Alfano, Vincenzo; (2021) Subtitling Gender Stereotypes into English: The Case of Comedy Italian Style. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Building on the research framework of the Descriptive Translation Studies, this thesis discusses the ways in which gender stereotypes in the cinematic genre of Comedy Italian Style have been subtitled into English. Developing from the late 1950s to the early 1970s and reaching its climax in the 1960s, the Commedia all’italiana is a cinematographic genre which centres on the satire of a rapidly changing society by targeting booming consumerism, entrenched religious and civil institutions, old gender stereotypes and new sexual mores. Comedy Italian Style therefore constitutes an ideal audiovisual corpus to explore the potential manipulation of gender that can result from the subtitling activity and this study focuses on the seven films released by the Criterion Collection. The analysis pays special attention to the strategies used by professionals when dealing with gender representation, and avails itself of a taxonomy of translation strategies for culture-specific references, modified and adapted for the translation of gender stereotypes. Ultimately, the main goal of the study is to gauge the degree of similarity or discrepancy that can be found between the way gender stereotypes are conveyed in the original and in the subtitled versions, and to assess whether the subtitled versions transmit the same, or different, gender stereotypes. The main questions addressed in the analysis are whether the gender stereotypes are kept, modified or deleted and whether the gender representation in the subtitled versions is similar, reinforced or softened. One of the principal trends highlighted in this thesis is the tendency to maintain source culture and intercultural gender stereotypes through the use of literal translation, although the extent to which other gender stereotypes are deleted, manipulated or even added to the subtitled versions of the films is also noteworthy considering the traditional perception of subtitling as a translation mode which remains closer to the source text.

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