Culture

An Extremely Apt Commonwealth Games Subtitling Error Called Out Australia’s Shitty History

Well this is awkward.

by Tom Clift  5 April 2018
Commonwealth Games subtitle error

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Last night the Commonwealth Games kicked off on the Gold Coast, but not everybody was happy about it.

There have been a number of demonstrations by Indigenous Australians in the lead-up to the quadrennial sporting event. Protesters have called on the government, as well as visiting members of the royal family, to face up to the Commonwealth’s ugly legacy of colonialism and dispossession, and to address the ongoing inequality that affects Aboriginal communities in Australia.

All of which makes the following cock-up that much more embarrassing.

For those of you that weren’t watching (or maybe you were just so bored that you resorted to flicking absentmindedly through a magazine), the opening ceremony included a performance of the John Farnham classic ‘You’re The Voice’. Which, as I’m sure you know, contains the lyrics “we’re all someone’s daughter, we’re all someone’s son”.

Only that’s not what it said on the closed captions during the Channel 7 broadcast.

I mean, they’re not technically wrong.

The ceremony itself contained numerous references to Indigenous culture.

Meanwhile, at least three protesters, including former NT youth detainee Dylan Voller, were arrested outside the stadium after trying to gain entry.

A number of other demonstrations are planned during the games, while a protest ‘base camp’ has been established at nearby Doug Jennings Park.