Before The Three Amigos: on more traditional AV translation studies

Film Translation: problems of making the local universal s talkies: MLVs (multiple language versions) - attempts by Hollywood and its European competitors to create the same (successful) film in another language: - early re-makes that used same setting, same story line, same costumes; - re-making – only with different actors and language Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Problems of MLVs 1. aesthetic: standardizes cinema/story-telling (for profitability) standardizes characters and conflicts and solutions fails to attract culturally distinct/diverse audiences who want novelty, difference. 2. industrial/economic: technically too complex and expensive; different acting traditions and techniques; different work patterns (actors vs standardization). Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Learning from failure of MLVs - the reality of sound; it is specific, its specificity is important in creating and maintaining the cinematic illusion; auditory realism. - with advent of sound cultural/linguistic diversity becomes an immediate problem; - story-telling via film does not take place in a no-mans land; its specific sound creates awareness of specific plot structures, narrative patterns, gestures, behaviours; - this in turn creates an understanding of what a national popular cinema might be. Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Dubbing/Subtitling: 1970s Voege: 1977 Film translation options are determined by distribution/sales; - affected by national issues, size of audience, traditions, time factors, politics, economics, etc. Subtitling: is abbreviation and condensation of text; - simplification of text; - requires division of attention between image and text; - can comment and explain, and deal with wordplay; -can translate text within the image: street signs, notices, letters. Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Dubbing/Synchronization Every film is dubbed anyway: original actors post- synchronize text in studios; Dubbing with translated dialogue is the only option to supply the mass public with access to film; - obscures authenticity; sound and image no longer coherent; - less than faithful to the content; - problems with repeated, undifferentiated dubbing voices. Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Constant struggle Between image and sound In film, language is subsidiary to image; But only language is translated… The illusion of reality: of language/dialogues in the context of their culture is broken. The more authentic/specific the images are, the greater the discrepancy between image and dubbed (foreign) language. Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

AV in Translation Studies: from 1995, Strasbourg Subtitling: timing and creation of subtitles - readability, visibility - amount of text - type of AV material - pre-formed subtitles, imposed by Hollywood Dubbing: voice, content, censorship, costs - voice to match character; - one voice for each iconic actor; (even for interviews) - auditory realism – still/again; - dubbing as pedagogy: Ireland, Wales, Catalonia Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Research Difficulties: Fawcett 1. Material difficulties: transcriptions, random materials, access to materials; technical issues, even VHS wearing out. 2. Difficult to theorize: contingent to technology, time and place, diverse, editorial policies and distribution practices, danger of quantum theory effect. 3. Synchronization/Dubbing and Subtitling and Voice- Over: are we actually discussing translation? Or adaptation? Or commentary? Or transnational communication? Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Systematizing assessment of AV Translation (Goris 1993) AV translation: in all its forms - standardizes (francais international); - produces cultural naturalization (cf. Anne Lise Feral: Sex and the City in French) - explains (even dubs unheard dialogue, muttering, radio noise, etc (Sari Koskinen). Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Antje Ascheid: Speaking Tongues. Voice Dubbing as Cultural Ventriloquism Dubbing (auf Deutsch): - takes over the foreign (invader); - naturalizes and inflitrates it politically; - ignores and can destroy the artificial hierarchies of national languages; - dubbing undermines colonization (by Hollywood for ex.), and opens avenues for deconstruction, appropriation of power. No longer a foreign film: just a film! she claims… Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Francais international: a language of dubbing 1960s francophonie: francais international 1960s: decree that all French dubbing for France is done IN FRANCE (closed shop, industrial protectionism); 1970s: developing dubbing industry in Quebec – on veut sentendre (anti-English, but for access to popular culture.) 1978: anti-Quebec dubbing strike in France; Quebec industry: heavily subsidized, selective, only big films for mass distribution, intense time constraints, regularly ignored by Hollywood (due to small audience), huge time pressures but also cultural pressures …, Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Quebec specific cultural issues On veut sentendre: yes, but with pages of blacklisted words/expressions; no Quebecismes, no dialect, no slang; hyper-correct, proper French; no Quebec accent/pronunciation in voices; almost literary language used as oral language; dubbing of song texts/lyrics. Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Chicago Cell Block Tango : JUNE Now Im standin in the kitchen carvin up the chicken for dinner, minding my own business, and in storms my husband Wilbur in a jealous rage. You been screwin the milkman, he says. He was crazy and he kep screamin, you been screwin the milkman. And then he ran into my knife. He ran into my knife ten times. Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Chicago - Quebec Le tango du pénétencier (Quebec) Je suis debout dans un coin de ma cuisine. Je découpe le poulet pour le dîner. Je ne demande rien à personne. Dun coup mon mari Wilbur débouche dans la cuisine en hurlant. Je sais que tu te tapes le laitier. Il est devenu fou. Et il continuait à hurler: je sais que tu te tapes le laitier. Et ensuite, il a couru vers mon couteau, il a couru vers mon couteau dix fois. Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer

Chicago - France Le tango de la taule (Franco-French) Jétais peinarde à la cuisine, jdécoupais le poulet pour le dîner, bien tranquille dans mon coin. Dun coup mon mari Wilbur débarque fou de rage. Tu te fais sauter par le laitier. Il se déchaine, il gueule, il éructe. Te te fais sauter par le laitier. Et là il sjette sur mon couteau. Il sjette sur mon couteau dix fois Click View then Header and Footer to change this footer