The Films of Pedro Almodóvar
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UNIVERSIDAD DE LEÓN FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA Y LETRAS DEPARTAMENTO DE FILOLOGÍAS MODERNAS THE FILMS OF PEDRO ALMODÓVAR: TRANSLATION AND RECEPTION IN THE UNITED STATES MARÍA ROX BARASOAIN 2008 THE FILMS OF PEDRO ALMODÓVAR: TRANSLATION AND RECEPTION IN THE UNITED STATES Tesis doctoral presentada por Dª. María Rox Barasoain para la obtención del título de Dra. en Filología Inglesa por la Universidad de León, co-dirigida por el Catedrático Dr. D. Julio César Santoyo Mediavilla y la Dra. Dª. Micaela Muñoz Calvo UNIVERSIDAD DE LEÓN FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA Y LETRAS DEPARTAMENTO DE FILOLOGÍAS MODERNAS MARÍA ROX BARASOAIN 2008 To my parents and brother (A mis padres y hermano) Acknowledgements This dissertation became an adventure that took me much farther than I could have imagined. Along the way, there were many individuals whose guidance and encouragement made all this a reality. First, I would like to thank Professor Julio César Santoyo Mediavilla for supervising this thesis, for devoting so much valuable time to provide me with feedback, and for his support and encouragement through difficult times. I would also like to thank Dr. Micaela Muñoz Calvo for her help and extensive support during all these years. I have learned a great deal from her experience and vast knowledge in the field of translation studies. I wish to thank her for being such a great person and for making the arduous task of writing a dissertation easier than it would have otherwise been. It was in her doctoral course that I was introduced into the fascinating world of translation studies, and where the ideas behind this thesis germinated. This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Octavio and Marisol, whose unwavering support has always been of primary importance to me, and whose dreams have (I hope) finally come true. It is also dedicated to my brother Oscar who, in his own, particular way, has supported me as well. He has finally cleared his room of all my papers and no longer needs to suffer through my printing of thousands of sheets every single day. I thought I would finish this thesis before his wedding, but he was faster. My thanks also go to Patricia, his wife, who always encouraged me along the way. While many of my friends and family members lent me broad support along the way, some have made specific contributions to this dissertation. I wish to thank my dear friend Javier Muñoz-Basols who helped me a great deal with his knowledge and advice. His experience in the field of linguistics was essential, and his encouragement was of vital importance during difficult moments. He was an excellent host, together with Paweł Adrjan, during my stays in New York. They convinced me that I could do it. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me, for devoting so much time to me, and for being such great friends. You know that this thesis is also part of you. From this day on, new adventures are awaiting us. My gratitude also goes to my friend Francisco Fernández, a former professor at Bucknell University, whose thorough knowledge of cinema opened my eyes to this art. He helped me discover many new films, which have proven essential for this thesis. I will always remember our weekly meetings in which we talked about the sorrows of the never- ending process of writing. Once again, congratulations on your Ph.D.! I wish to thank Timothy Bozman, whose corrections have been invaluable. Thanks a lot for accepting this arduous task and for proofreading my work with such meticulousness. It was an honour that you agreed to help me, and it has been a pleasure to work with you again. I would also like to thank Marianne David at the Trinity School in New York, and Sabrina Kirby, a Writing Center tutor at Bucknell University, for their help and suggestions. I am especially grateful to the Gobierno de Navarra for the grant I received, which made this dissertation possible. I also owe my gratitude to Professor Alice Poust and Professor Manuel Delgado, at Bucknell University, for giving me the opportunity to work with them. Those two years were the beginning of my research on the reception of Spanish cinema by an American audience and were the source of inspiration for my ideas. And last, but not least, I owe special thanks to Eliseo for his support and love. When you came into my life, you gave me the feel I had been longing for. Thanks for encouraging me through the last stages of my work, and thanks for being so proud of me, as I am of you. I am so glad you witnessed the end of this dissertation. Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION 5 II. TRANSLATION STUDIES AND 16 AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION 1. A Brief Introduction to the Discipline of Translation Studies 16 1.1. Central Issues in Translation 23 1.1.1. Equivalence 23 1.1.2. Norms 26 1.2. Translatability and Untranslatability 31 1.3. Domestication and Foreignisation 35 1.4. Language, Culture and Translation 38 1.5. The Translation of Humor 41 1.5.1. What is Humor? 41 1.5.2. Humor Appreciation 44 1.5.3. The Translation of Humor 46 2. Audiovisual Translation 52 2.1. The Term ‘Audiovisual Translation’ 52 2.2. Two Main Methods of Audiovisual Translation in Films: Dubbing and Subtitling 58 2.3. Definition of Subtitling 64 2.4. The Origin of Subtitles 66 2.5. Types of Subtitling 72 2.6. Interlingual or Conventional Subtitling 73 2.7. General Features 74 2.7.1. Length and Time 74 2.7.2. Formatting, Expressiveness and Style of Subtitles 78 2.8. Subtitling: An Intelligent Solution 85 2.9. Constraints 88 2.9.1. Technical Constraints 89 2.9.2. Textual Constraints 90 2.9.3. Linguistic Constraints 92 2.10. The Film, the Film Translator, and the Audience 96 2.11. Subtitled Films in the US and Europe 101 2.12. Familiarity with the SL: An Added Value 104 III. THE CINEMA OF PEDRO ALMODÓVAR 106 1. Pedro Almodóvar: A Spanish Film Director 106 1.1. Characteristics of His Films 108 1.2. Pedro Almodóvar: A Postmodern Film-Maker 119 2. The Reception of Almodóvar’s Films in the United States 122 2.1. Reception Theory and Reception Studies 122 2.1.1. Modes of Reception 126 2.1.2. Dominance of Film and Video Industry by the United States 129 2.1.3. Censorship in the United States 130 2.1.4. Censorship in Spain 138 2.2. The Reception of Pedro Almodóvar’s Films in the 140 2.2. The Reception of Pedro Almodóvar’s Films in the United States 140 2.2.1. Almodóvar’s Films: Nominations and Awards 160 3. The Translation of Almodóvar’s Films 171 3.1. Methodological Aspects 171 3.1.1. Corpus 171 3.1.2. Delimitation of the Object of Analysis 172 3.1.3. Model of Analysis 173 A) Preliminary Aspects 173 B) Microstructure 176 3.2. Application of the Model of Analysis 177 3.2.1. Insulting and Scatological Expressions 178 3.2.2. Expressions Concerning Sexual and Bodily Functions 201 3.2.3. Expressions concerning Rural Life 218 3.2.4. Swearing 235 3.2.5. Slang and Colloquial Expressions 241 3.2.6. Accent 278 3.2.7. Culture Bound References 293 3.2.7.1. Food References 306 3.2.8. Vocabulary Related to Drugs 313 3.2.9. Wordplay and Sayings 315 3.2.10. Errors in the Subtitles of the Films 320 3.3. Summary of the Methods and Conclusions 324 IV. CONCLUSIONS 334 V. BIBLIOGRAPHY 347 1.1.Translation Studies 347 1.2.Audiovisual Translation 351 1.3.Translation of Humor 358 1.4.Reception Studies 360 1.5.Pedro Almodóvar 362 1.6.Films by Pedro Almodóvar 366 1.7.Dictionaries and Manuals 367 1.8.Websites 368 I Introduction This dissertation is the outcome of my admiration for Pedro Almodóvar and his work, as well as of my own professional and academic interest in the English language. After seeing the screening of Todo sobre mi madre in a movie theatre in 1999, I began to think about the problems audiovisual translators come across in the process of translating Almodóvar’s films, given his very particular use of language and humor. I thought that translating the speech of a character like Agrado might be very complicated for the translator, and I wondered what effect the subtitled version would have on a US audience. In fact, seeing Todo sobre mi madre encouraged me to discover the rest of Almodóvar’s work, and to follow his development through the years. In this long research I have become acquainted with the main characteristics of Almodóvar’s work, his characters, and the ideas and beliefs that he expresses through them. In the last five years, I have compiled many articles and books on this film director and his way of making films, and also on audiovisual translation. My research started during my two years at Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA), working in the Spanish Department. The facilities of Bucknell’s Library made this study possible, as I probably would not have found such a wealth of materials here in Spain. I found almost all his films with English subtitles, and they comprise the corpus of this dissertation I would like to add that I was very surprised to discover so many studies on Almodóvar, and to read positive critiques of his films, most of them from the Anglo-American world, in contrast to Spain where Almodóvar’s films have received mostly negative reviews.