need to translate titles sometimes. Two examples from recent films:

- Far from the Madding Crowd could be difficult to say at the box office if you're not familiar with the English language (and especially tough for this film that targets a more 'mature' audience, it appears). So it was translated as Loin de la foule déchainée (also, that was the title of the original novel too, but it seems to me it would've been translated even if it wasn't).

- Trainwreck has "wr", a combo of letters you'll never hear together in French ; it could demand some effort to pronounce it, so marketers prefer to just change it completely — it's titled Crazy Amy in France... yep, another English title, but simpler words, I call that the Very Bad Trip effect (the French title for The Hangover , and the first time I can recall an English title replaced by another English title for the French market, there have been a few instances since, usually comedies. "Very", "Crazy", "Bad", "American" & "Sex" are often used in these new titles. It'd be funny if it wasn't a bit sad and also a commentary of the English level of most people, who understand basic words but are thrown off when it gets a tad more complicated, so marketers simplify it for them. Also, Pitch Perfect became The Hit Girls in 2012 only to release the sequel as Pitch Perfect 2 yesterday... now that's a first.

Anyway, in this case, I agree it's pretty stupid to change the title from "The Babadook" to "Der Babadook". There really was nothing lost in translation here.

Thanks! I did know the original French title was just Nikita, but ironically- I think it was only the UK steelbook release that uses Nikita! I love that Pitch Perfect won't work as a title- but Pitch Perfect 2 does!! That number 2 makes all the difference!
My favorite example is Kurosawa's THRONE OF BLOOD. If the original title was translated correctly from the Japanese it would be 'Castle of the Spider's Web'-- WAAAAYY cooler title!!

 

[augustus]

I think the best way is this - all titles in their own language ..... Keep all titles in their native languages, I say!

In principle, I'd be happy if that policy were to be adopted. It would certainly allow for a degree of consistency in the cataloguing and storage of my collection. It should also shift attitudes away from the prevailing one here that everything should be titled in English. That said, such a system, if taken to its logical conclusion, could potentially create further problems in respect of films from countries that don't use the Latin alphabet. What does one do with Eisenstein's films, for example? Use the Cyrillic alphabet? Transliterate? Translate?

Sorry for all you non-german members..
But hey... we have to deal with english titles all the time eh?

I appreciate that you're being ironic but, in the words of the saying, 'There's many a true word spoken in jest'.

Although I personally prefer it when a foreign release of an English language film retains its original English title, I'd be the first to admit that it's rather chauvinistic to expect that to always be the case. Ultimately, provided the foreign title is a direct translation of the original title then I don't have too much of an issue with it. What I can't abide, however, is when the original title is translated into something completely different.

The other side of the coin, of course, concerns the titles of foreign language films when released in countries such as the US and the UK. Especially so, since the Anglo-Saxon countries are among the worst offenders when it comes to translating the titles of foreign language films into English for the domestic market. With a few notable exceptions, such as "La Dolce Vita" and "Das Boot", the vast majority of foreign language films have had their titles translated into English. Yet no one here seems particularly bothered by that. You certainly don't get the outcry that occurs whenever it's an English title that's been translated into some other language.

I understand the need to translate titles sometimes.

Anyway, I agree it's not useful to change the title from "The Babadook" to "Der Babadook". There really was nothing lost in translation here.

Given that the word 'Babadook' is made up and does not even exist in the German language, it seems superfluous to even bother attempting to translate it, since the only difference between the English and German is the definite article. I would question the need to even use a definite article with it, given the example of the German release of "The Shining". A similar situation existed since that word also doesn't exist in German. It was, therefore, released in Germany simply as "Shining" without a definite article. The simple title of "Babadook" would certainly have been preferable to that actually used, in the absence of its original title.

However, I'm certainly not going to deprive myself of this release because of one small word in German.

PS @Bunk I was interested to read your reasoning as to why the titles of some films have been translated into French. One that I have been puzzling over, ever since I acquired the French Steelbook, is "In Time" (2011). The French release bears the title "Time Out". So the title has not even been translated into French, merely exchanged from one English expression to another. Do you know what the reasoning for this was?

 

[C.C. 95]

In principle, I'd be happy if that policy were to be adopted. It would certainly allow for a degree of consistency in the cataloguing and storage of my collection. It should also shift attitudes away from the prevailing one here that everything should be titled in English. That said, such a system, if taken to its logical conclusion, could potentially create further problems in respect of films from countries that don't use the Latin alphabet. What does one do with Eisenstein's films, for example? Use the Cyrillic alphabet? Transliterate? Translate?



I appreciate that you're being ironic but, in the words of the saying, 'There's many a true word spoken in jest'.

Although I personally prefer it when a foreign release of an English language film retains its original English title, I'd be the first to admit that it's rather chauvinistic to expect that to always be the case. Ultimately, provided the foreign title is a direct translation of the original title then I don't have too much of an issue with it. What I can't abide, however, is when the original title is translated into something completely different.

The other side of the coin, of course, concerns the titles of foreign language films when released in countries such as the US and the UK. Especially so, since the Anglo-Saxon countries are among the worst offenders when it comes to translating the titles of foreign language films into English for the domestic market. With a few notable exceptions, such as "La Dolce Vita" and "Das Boot", the vast majority of foreign language films have had their titles translated into English. Yet no one here seems particularly bothered by that. You certainly don't get the outcry that occurs whenever it's an English title that's been translated into some other language.



