MovieChat Forums > The Untold History of the United States (2012) Discussion > unbearable narration!

unbearable narration!

posted 11 years ago by oundjianm
6 replies | jump to latest

His narration is so distracting, watching a complete episode is becoming a tedious affair.

Not only is he depressingly monotone but his mid-sentence gasps for air while emphasising random words makes it hard to keep track of exactly what he is saying.

I am seriously enjoying the series since I have never really studied (nor have I found much relevance in) history and a lot of what I knew seems to be somewhat questionable after watching only a couple episodes.

I'm struggling with his way of speaking. I find myself thinking of other things in between his mid-sentence breaks and losing the gist of what he's saying.
I obviously seem to have a very short attention span but my god do I find it aggravating that he cannot deliver more than 10 words at a time.
I hope I'm not the only one finding it hard to follow the content of the series due to his bizarre narration.

[–] PrometheusTree64 11 years ago

God bless Oliver, but he indeed is not a narrator. After learning he would do the voiceover for this, I knew it would be a problem based on his closing narration for NIXON.

Stone delivers his narration as if reading poetry.

It's sweet and wistful, but can make it hard to follow.

My recommendation is to watch it over and over and just drift into OliverWorld to the point you don't notice it anymore.

But, yeah, at the very least, they should have mixed the vocal track upward.

--

Non-sequiturs are delicious.

[–] oundjianm 11 years ago

yeh I agree,
a few narrators would have made it easier to concentrate.
anyway, Still a great collection !

[–] daddie0 8 years ago

My recommendation is to watch it over and over and just drift into OliverWorld

This sounds like a terrible idea and too much of an ask for a series that has made such a poor decision in production. Who has time to watch something "over and over"? The point is they are losing their one chance to be heard.

I find myself getting distracted and all the information begins to run together as well. I also think it is 100% the pacing/narration. History should be told like a story, not facts (as we often learned in school) nor poetry. I'm going to try a bit more (half-way through episode two) because I am interested in alternative views, but if this keeps up I'm not sure I'll make it to the end.

[–] Kawada_Kira 11 years ago

I actually really like his narration. I'm not sure exactly why but I do. I was surprised when I saw so many posts here about how much people don't like it. I suppose I can understand that but I personally like it. He does talk kinda weird at times, putting emphasis in odd places, etc, but I don't mind. I like his voice.

"The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history."
Mao

[–] The_Boxing_Cat 8 years ago

OP: You must check out KEN BURNS documentary about WWII, not only is it a pleasure to watch (actually, ALL Burns' work is amazing), but he doesn't resort to using actors voices with manipulative background effects to be presented as actual quotes from individuals.
WHY not be upfront and leave out the special effects, IF this is a truthful account of history?

Don't confuse propaganda as fact!

[–] jslobojan 8 years ago

I am having a similar problem where I tune out because it is so bland. The information is good but I am sure I have missed close to 10 minutes an episode just because somewhere around the 30 minute mark it all turns to white noise.