Subtitling life - When will Sky catch up? - by Eleanor

Hello!
 So, it may have been a few weeks.. *cough* or months *cough* since writing but its one of those strange things where life just happens and things just bumble along and eventually you find yourself wondering where did that time go. Yep that happened.

 So, I have been meaning to write this post for a few weeks now because I feel this is a really important matter.

 Game of Thrones.

Game of Thrones is back. At long last. Aren't we all so desperate to see what happens to Jon Snow? To Arya? To the poor dragons? And when is that winter coming??

 So, it finally arrives. Sadly I don't have Sky on my TV BUT I have access to Sky Go (basically online catchup of all Sky programs). After waiting with anticipation, I finally settled down to watch it, PJs on with the duvet pulled to my neck.

 IT DOESN'T HAVE SUBTITLES!

What? It must be a mistake? In this day and age? BBC Iplayer, Netflix, 4od, even Amazon prime have subtitles now? I google with frustration.

 'Sky Go does not have subtitles.'

Luckily, someone has already picked up on this and is fighting for equality. Apparently Sky on demand doesn't have subtitles, but they've recently commented on plans to put these on later this year. However, for Sky Go, it won't be until 2017 (see here for more info Sky gives in to deaf teenager's demands to provide subtitles for on-demand programming.)

 I really do wonder how difficult it is to put subtitles on. A few years ago I fought with my local cinema to put subtitles on and I got excuse after excuse about needing digital screens with layering and set legislation to put them on legally. I have no idea how much of this is true and to be honest I should probably look into it further. But why should I? Why should it be my responsibility to ensure that deaf people (there are more than 900,000 in the UK who are severely or profoundly deaf) have access to TV and films? Watching a show without subtitles is like watching something in french (I don't speak french at all). I would not get it. At all.

So, no Game of Thrones till 2017, or with any luck, the boxset *sad face*.

On a more positive note, I have been to see two amazing shows with captions this year. The first was 'Wicked' in London @ #Apollo Victoria Theatre. It was the first time I've ever seen Wicked and I loved it! I was hooked from the first song, 'No one morns the wicked'... *heart melts and mouth drops*.







I also went to see 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time' @ #Gielgud Theatre, London, with captions too. It was so cleverly written and I enjoyed every minute. The stage, the actors and the technical props, just bang on. The only slight thing I might comment on was that there was a lot of talking, which I knew from reading the book and the fact the main character is autistic, and was to be expected but wow, there was a lot to read! The other awesome thing is that the theatre sent me a synopsis before the show which was a really great idea to help anticipate what would be happening next and therefore be prepared for some of the dialogue. It can often feel like a lot to take in at once, to be reading, watching the show and following it entirely, so having that synopsis fresh in my mind, was really helpful.

I am now utterly hooked on captioned theatre showings and although I've not told anyone yet, I'm hoping all my christmas presents will be tickets to shows next year!