"That voice is a real head turner."
Okay, we almost never hear anyone say that sentence. Instead, we more commonly hear, " He or she is a real head turner," as we tend to associate the statement with seeing as opposed to hearing.
I consider myself to be more affected by sound than by sight, although I am certainly influenced by both senses. But, I do not think I have ever stopped listening to a band or performing artist because of how they looked. I had been listening to the albums of the group Yes for several years before I ever saw a picture or a video of them performing. The first time I DID see some photos of them all together, I was surprised at the bell bottoms, long hair, and in the case of their keyboardist, a cape. I thought, "what the hell is this?" or something to that effect, then kept right on listening to them.
True, the visual influence of music did come into play; "they just look like rock stars," was a statement I read frequently in music press, and I would always go back to the same point, "yes, but their music sucks."
We all know many examples of successful "artists" who have less artistic talent but look awesome in the press shoot, right?
It is relative, but I think most would agree that we all appreciate when multiple senses get triggered at once; hence the "look and sound" that we tend to enjoy.
I am reminded of the movie, "Singin' in the Rain," a film I have seen probably 2000 times. In the film, which in about the onset of talking pictures in the film industry, the blonde bombshell has a really grating voice that poses a real problem for the film studio. They end up finding a woman (also very attractive, but more along the lines of a Mary Ann as opposed to a Ginger) with a very pleasant speaking and singing voice, and have her dub the voice of the glamorous film star in order to "fit" the voice to the look.
Seeing that movie was probably my first experience with dubbing, or synchronisierung (in German), and I have been fascinated by the concept ever since.
And besides that, I do tend to notice any contrast between sound and visual that doesn't quite compute. I am not talking so much about looking at the sun shine while hearing thunder in the background, but more like seeing a 30 year old huge body builder speak with a prepubescent voice. It just does not "fit."
I do not want to start talking unconscious biases, but I acknowledge that I have them. But bias is an awfully strong word and does not really pertain to the context here. After all, we have all been in restaurants or at parties and have heard someone laugh like a hyena, and have immediately turned our heads towards the noise, in order to see who it was that laughed that way. Let us face it, we want to see if the laugh fit the appearance of the individual. My argument about bias relates to me not judging them for how their laugh fits them, but it is true, I do like hearing laughter, and sometimes someone has such a pleasant laugh (which demonstrates a whole lot of character, appreciation for life and humor) that I just want to see who it is so that I can share in the experience.
I am getting slightly off track, so hopefully I can write myself back into the main topic.
Earlier this week, a friend of mine sent me a funny text. I had sent her a recording of me singing and playing piano. She had played it for her husband (also a personal friend), and he had responded to her question, "do you recognize the voice?" by saying, "is it the guy from Pulp?" referring to the popular band from the 90s.
I was actually quite flattered by the comment. For the most part, people tend to make only visual comparisons with me: Fred Gwynne, Tom Waits, or Ron Perlman are the top hitters. I used to take this a little too personally, but over time, have just accepted it as part of who I am, and how people tick. What is rather interesting, is that the experience has helped me understand a lesson in aesthetics. Perhaps the masses do not find a doppelgänger of Mr Waits or Mr Perlman to be the best thing ever, but there are plenty of people out there that do. In the early days of the Old Monk, I had a memorable encounter with a girl who absolutely was NUTS about Tom Waits. Something very similar happened at a Bernemer Kerb a few years ago when I found myself in conversation with a woman who had some particularly interesting fantasies about Hellboy.
Understandably, people will react to what they experience first. In public places, one is more likely to see someone before hearing them (unless you are in a crowded restaurant when the squeaky voiced muscle bound guy laughs obnoxiously). True, no one has ever said to me, "wow, you sound just like Tom Waits," but on the other hand, no one has ever said, "wow, you look just like Howard Carpendale."
Howard C is a South African singer who moved to Germany many years ago, and because a very popular Schlager singer in the 1980s. I knew nothing about this until one day I was sitting in a restaurant with Nadja, and our waiter made the comment that I sounded just like the singer. I was surprised, because I had no idea who the singer was, and furthermore, was baffled as to why such a young waiter would know the musician. The waiter himself was early 20s, seemingly way too young to listen to such music. It turned out that the guy's mother (or grandmother, perhaps both) were HUGE fans of the singer, and as a result, the guy grew up listening to that music. The waiter admitted that he was not particularly a fan, but did comment on how much I sounded like the singer. Interestingly enough, the similarity comes from how my German speaking voice comes across; there is no physical resemblance whatsoever.
