According to a survey, half of Americans now watch television with closed captioning or subtitles. This is due to difficult-to-understand accents and muddled sound. Recent survey by PreplyThe hardest person to follow was Tom Hardy, a noted mumbler and Oscar nominee.
American viewers are often concerned about British accents. Shows like “Peaky Blinders” “Game of Thrones”This is the top-rated series with subtitles.
Hardy can often be seen behind a mask delivering his lines, especially in Christopher Nolan films. “The Dark Knight Rises” “Dunkirk,” but his manner of speaking has inspired articles like Vulture’s 2018 piece “Tom Hardy Needs to Learn How to Enunciate” and Dallas Observer’s 2020 list “Tom Hardy Movies Ranked by How Hard It Is to Understand What He’s Saying.” British director Nolan (who isn’t mentioned in the study) has also prompted Reddit threads such as “Why is the dialogue in Christopher Nolan films always so damn hard to hear?”His distinctive sound mixes are a highlight.
U.K. gangster series “Peaky Blinders,”According to the survey of 1200 respondents, the post-WWI Birmingham series is the most confusing for Americans. Hardy is the recurring character Alfie Solomons in the Netflix series. Cillian Murphy, an Irish actor, also plays this role.
The percentage of viewers using subtitles was much higher in younger demos (72% for Gen Z) than for Gen X or Boomers, which means it’s not just those who are hard of hearing using subtiles.
Other notables on the list are fellow Brits Sean Connery and Michael Caine as well as Idris Elba, Benedict Cumberbatch and James McAvoy. The only two U.S. actors mentioned were Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt, likely for their respective roles as Jack Sparrow and incomprehensible Irish boxer Mickey O’Neil in “Snatch.”
According to the study, 57% of Americans used subtitles in order to understand actors with accents. This includes accents from Scotland such as those found in “Outlander”The hardest accent to understand is the Irish accent, such as those found on “Derry Girls,”British accents are common in all backgrounds. “Downton Abbey,” “Bridgerton,” “Skins,” “Doctor Who.”
South Korean hit series “Squid Game”It is also listed on the Netflix list. However, the default setting is Korean audio with English subtitles. You can also view with English audio.
Only 18% of viewers said that they used subtitles. “learn a new language.”
