Accents and stereotypes in animated films. The case of Zootopia (2016)


Abstract


Language variation is an extremely useful tool to convey information about a character, even when this means playing with stereotypes, which are often associated to some dialects and sociolects (Lippi-Green 1997). Accents generally bear a specific social meaning within the cultural environment of the source text, this being the main reason why they are often particularly difficult to translate with varieties of the target language, even though there are several cases where this strategy proved to be a valid choice, especially in animation (Ranzato 2010). Building on previous research on the language of cartoons (Lippi-Green 1997, but also more recently Bruti 2009, Minutella 2016, Parini 2019), this study is aimed at exploring language variation and how this is deeply connected to cultural stereotypes in the animated Disney film Zootopia (Howard et al. 2016). After giving an outline of the social and regional varieties of American English found in the original version (Beaudine et al. 2017; Crewe 2017; Soares 2017) a special focus will be given to the Italian adaptation of the film through the analysis of the strategies chosen by adapters to render a similar varied sociolinguistic situation in Italian, with particular interest in the correspondence between language and stereotype.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i22390359v40p361

Keywords: sociolinguistics; accents; AVT; dubbing; animation

References


Armiero M. 2016, I neoborbonici contro la Disney per la donnola che parla napoletano, in “Corriere della Sera”, 22.02.2016.

Beaudine G., Osibodu O. and Beavers A. 2017, Disney's Metaphorical Exploration of Racism and Stereotypes: A Review of Zootopia, in “Comparative Education Review” 61 [1], pp. 227-234.

Bianchi F. 2010, Shark Tale. Un cartone animato per insegnare la creatività nella sottotitolazione, in De Rosa G.L. (ed.), Dubbing Cartoonia: mediazione interculturale e funzione didattica nel processo di traduzione dei cartoni animati, Napoli, Loffredo Editore, pp.77-92.

Blake R., Shousterman C. and Newlin-Łukowicz L. 2015, African American Language in New York City, in Lanehart S. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of African American Language, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 280-298.

Bruti S. 2009, From the US to Rome passing through Paris: accents and dialects in The Aristocats and its Italian dubbed version, in Chiaro D., Marrano G. and Nadiani G. (eds.), The Translation of Dialects in Multimedia, Special Issue of InTRAlinea, http://www.intralinea.org/print/article/1713 (26.07.2018).

Bruti S. and Vignozzi G. 2016, Voices from the Anglo-Saxon World: Accents and Dialects Across Film Genres, in “Status Quaestionis” 11, pp. 44-74.

Chiaro D. 2008, Where have all the varieties gone? The vicious circle of the disappearance act in screen translations, in Helin I. (ed.), Dialect for All Seasons, Münster, Nodus Publikationes, pp. 9-25.

Chiaro D. 2009, Issues in Audiovisual Translation, in Munday J. (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Translation Studies, New York, Routledge, pp. 141-165.

Chiaro D. 2010 (ed.), Translation, Humour and the Media, London, Continuum.

Crewe D. 2017, Animal harm, in “Screen Education” 84, pp. 26-35.

De Rosa G.L., Bianchi F., De Laurentiis A., Perego E. 2014 (eds.), Translating humour in audiovisual texts, Bern, Peter Lang.

Di Giovanni E., Diodati F. and Franchini G. 1994, Il problema delle varietà linguistiche nella traduzione filmica, in Bollettieri Bosinelli R.M., Gavioli L. and Baccolini R. (eds.), Il doppiaggio: trasposizioni linguistiche e culturali, Bologna, CLUEB, pp. 99-104.

Di Giovanni E. 2007, Disney Films: Reflections of the Other and the Self, in “Culture, Language and Representation” 4, pp. 91-109.

Dore M. 2020, Revoicing Otherness and Stereotypes via Dialects and Accents in Disney’s Zootopia and its Italian Dubbed Version, in Dore M. and Geyer K. (eds.), New Perspectives in Dialect and Multimedia Translation, Special Issue of InTRAlinea. http://www.intralinea.org/specials/article/2465 (01.12.2020).

