PETITION to stop DVD studios from releasing those hideous multilingual DVD packages (1 Viewer)

[Shane Bryant]

As you may or may not know, some DVD studios have started releasing their DVDs with hideous French/English packaging in Canada.
All of us Canadians would appreciate it if ALL of you would sign this petition.
If you would like more information about the problem, feel free to email me at [email protected] or check out this thread

 

[Kenneth Vestergaard]

The petition is located at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/bay5/petition.html

 

[Rolando]

Well this was a good idea but as mention in the other thread here about bilingual cover, this is a no no:

We suggest that you follow the example of other DVD distributors, and have an all French package to comply with the Quebec law. The same applies to the disc art and inserts.

this would make it FUBAR... not good. We want ORIGINAL packaging EXACTLY like the US one from ALL STUDIOS. The only acceptable compromise would be reversable cover with French on the other side. A STICKER could mention this feature ON THE SHRINKWRAP of the DVD and NOT PRINTED ON THE ACTUAL COVER.

Bilingual and French only are UNNACCEPTABLE for reasons already coverd in the other thread. I cannot sign a petition that not only fight half a battle but actually suggest the use of one of the two methods we are fighting.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I agree with Rolando. If we must have French packaging available, do it on the flip side of the slip cover like Alliance had been doing, with a sticker on the shrinkwrap indicating it is there.

 

[Martin Fontaine]

And maybe package half of them with french on the outside so that Hardcore Quebecians who do not want to succumb to the evil of the English Language can "Honor their language" when checking the specs while purists can still read the french cover to make sure it's widescreen and know that when they get home, they can just flip the insert to have the proper artwork.

 

[Shane Bryant]

When I suggested having ALL french packaging, it was meant as having two packages... one that was ALL English and another that was ALL French - both of which would be available everywhere. I thought I was clear enough in the petition statement, but sorry if there was any miscommunication.

I too would be more than satisfied with reversible covers as well. Whatever is easiest for the studios.

 

[Neil Joseph]

And maybe package half of them with french on the outside so that Hardcore Quebecians who do not want to succumb to the evil of the English Language can "Honor their language" when checking the specs while purists can still read the french cover to make sure it's widescreen and know that when they get home, they can just flip the insert to have the proper artwork.

That sound like an idea.

 

[Rolando]

Just wanted to clarify it,
You see Shane the problem with a cover that is all French (no Enlglish on reverse) and another cover in English is that some stores might not carry both! STUPID as it might sound it happens just like separate Widescreen and Fullscreen releases.
I have lived this repeatedly with Thrash-Mart uh, I mean Wal-Mart. I wanted to buy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels there since they had the better price ( by $2) but they only had "Deux fils de..."! The F*CK IS THAT???
Going to another W-Mart was the same which means to me they actually CHOSE to only carry it with French covers. Don't bother trying to ask their oh-so helpfull staff for help. CLUELESS...
"Do you have this with an English cover"
"Uh..."
"THIS MOVIE but with an Enlish Cover instad of French..."
"Well... I don't... (holding disk) says here English and French tracks..."
YES I KNOW it has an English AND and a French track but..."
"I don't think so, it's only French cover"
"I know both covers exist I just want to know if you carry both!"
"If you did not see it next to it then..."
"THANK YOU BYE!!!"

Same thing happened at another chain with "The One".
REVERSABLE COVERS!!!
The Petition idea is great but it must emphasize this or I cannot sign and I thnk others feel the same. Thanks Shane and others for the help.

 

[Martin Fontaine]

Going to another W-Mart was the same which means to me they actually CHOSE to only carry it with French covers. Don't bother trying to ask their oh-so helpfull staff for help. CLUELESS...

Yeah, and the "It's only the cover, the disk still has an english track on it." argument, is exactly what the PQ/OLF is using to brainwash people into being reminded that their first language should be honored or something.

It's one thing to make all movies accessible to those who speak only french, but doing all this propaganda like that is just insane and desperate (I can't say exactly what the PQ is "Desperate" for because of Anti-Politics rules on HTF). I don't know if you read the Metro free paper in the subway, but around June last year, they had an article about a "Day of the Quebecian Dubs" or something and contained the quote (Which I translate because the article was in french) "We invite those who prefer original versions to try a new experience.". So whenever I buy a movie ticket, or a DVD I always speak english instead of french so I don't get remarks like "There's no french track on this DVD, you sure you want it?" or "That's the English version, you sure that's what you want?"

 

[Mathias Klemme]

What the heck is wrong (or "hideous") about french, I wonder...?

