![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Some Firefly fans are starting up Firefly Between the Lines, "an unofficial, fan audio drama where Serenity flies again..." They're currently auditioning for a cast.
Now, I'm not morally opposed to people podcasting a prequel to the TV show. That could be really entertaining. My problem is that I looked at the audition sides for the various characters. The English lines for each character are specific and relevant. The Chinese lines are identical for each character. Moreover, there is no translation so chances are good that most auditioners won't have a clue what they're saying. As you know Bob, the best way to imbue a line with meaning and intention is to intone words as if they were a set of random syllables. (Worse yet, they use a rather unusual romanization. Googling those phrases will likely not find an acceptable translation.)
[I can hear the response now: "Don't you have something better to get angry about?" This question makes the rather weird assumption that people can be angry or concerned about only one thing at a time, or ever. I can be concerned about this and a whole bunch of other things at once. So, yes, I do have better things to get angry about but that doesn't mean I can't be angry about this too.]
The way they're conducting auditions doesn't bode well for how Chinese will be used in their fan audio drama. While the TV show didn't cover itself in glory, much of the post-hoc fan rationalizations for the use of Chinese unintentionally perpetuate stereotypes and prejudices that one hopes would have died by the 26th century. e.g., from The Firefly and Serenity Database: "Over time, folks figured out what they are and started replacing different parts of speech with whichever language that related their thoughts the best. A doctor in the 26th century wouldn't hope to explain chi flow in English, for instance, any more than a control station would give docking instructions in Chinese." Do I really need to unpack why this is problematic?
Then again, given the sheer lack of Chinese people on the show, maybe it's not the stereotypes and prejudices that have died out by the 26th century, but the Chinese people as a whole, except for that one guy in the Fruitie-Oatie Bar commercial. (Yes, there's a post-hoc fan rationalization for the lack of Chinese people too. Saying that the crew, as a matter of dramatic interest, just happened to have never visited any place where there were Chinese people is not exactly non-insulting.)
*sigh*
Anyway, just in case anyone is going to audition: The two Chinese phrases they're asking you to say, in order, mean: "You're not up to snuff, you bastard." and "Mind your own business!" I would post a pronunciation guide, but I'm not seeing the point.
Of course, there's a post-hoc fan rationalization for the poor pronunciation. I admit, this one actually makes some sense: linguistic drift. Why should we expect Chinese of the 26th century to sound anything like the Chinese of today. Now that I think about it, that would explain why they mispronounce all the English words too. Oh wait...
[I should point out that, on balance, I liked Firefly a lot. That doesn't mean it doesn't also fail for me in some ways. How sad though that as fans make the show their own, they will continue to fail in the same ways. I'm left thinking that either they didn't consider these issues, which would make me sad, or they did consider these issues, which would make me sadder.]
Now, I'm not morally opposed to people podcasting a prequel to the TV show. That could be really entertaining. My problem is that I looked at the audition sides for the various characters. The English lines for each character are specific and relevant. The Chinese lines are identical for each character. Moreover, there is no translation so chances are good that most auditioners won't have a clue what they're saying. As you know Bob, the best way to imbue a line with meaning and intention is to intone words as if they were a set of random syllables. (Worse yet, they use a rather unusual romanization. Googling those phrases will likely not find an acceptable translation.)
[I can hear the response now: "Don't you have something better to get angry about?" This question makes the rather weird assumption that people can be angry or concerned about only one thing at a time, or ever. I can be concerned about this and a whole bunch of other things at once. So, yes, I do have better things to get angry about but that doesn't mean I can't be angry about this too.]
The way they're conducting auditions doesn't bode well for how Chinese will be used in their fan audio drama. While the TV show didn't cover itself in glory, much of the post-hoc fan rationalizations for the use of Chinese unintentionally perpetuate stereotypes and prejudices that one hopes would have died by the 26th century. e.g., from The Firefly and Serenity Database: "Over time, folks figured out what they are and started replacing different parts of speech with whichever language that related their thoughts the best. A doctor in the 26th century wouldn't hope to explain chi flow in English, for instance, any more than a control station would give docking instructions in Chinese." Do I really need to unpack why this is problematic?
Then again, given the sheer lack of Chinese people on the show, maybe it's not the stereotypes and prejudices that have died out by the 26th century, but the Chinese people as a whole, except for that one guy in the Fruitie-Oatie Bar commercial. (Yes, there's a post-hoc fan rationalization for the lack of Chinese people too. Saying that the crew, as a matter of dramatic interest, just happened to have never visited any place where there were Chinese people is not exactly non-insulting.)
*sigh*
Anyway, just in case anyone is going to audition: The two Chinese phrases they're asking you to say, in order, mean: "You're not up to snuff, you bastard." and "Mind your own business!" I would post a pronunciation guide, but I'm not seeing the point.
Of course, there's a post-hoc fan rationalization for the poor pronunciation. I admit, this one actually makes some sense: linguistic drift. Why should we expect Chinese of the 26th century to sound anything like the Chinese of today. Now that I think about it, that would explain why they mispronounce all the English words too. Oh wait...
[I should point out that, on balance, I liked Firefly a lot. That doesn't mean it doesn't also fail for me in some ways. How sad though that as fans make the show their own, they will continue to fail in the same ways. I'm left thinking that either they didn't consider these issues, which would make me sad, or they did consider these issues, which would make me sadder.]
