Asian titles, Western movies

Asia gives bizarre new titles to Western movies. This pic shows Julia Roberts in "The Sparrow Becomes the Empress", better known as "Pretty Woman"

Did you ever see that enjoyable Julia Roberts comedy movie The Sparrow Becomes the Empress?
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Or that utterly brilliant Harrison Ford sci-fi classic Silver Wing Killer?
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No? Well, actually, you probably did see them. Although they may have carried their alternative titles, Pretty Woman and Bladerunner.
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In Asia, we don’t just subtitle Western movies. We enhance them, we invigorate them, we totally reinvent them by giving them eyecatching and mellifluous new names in vernacular languages. Just call it poetic licence.
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Come on, admit it: which is the most intriguing title? The English Patient, yawn yawn? Or, as the movie was named in Taiwan, The English Lover? Or better still, the Hong Kong version: Don’t Ask Who I Am?
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Few Asians have any idea what is meant by the slang British idiom The Full Monty. But the mainland Chinese title of the film was wonderfully clear, if a touch unsubtle: Six Naked Pigs.
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This works both ways, with Chinese movies changing name when traveling west. The new Chinese movie Summer Days of a River City is set to be released overseas as Luxury Car. Lam Tze-Chung’s movie listed in English as I'll Call You is actually named Have a Cup of Tea If You Have Time if you read the Chinese characters.
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But West-to-East renamings tend to be more entertaining, because they are not dreamed up by creative moviemakers trying to express the essence of a story, but by distributors trying to make a fast buck—sometimes by taking remarkable liberties. For example, The Cable Guy became Trump Card Specialist and Liar Liar became Trump Card Big Liar. These make no sense until you realize that “Trump Card” is Asian moviegoers’ label for Jim Carrey, whose first successful movies in the region were the Ace Ventura series (“Ace” being translated as Trump Card).
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The logic veered off track rather when the first Austin Powers movie was released as in Taiwan as Trump Card Big Spy. It starred Mike Myers rather than Jim Carrey, but distributors apparently thought that was too subtle a difference to worry about. Confusing? Just a bit.
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In Taiwan, The Blair Witch Project became Night in a Cramped Forest. But an embarrassingly bad erotic parody called The Bare Wench Project was released as Night in a Cramped Forest 2, as if it was the sequel. (The actual sequel had to settle for a different title: Spirits of the Dead Roar.)
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After observing the phenomenon for years, I conclude that movie distributors in Greater China enjoy rescuing Western movie titles from their tendency to be over-clever. Deep Impact became Earth and Comet Collide, and Eyes Wide Shut became Eyes Wide Open.
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While doing this, they sometimes come up with genuinely creative and memorable titles (The Professional became This Hit Man Is Not As Cold As He Thought.) Anyway, next time you see Julia, tell her that the Free Planet Press gang are looking forward to The Sparrow Becomes the Empress 2.
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[Thanks to Mr Jam for this report]

Comments

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Thanks for the hilarious post, i laughed so loud that my mom woke up :) It's very interesting to discover such things about other cultures, thanks.

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That's so funny! What were they thinking when they translated Pretty Woman???