Given that the word 'Babadook' is made up and does not even exist in the German language, it seems superfluous to even bother attempting to translate it, since the only difference between the English and German is the definite article. I would question the need to even use a definite article with it, given the example of the German release of "The Shining". A similar situation existed since that word also doesn't exist in German. It was, therefore, released in Germany simply as "Shining" without a definite article. The simple title of "Babadook" would certainly have been preferable to that actually used, in the absence of its original title.

However, I'm certainly not going to deprive myself of this release because of one small word in German.

PS @Bunk I was interested to read your reasoning as to why the titles of some films have been translated into French. One that I have been puzzling over, ever since I acquired the French Steelbook, is "In Time" (2011). The French release bears the title "Time Out". So the title has not even been translated into French, merely exchanged from one English expression to another. Do you know what the reasoning for this was?

Just a thought- maybe there was another movie on the French market that bore the title "In Time" and they did not want confusion?
I remember when Lars Von Trier's 'Europa' was released in America as 'Zentropa', because they did not want audiences confusing it with another foreign film from the same year 'Europa,Europa'.

 

[augustus]

Just a thought- maybe there was another movie on the French market that bore the title "In Time" and they did not want confusion?
I remember when Lars Von Trier's 'Europa' was released in America as 'Zentropa', because they did not want audiences confusing it with another foreign film from the same year 'Europa,Europa'.

That's something I'd not considered and I'll certainly look into it to satisfy my curiosity. I'd assumed that the reason for the change of title was idiomatic.

 

[C.C. 95]

That's something I'd not considered and I'll certainly look into it to satisfy my curiosity. I'd assumed that the reason for the change of title was idiomatic.

'Time Out' is terrible. Is that a movie about referees?

 

[tono06]

i just finished watching this! scared the sh.....man....great story, great performances but i don like this art, hopefully we would have the red cover somewhere.....soonnnnnn

 

[C.C. 95]

i just finished watching this! scared the sh.....man....great story, great performances but i don like this art, hopefully we would have the red cover somewhere.....soonnnnnn

You can get the red cover as an amaray from Amazon, or Amazon.de...

 

[tono06]

i know but i

You can get the red cover as an amaray from Amazon, or Amazon.de...

i know but i was hoping for a red steel! lol

 

[Bunk]

PS @Bunk I was interested to read your reasoning as to why the titles of some films have been translated into French. One that I have been puzzling over, ever since I acquired the French Steelbook, is "In Time" (2011). The French release bears the title "Time Out". So the title has not even been translated into French, merely exchanged from one English expression to another. Do you know what the reasoning for this was?

I can only speculate, but my theory is that "In Time" didn't feel as 'actiony' as Time Out. Time Out makes it sound like the characters are running out of time, which feels exciting, and that's what they do on most posters for this.

Plus, Out of Time was already taken (it's a 2003 action film starring Denzel Washington). And the automatic connection to sports and referees that an English speaker would do doesn't apply: while I guess many French people know the expression "time out", the French way to say that is "temps mort" (litteral translation is "dead time" ), so that makes it easier to use (and "In time" isn't a known expression at all).

It absolutely is a weird decision though, as there have been many more "difficult" English titles that have been kept for the French market (like this week, While We're Young was released as such in France — but you could say it doesn't target the same market as In Time) .

Btw, the Québecois title is "En temps", which is the exact translation for "In time" (Québec usually does translate every title) but it doesn't mean anything (except when used in several expressions such as "En temps et en heure" (= In due course) or "En temps voulu" (= At the appropriate time)), so I think that's an even worse title than Time Out.

 

[augustus]

I can only speculate, but my theory is that "In Time" didn't feel as 'actiony' as Time Out. Time Out makes it sound like the characters are running out of time, which feels exciting, and that's what they do on most posters for this.

Plus, Out of Time was already taken (it's a 2003 action film starring Denzel Washington). And the automatic connection to sports and referees that an English speaker would do doesn't apply: while I guess many French people know the expression "time out", the French way to say that is "temps mort" (litteral translation is "dead time" ), so that makes it easier to use (and "In time" isn't a known expression at all).

It absolutely is a weird decision though, as there have been many more "difficult" English titles that have been kept for the French market (like this week, While We're Young was released as such in France — but you could say it doesn't target the same market as In Time) .

Btw, the Québecois title is "En temps", which is the exact translation for "In time" (Québec usually does translate every title) but it doesn't mean anything (except when used in several expressions such as "En temps et en heure" (= In due course) or "En temps voulu" (= At the appropriate time)), so I think that's an even worse title than Time Out.

Thanks for going to so much trouble to answer my question. Much appreciated. I had a feeling that the reason was idiomatic.

 

[snooloui]

Capelight posted this on their Facebook page:

 

[BluSteel2012]

It mentions 'varnish' at the top.

 

[C.C. 95]

It mentions 'varnish' at the top.

I bet you never thought, that at one point in your life, the word 'varnish' would get you all hot and bothered!

 

[BluSteel2012]

I bet you never thought, that at one point in your life, the word 'varnish' would get you all hot and bothered!

Haha!

I'm just wondering if it's matt varnish or gloss varnish?