OT: Two nations separated by a common language, or: Expletives don’t translate well

[An attempt to get back into blogging with something I have commented on before and which I am not conflicted about. Thanks for your toleration.]

Elton John (Taran Egerton) just before his first gig at The Troubadour, as portrayed in the movie Rocketman.

It seems like the audiences I’ve seen this film with are confused about whether it’s a comedy or a drama. I’ve heard just about everything in the cinema from broad laughter to singing to people sniffing back tears. But there are two scenes in it that call forth the same reaction every time I’ve seen it.

The first is the scene pictured above. Elton John (Taran Egerton) is ready to go on stage at The Troubadour when Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell) informs him that Neil Diamond and “half the Beach Boys” are in the audience. Elton is not enthused about this news, and stomps off to the bathroom where he shuts himself in a stall. After Bernie fails to reason with him, Ray Williams (Caleb Rowe) comes into the bathroom and reminds him that Dick James has paid for the trip and concludes by saying, “Now get out there and play, you little twat!” Elton then raises his eyebrows in a very comic way, and stomps back out of the stall. However, when I’ve seen the movie the gasps always cover the laughter. “Twat” is a much heavier thing to yell at someone in the U.S. than it is in the UK, I think.

The second is the scene where Elton and Bernie are sitting in a bar with the soul singers (played by James Pennycooke, Alexia Khadime and Carl Spencer) that Elton’s band has been backing up till then, discussing Elton’s future. Bernie notes that Elton is engaged to be married. The third singer (I think, Carl Spencer), who has stolen a kiss from Elton in an earlier scene, says, “What are you going to about the fact that you’re a fag?” Elton and Bernie look at each other in confusion. I think the U.S. audience — which is familiar with this homophobic slur — probably reads the scene differently than the UK audience would. I think at this point Bernie and Elton are confused — not offended — because it’s not until Bernie says, “what?” that the third singer (Spencer?) says, “Your little friend is a homosexual” (drawing the syllables of the word out and licking his lips ostentatiously). But the U.S. audience sees the danger of the scene much more quickly than either Elton or Bernie does and may potentially read their confusion as playing for time to deal with a potentially difficult moment (something Americans do a fair amount of and did more of, fifty years ago). The film does make clear the British meaning of the word, “fag,” in a much earlier scene, but at that point there are already sniggers; I think the clarification there is also potentially misunderstood by the U.S. audience.

It’s the little differences.

~ by Servetus on June 15, 2019.