Ferrari C.F. 2011, Since when is Fran Drescher Jewish?: dubbing stereotypes in The Nanny, The Simpsons, and The Sopranos, Austin, University of Texas Press.

Gregory M. 1967, Aspects of Varieties Differentiation, in “Journal of Linguistics” 3, pp. 177-197.

Guerrasio J. 2017, Zootopia directors: Why the movie has a special meaning after the Trump victory, in “Business Insider”, 19.01.2017. https://www.businessinsider.com/zootopia-meaning-trump-presidency-2017-1?IR=T.

Haller H.W. 1987, Italian speech varieties in the USA and the Italian-American community, in “Italica” 64 [3], pp. 393-409.

Hodson J. 2014, Dialect in film and literature, Houndmills, Palgrave MacMillan.

Iaia P.L. 2018, The Representation of Foreign Speakers in TV Series: Ideological Influence of the Linguacultural Background on Source and Target Scripts, in Ranzato I. and Zanotti S. (eds.), Linguistic and Cultural Representation in Audiosual Translation, New York, Routledge, pp. 147-162.

Kozloff S. 2000, Overhearing film dialogue, Berkeley, University of California Press.

Lippi-Green R. 1997/2012, English with an Accent: language, ideology, and discrimination in the United States, London/New York, Routledge.

Minutella V. 2016, British Dialects in Animated Films: The Case of Gnomeo & Juliet and its Creative Italian Dubbing, in “Status Quaestionis” 11, pp. 222-259.

Nielsen S. 2019, Living in Zootopia: Tracking the Neoliberal Subject in a Colorblind World, in Turner S.E. and Nielsen S. (eds.), The Myth of Colorblindness: Race and Ethnicity in American Cinema, London, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 61-88.

Parini I. 2009, The Transposition of Italian-American in Italian Dubbing, in Federici F.M. (ed.), Translating Regionalised Voices in Audiovisuals, Roma, Aracne, pp. 157-176.

Parini I., 2019, Sleeping with the Fishes: Italian Americans in Animation, in Ranzato I. and Zanotti S. (eds.), Reassessing Dubbing: Historical Approaches and Current Trends, John Benjamins, Amsterdam/ Philadelphia, pp. 246-262.

Pavesi M. 1994, Osservazioni sulla (socio)linguistica del doppiaggio, in Bollettieri Bosinelli R.M., Gavioli L. and Baccolini R. (eds.), Il doppiaggio: trasposizioni linguistiche e culturali, Bologna, CLUEB, pp. 129-142.

Pavesi M. 2005, La traduzione filmica. Tratti del parlato doppiato dall’inglese all’italiano, Roma, Carocci.

Ranzato I. 2010, La Traduzione Audiovisiva. Analisi degli elementi culturospecifici, Roma, Bulzoni.

Ranzato I. 2016, Translating Culture Specific References on Television: The Case of Dubbing, New York/London, Routledge.

Ranzato I. et al. 2017, “101 Dalmatians”, “Aladdin”, “The Aristocats”, “Cinderella”, “The Lion King”, “Peter Pan”, “Sleeping Beauty”, in Dialects in Audiovisuals. https://dialectsinav.wixsite.com/home/filmsntv (17.12.2019).

Ranzato I. 2018a, The Cockney persona: the London accent in characterisation and translation, in “Perspectives” 27 [2], pp. 235-251.

Ranzato I. 2018b, The British Upper Classes: Phonological Fact and Screen Fiction, in Ranzato I. and Zanotti S. (eds.), Linguistic and Cultural Representation in Audiosual Translation, New York, Routledge, pp. 203-227.

Rossi F. 2006, Il linguaggio cinematografico, Roma, Aracne.

Soares T.O. 2017, Animated Films and Linguistic Stereotypes: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Accent Use in Disney Animated Films, MA thesis, Bridgewater State University.

Sobrero A.A. and Miglietta A. 2006, Introduzione alla Linguistica Italiana, Roma, Laterza.

Trudgill P. 2000, Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, London, Penguin.

Wolfram W. and Schilling N. 2015, American English: Dialects and Variation, Malden, Blackwell Publishing.


Full Text: pdf

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.