Saturday, November 20, 2010

“La force est avec toi”


Having a bit more time on my hands than usual, and, as always, trying to improve my French, I have indulged in watching television. The thing that has surprised me the most about French TV is the amount of American programming that has just been dubbed over in French. I guess my Canadian bias of forced Can-con has been ingrained into my expectations. I thought that there would be a plethora of French dramas and sit-coms, but in reality most of the French shows are talk shows or political commentaries that go way too fast for me to follow. In conversations with people from the lab, Keith has discovered that Quebecois programs are actually considered quite good and are really popular. I guess it is easier for many stations just to purchase dubbed over or Quebec content than actually create their own. With this in mind the majority of my viewing has been American content. I have gravitated towards shows that are high action with little need for huge discussions, or simpler kids’ shows. This has resulted in me watching some things that I would probably never watch in English like “Hannah Montana.” Yes, I know GROAN, but I can understand most of it. As well I have a couple times caught a show called “Medicopter” which is actually a German show about a rescue helicopter crew and how every episode they save the day. It is trés cheesy, and looks like it was made in the 1980s, but reminds me of watching “Danger Bay” as a kid. Does anyone else remember this show? This was one of the many CBC shows that structured my childhood.

My biggest indulgence at the moment is watching “Dawson’s Creek.”  I was fan of this clever show in high school and the early years of undergrad, but didn`t realize that it kept running until 2003. I am currently watching the later episodes in French and trying to figure out what happened in the gap of episodes I have missed. I do not understand everything, but I usually get the basics of the plot and find that some days I can even understand the specific motivations of Joey, Dawson and Pacey. I feel like this is a bit of guilty pleasure and something I would never watch in Canada, but really it is all in the name of learning so it must be alright. Yes?

Thursday night we were able to catch one of the “X-men” movies which fits all of my above criteria for understandable and enjoyable watching. Plus both Keith and I have seen it before, which makes things much easier to understand. After the movie was over we happened to flip channels to the end of “Star Wars.” Funnily enough there is very little need to understand the language of a movie when you have seen it a bazillion times. Keith in fact was able to fill in all of the dialogue himself in English. Luke as always destroyed the death star and “the force” reigned supreme. The educational tidbit I received from this quality viewing is that “force” is a feminine noun! So when I have a heated discussion in French about “Star Wars” in the future, I know I will be using the correct articles and prepositions. And let’s face it with Keith and a bunch a scientists around we all know that a “Star Wars” discussion is going to happen eventually.


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