Censorial Interferences in the Dubbing of Foreign Films in Fascist Italy: 1927-1943
RÉSUMÉ S’inspirant du projet d’Italia Taglia et de son étude de la censure visuelle et des autorisations de projection en Italie, le présent article a pour but d’explorer les interférences liées à la censure dans les versions doublées en italien de films étrangers projetés pendant la période fasciste. L’étude se concentre sur les pratiques liées à l’exclusion de texte verbal dans la langue cible, et illustre la réécriture à travers le processus de traduction des dialogues contenant des références dérangeantes à la politique, à la morale, et à la religion. Nous expliciterons l’influence des commissions de censeurs sur les studios de doublage ainsi que le rôle des censeurs dans le processus de traduction, lorsqu’ils ajustent et négocient le contenu des versions doublées en italien. ABSTRACT Drawing insights from the project of Italia Taglia and its study on visual censorship and screening certifications in Italy, this contribution sets out to explore the censorial interferences in the Italian dubbed versions of foreign films that were publicly screened during Fascism. This study looks at practices behind the exclusion of verbal text in the target versions and highlights the rewriting of translated dialogues which contained uncomfortable political, moral and religious references. It will account for the influence of the film censorship commissions over the dubbing studios and show how the censors interfered with the process of translation, adjusting or negotiating the contents of the Italian dubbed versions.
Censorship or Profit? The Manipulation of Dialogue in Dubbed Youth Films
Youth films are a field of special interest to AVT scholars due to the genre’s propensity for potentially disturbing content, both thematic and linguistic. In youth films the depiction of teenage sexuality, violence, crime and drug consumption often combines with strong language. Both represent problematic areas for the dubbing translators, who often act as censorial agents under the pressure of a number of factors, including target cultural norms and values as well as local regulations. Existing work on censorship in AVT has showed that potentially disturbing elements tend to be toned down, if not censored, in dubbed films. Based on both textual analysis and archival research, this study provides further evidence to previous research, while also showing the role of distribution companies in deciding the level of manipulation imposed on the film dialogue.
Shoeless Joe: Fantasy and the Humor of Fellow-Feeling
In his essay on Jean Paul Friedrich Richter, Thomas Carlyle writes of a humor that manifests itself in smile rather than laughter. "Richter is a man of mirth," says Carlyle, whose humor is "capricious . . . quaint . . . [and] heartfelt" (15). The three adjectives represent for Carlyle the essence of what he terms "true humor" because they suggest Richter's enormous respect for humanity. "True humor," he goes on to say, "springs not more from the head than from the heart; it is not contempt, its essence is love; it issues not in laughter, but in still smiles, which lie far deeper" (17). These smiles are not Hobbesian smirks of superiority1 but genuine signs of compassion for, sympathy toward, and empathy with the object of the humor. Carlyle further provides a direct link between humor and both pathos and nobility; the link is the smile of the caring man. For Carlyle, this smile is one of "fellow-feeling":