Subtitle Stinginess

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on May 20, 2021). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

Somewhat niche personal pet peeve: The little “special features may not be captioned/subtitled” on home media releases. Why do studios seem to operate under the assumption that only people with perfect hearing will be interested in the behind-the-scenes goodies (or that even people with perfect hearing will never be in a situation where they want to pop subtitles on for some reason)?

If I could make a comfortable living off of it (or if I was independently wealthy and could do what I want), I’d love to have a subtitling/captioning business making sure that all parts of a home media release, including all special features (featurettes, specials, trailers, commentaries…it’s particularly nice when commentary tracks are subtitled, so that it’s possible to watch a movie with the original audio but with the commentary subtitles, or vice versa) had subtitle/caption options.