Translation Quality Assessment
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Voices and Silences: Exploring English and French Versions at the National Film Board of Canada, 1939-1974 Christine York Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctorate of Philosophy degree in Translation Studies School of Translation and Interpretation University of Ottawa © Christine York, Ottawa, Canada, 2014 Table of Contents Chapter One: Understanding NFB versions as a site of competing voices ................................................... 1 1.1 Interwoven threads of English and French production ........................................................................ 3 1.2 Defining a corpus ................................................................................................................................ 6 1.3 Defining concepts: Beyond source and target text ............................................................................ 11 1.4 Literature review: NFB ..................................................................................................................... 19 1.5 Literature review: Translation studies ............................................................................................... 25 1.6 Considering multiple voices .............................................................................................................. 32 1.6.1 Voice-over in film studies and audiovisual translation .................................................................. 33 1.6.2 Voice of the text ............................................................................................................................. 38 1.6.3 Voice of the “social actors” ............................................................................................................ 40 1.6.4 Voice of the translator .................................................................................................................... 45 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 48 Chapter Two: Translation as intervention, 1939-1956 ................................................................................ 50 2.1 The shifting dynamics of English and French production ................................................................. 51 2.2 The importance of versions in comparison to originals .................................................................... 57 2.3 Awareness of audience in the first English-to-French versions ........................................................ 63 2.4 An influential figure: Jacques Bobet ................................................................................................. 69 2.5 Versioning as intervention ................................................................................................................. 73 Conclusion: Translator’s voice in narration ............................................................................................ 81 Chapter Three: Voice-over as performance, 1956-1967 ............................................................................. 84 3.1 Renewal in French production: “Faire l’inventaire de ce qu’ils sont” .............................................. 88 3.2 Questioning the role and presence of narration ................................................................................. 94 3.3 French-to-English versions: A return to tradition ........................................................................... 103 3.4 The Moontrap: Voice-over as performance .................................................................................... 114 Conclusion: A voice-over version in need of retranslation ................................................................... 127 Chapter Four: New challenges of identity, new approaches to version making, 1967-1974 .................... 132 4.1 A movement away from version production ................................................................................... 135 4.2 Bilingual neighbourhoods, bilingual films ...................................................................................... 143 ii 4.3 “Extreme” versions.......................................................................................................................... 151 4.4 From voicelessness to voice in Aboriginal films ............................................................................ 160 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 170 Chapter Five: Women’s voices in two languages, 1970-1974 .................................................................. 174 5.1 Women in English and French production ...................................................................................... 176 5.2 Films that spoke to Everywoman... in English ................................................................................ 179 5.3 A different approach on the French side ......................................................................................... 183 5.4 Les filles du Roy and other female martyrs ..................................................................................... 189 5.5 Balancing nationalism and feminism .............................................................................................. 194 Conclusion: Opening up new pathways ................................................................................................ 205 Chapter Six: An ongoing history ............................................................................................................... 208 6.1 The voice-over version, then and now ............................................................................................ 212 6.2 The translator as mediating voice .................................................................................................... 219 6.3 Fragmentation .................................................................................................................................. 222 Filmography .............................................................................................................................................. 228 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................................... 233 iii Voices and Silences: Exploring English and French Versions at the National Film Board of Canada, 1939-1974 Abstract The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is unique as a state-sponsored filmmaking institution for its bilingualism: it has consistently produced and distributed films in English and French and made versions of some of those films in the opposite language. This doctoral thesis fills a gap in existing literature on the NFB and in translation studies by taking the versions as its object of study. The corpus is drawn from the vast body of audiovisual productions made by the NFB between 1939 and 1974, when voice-over was the preferred mode of audiovisual translation. Voice-over can refer to either the translated narration that replaces the original voice of narration-led documentaries, or to the audiovisual voice-over of documentaries built around interviews and spontaneous speech. Against the backdrop of asymmetrical language relations between English and French in Canada, this thesis offers a retelling of the NFB’s early history that emphasizes the intertwining threads of English and French production and identifies several approaches to version making. From 1939 to the mid-1950s, with English-language production dominant at the NFB and little original production in French, versions from English to French were a central element of film in Quebec. They bear witness to an interventionist approach to translating, whereby the original film is treated as raw material that can be shaped to appeal to local audiences. Subsequently, an increase in French original production, reflecting changing documentary aesthetics and growing nationalism in Quebec, led to a correspondingly higher number of French-to-English versions. These versions adopted a mediating approach by adding a narrator’s voice in English to originals iv that eschewed narration, bringing the innovative French films into conformity with the traditional model. The period from 1967 to 1974 is one of fragmentation and is characterized by a high level of non-translation, whether of the Challenge for Change/Société nouvelle films or those of Studio D. The few films that were versioned, however, showed great sensitivity to language. Non- translation of a different kind can be found in many Aboriginal films produced at the NFB. The NFB’s long-standing commitment to translation makes it a valuable site for studying audiovisual translation practices and changing language relations in Canada. Keywords: versioning, voice-over, audiovisual translation, NFB v Voix et silences : Une exploration des versions anglaises et françaises produites par l’Office national du film du Canada, 1939-1974 Résumé L’Office national du film du Canada (ONF), institution financée par l’État pour la création d’œuvres cinématographiques, se distingue par son bilinguisme, car il a toujours produit et distribué ses films en anglais ou en français tout en prenant soin de fournir une version dans la langue opposée. La thèse se penche sur ces versions et vient combler un vide dans