Going to the Movies - Turning Tuscan: A Step-by-Step Guide to Going Native - page 160

Going to the Movies
W hen we lived in the States, going to the movies was more-or-less of a weekly ritual. If
there just wasn't anything worth seeing, we might skip a week now and then. But movies
were definitely one of our core entertainments. Now that we live in Tuscany, we go out to
see films only once every month or two. It's not that we deliberately deny ourselves; it's just
not as big a part of life. At least not in our region of Italy.
In Siena the downtown movie theaters close up for most of the summer. Summer block-
busters need not apply. That makes it really easy to forget about going to the movies. The
dominant form of evening entertainment for most people is going out to eat, and dinner lasts
from about 8 o'clock until 11 o'clock. How are you ever going to squeeze in a movie with
that schedule?
When the weather is decent, people are out and about until late in the evening. Hanging
out and socializing with friends and neighbors is the preferred way to spend an evening. By
and large, Tuscans still prefer reality to fantasy. Movies, video games, wide screen TVs and
home entertainment centers exist, but they serve as an occasional diversion, rather than as a
way of life.
For us, as for many of our friends, movie going is largely a winter sport. Sitting indoors in
a darkened room when it's cold and rainy outside seems like a reasonable thing to do; on a
warm summer night it feels perverse and sinful. When we catch wind of a new American
film that peaks our curiosity, we often have to wait for weeks, sometimes months, before it's
finally released in Italy. That's because the Italian crew is working feverishly on completing
the dubbing, and it's a laborious, time-consuming process.
In Italy, foreign movies are never sub-titled; they are always dubbed. Elsewhere in Europe,
movies and TV shows are regularly broadcast in English with on-screen sub-titles. In coun-
tries like Holland or Denmark, kids who grow up watching TV in English are almost fluent
by the time they get to school. Their accents are hardly noticeable when they speak English.
Their Italian counter-parts, on the other hand, rarely get to hear English spoken by a native
speaker. After years of studying grammar and vocabulary in school, their speaking skills are
often rudimentary while their accents remain quite pronounced.
Nevertheless, dubbing is not without its positive aspects, some of which will probably sur-
prise you. When Americans think of dubbed movies they've seen, it's more than likely that
they'd be happy forget the experience. They remember how the actors had paused in silence
while the soundtrack rambled on; or, how the characters' mouths moved, but no words came