 

[Kenneth Vestergaard]

Ehhh Matthias, have you ever seen a bilingual cover?

The spine has the title of the movie in both languages which:

1) looks cramped

2) means you can't see the title from a distance

Same goes for front and back, stating everything in both languages makes it look cramped and unprofessional, and it makes no sense making the cover reversible when both sides of the cover has a mixture anyways.

It's hideous because it's a mixture of both English and French. If they would just make reversible covers with an all-English and all-French side, the French cover would be fine for the few who would like that, and the majority which prefers the unspoiled English cover art has that.

 

[Jean-Michel]

It's hideous because it's a mixture of both English and French. If they would just make reversible covers with an all-English and all-French side, the French cover would be fine for the few who would like that, and the majority which prefers the unspoiled English cover art has that.

I think it's a bit unfair to refer only to the English art as "unspoiled." If distributors followed this suggestion (which they should), then as far as I'm concerned the English and French art would be equally "unspoiled." I doubt you really meant anything by it, but perhaps there's some unconscious anti-French sentiment there?.....

 

[Kenneth Vestergaard]

No, I'm not anti-french. My DVD covers have always been in English and when some studio executive suddenly decides to put a mish-mash of French in between all of that, I call it English cover art being spoiled. Had it been the opposite it would have been French cover art being spoiled, but that's not the issue at hand.

I would like to add, what I do despise is various organizations trying to force the French language and culture down over the heads over as much of the Canadian population as possible, using everything that could even remotely classify as anti-French as an excuse.

 

[Mathias Klemme]

Kenneth, you're right. I just got Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (canadian version) and indeed, it doesn't look very nice. A sticker on the shrink-wrap would suffice, I think.

 

[Jean-Michel]

No, I'm not anti-french. My DVD covers have always been in English and when some studio executive suddenly decides to put a mish-mash of French in between all of that, I call it English cover art being spoiled. Had it been the opposite it would have been French cover art being spoiled, but that's not the issue at hand.

But you weren't referring to the multi-lingual covers, you were talking about the dual-sided ones -- with one side in French and one side in "unspoiled" English. I was simply observing that only the English side was "unspoiled" according to your post. I didn't mean to make a test case out of it.

 

[Kenneth Vestergaard]

Yes, and I stand by that formulation.

If the studios in France suddenly decided to write all of the movie titles of French movies in English as well as French on the covers, I would call it spoiling French cover art.

This is a case of adding French translations to a cover which was originally English, hence, spoiling English cover art.

 

[Jean-Michel]

This is a case of adding French translations to a cover which was originally English, hence, spoiling English cover art.

Sorry, I just don't see how making multiple versions of a cover is "spoiling" it. You seem to be saying that it's bad to translate an English-language cover for an English-language movie into a non-English language, but it would be okay if you redesigned the non-English cover from the ground up. I say it's not spoiled so long as it still looks good. The Criterion Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie uses the original French poster art with an English translation of the title, but I don't think it's "spoiled" at all. Your outlook is basically absolutist (it's either the original or it's spoiled) whereas mine is "utilitarian" (if it looks good, it's good).
But all this obscures the main issue this thread is about: multi-lingual covers, with two languages sitting next to each other, are ugly as hell. (Out of curiousity, does anybody know how DVD packaging is handled in other mutli-lingual countries, like, say, Belgium?)

 

[Martin Fontaine]

I would like to add, what I do despise is various organizations trying to force the French language and culture down over the heads over as much of the Canadian population as possible, using everything that could even remotely classify as anti-French as an excuse.

That is only true in Quebec. Here if you watch a movie in english and your first language is french you are called a traitor (I'm not joking, it happened to me!)

And add to that the extreme-lazyness of most French-Speaking Quebecians which makes them refuse to read subtitles. I mean go in EVERY other country where English is not the first language, and what do the majority watch? English with [Country's official language] subtitles. At work we have someone who recently immigrated from France and he told me that over there, about half the population watch their movies in english with french subs while here, maybe less than 10% of the Uniligual-French prefer OSL with subs.

I just watched Iron Monkey (English Dub) tonight and I can tell you that even though it is harder to follow a movie when reading subs, the OSL chinese is much better!

 

[Shane Bryant]

I just purchased Dick Tracy today, and it was nice to see that instead of multi-lingual packaging, it just has the "Version francaise incluse" yellow circle as Touchstone used to.

 

[David Mariez]

Read my posts on the thread that has as similar petition. The same thing is happening here...sigh.