Short pause here while I make a note about a future topic: our tastes in music and film are influenced by our parents, but it is pretty much one way traffic. I grew up with heavy exposure to the likes of Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole and Tony Bennett, thanks to my mother, but she and I never sat around discussing the finer points of why the Jam was such a great trio or why London Calling is my favorite album. To her, those things were either traffic congestion or making a long distance telephone call to someone in Britain. Meanwhile, I can probably still name almost all of the top 10 hits of the aforementioned crooners. And, if we need to talk about musicals from the 1950s and 1960s, I am your man.
We like what we like. We like what appeals to us. Some of us like film to always be in Original Version (without dubbing, and instead subtitled). Others prefer a dubbed version, where the dialog is in local market language.
Though I still prefer OV, as I believe this captures the true meaning, the true emotions better, I have become more acclimated to dubbed versions. Part of this is out of necessity, since the German market (like many other markets) tends to broadcast films and shows from other countries. The synchronization industry is huge in Europe, and I would be missing out on some really good broadcasting (from Scandinavia and from France) if I did not watch with dubbing.
The more time I spend abroad, I think I appreciate this concept better. I have several German friends who really really like British humor, and for years I could not understand how they were able to watch a sketch of Monty Python, an episode of Black Adder, or a film from the Cornetto trilogy dubbed into German; how would the humor translate?
I can better relate to this now, as I have recently been watching some French productions. I am a huge fan of French cinema, have a strong appreciation for French culture, and have a particular fondness for the French accent (particularly female accent), despite not being able to speak the language. To this day, albeit the opportunities are infrequent, I try and work the statement "gently shove" into any conversation with a French woman, just so I can hear her say, "leetle poosh."
In short, I know what I like, whether it be the look, the sound of a voice, and most importantly, the character.
My sister once commented that she was not a particular fan of the German accent, and I can understand why she said that, but also know that for me, who quite likes the language, there are plenty of examples of beautiful sounding German voices. But it is relative, right? Not everyone finds the guttural sound so pleasant, but consider the accent of the southern United States: some people hear hillbilly, while others hear Southern Belle.
I was eating flammenkuchen in a winebar in Marburg a few years ago, and our waitress spoke with such a wonderful German voice, I have wanted to return not because of the food, but simply to hear her again. That was a pretty intense situation where I almost lost the plot. Beauty (in my eyes and ears) is still intimidating. I was hardly able to consume my meal at the restaurant because her voice was so lovely. Intimidation is also relative: I am probably in the minority when it comes to being a guy who is unable to go through the checkout aisle if the clerk is particularly cute, but I have seen plenty of people stumble or flop around when it is clear they are interacting with someone they find attractive.
So when I started watching a French movie series based on Agatha Christie novels, I found myself in my element: a movie set in the 1960s, French culture, a murder mystery, witty characters, and one of the female leads happens to be kind of my "look." You might even say that she is a "head turner."
True, the actress is ridiculously good looking, but her appeal really comes from the character that she plays; it adds to things a whole lot. Said character happens to be a redhead, which really suits her. A friend of mine has a real thing for red hair; his reaction to redheads is very similar to what happened to me that time in Marburg, and not surprisingly, he knew the film series because of this actress. I totally understand why.
The one challenge with the series is that the OV broadcast has no subtitles, and I unfortunately cannot follow the French dialog. However, I found the German voices in the French production to be exceptional. In fact, the voices are so great, I actually checked the OV version to listen to the similarities in voices. You see, in dubbing exercises, the industry tends to find the local language voice which is really close to the original. They try and find the "fit."
What amazed me with this series is that I find that I actually like the German voices even MORE than the French ones. My respect for the synchron industry has really jumped up. Setting the cuteness factor of the impressive redhead aside for a moment, her character and the way her voice comes through her character is just incredible. I found myself looking up the German voice actress to learn more about her. She, too, is rather attractive (in my opinion), but it is the way she "voices" the role that I found ever more attractive. I now have a little crush on her.
In the films, the detective, who kind of plays a Cary Grant type role, has a secretary that is a blonde bombshell type. Her voice is a little squeaky, intentionally so. Again, I like the German voice even more than the French voice, though both are quite entertaining.
All in all, the show is brilliant, and keeps me wondering about my appreciation for French and German actresses, especially in the combination of seeing one and hearing another.
It seems that this phenomena is not just with one series. The other day, I was watching a British crime comedy set on a French Caribbean island. This show is only dubbed into German, but again, I am finding myself quite smitten with the German voices of the French actresses, who also fall nicely into Bryan's cute appreciation factor category.
When I am at a loss for words when in situations where I am overwhelmed by beauty, I tend to say very intelligent things like, "gosh."
"Gosh, that voice I heard last night in the movie...she sure is is a head turner."
hear you out there
bryan
No comments:
Post a Comment