Everyday Canvas

Voice-overs in Real Life

Prompt: You probably heard about voice-over ▼

a piece of narration in a movie or broadcast, not accompanied by an image of the speaker

in movies, radio, and TV, kind of like putting words in one’s mouth. Sometimes, people do that to each other. They start with, ”She said” and they tell what seems to be most appropriate to them, and not what the person they are quoting has said. What do you think about this kind of a voice-over and/or has anyone done that to you?

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As far as the actual voice-overs go, I don’t like them. It usually happens in foreign language films; while you watch the actor’s mouth move one way, what comes out of it is different. Granted for people with visual deficiencies, the voice-over is a welcome addition, but I’d rather read the subtitles or try to understand the language especially if I have studied it a bit.

Another type of a voice-over happens in sports casting. Years ago, when I was watching tennis matches, a certain newscaster used to drive me crazy. She kept repeating every action with her words as if she were a radio announcer. I understand that some things need explanation for those who are alien to the game, but there’s no reason in saying something I am already seeing, for example, “Chris Evert is now running to the back of the court.”

In the public arena, tabloids have perfected the voice-overs, their way. They write whatever they want to write whether a celebrity has told them anything or not. Another way of negative voice-overs is taking a piece of what anyone has said out of context and making it sound as if it were the essence of what that person has said.

Coming to people telling others things you haven’t said as if it was you they heard it from, I equate it with slander which, when proven, is punishable by law.

A friend once complained to me that someone had told another person a lie, something she had not said, but the liar had told the other person that she had said it. This ended up in breaking up a business relation, in which the liar got the business from the person he lied to. I guess, this happens a lot in the business world. “Don’t tell you heard it from me, but a source in such and such a company says, their new acquisition is a fluke…etc.”

This may apply to private people, too. Unfortunately for me, while I was growing up, it was my mother who used to do just that. “She apologizes for not calling you on your birthday. She is too shy to say it herself.” This type of excusing my actions was never welcome. It could be that I never wanted to call that person in the first place.

Yet, the worst thing that happened was when she told a friend of the family, a newly graduated med student, that I planned to take the exams for the medical school because I had such a high esteem of him. I was a senior in high school then and was embarrassed out of my skin. Worse yet, I couldn’t dare to say she was lying. So I said I considered med-school briefly, only because I have respect for the profession. Not believing me, the guy was delighted, and this resulted in him stalking me until the day I married my husband. I am usually a very forgiving person, but this has been one of the things in my life that has been very difficult to forgive.

I had to write this, although it has been decades since. As they say: “Don't pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the gallon.”