Heterolanguage in Twenty-First-Century Cinema and Literature: Transnational Mediations By Mélissa Gélinas A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Comparative Literature) in the University of Michigan 2017 Doctoral Committee: Professor Frieda Ekotto, Chair Assistant Professor Nilo Couret Professor Jarrod L. Hayes Associate Professor Daniel Chilcote Herbert Associate Professor Christi Ann Merrill Language is at the same time a site for empowerment and a site for enslavement. And it is particularly enslaving when its workings remain invisible. ―Trinh T. Minh-ha, “Speaking Nearby” Mélissa Gélinas [email protected] ORCid 0000-0002-3978-5226 © Mélissa Gélinas 2017 Dedication À Renaud ii Acknowledgements The help and support of incredibly generous faculty, colleagues, friends, and family have thoroughly shaped this dissertation and my intellectual journey. I am very lucky to have worked with a remarkably empowering and dedicated committee. Frieda Ekotto has been a true mentor: she has always thought of me as a colleague, and this has meant a lot to me throughout this process. She has trusted me, my insights, and my ideas from the beginning. Frieda provided me with the most unwavering and comprehensive support, along with the motivation (and the cheese!) necessary to persevere. Jarrod Hayes offered such sharp and stimulating perspectives on Québécois and Franco-Canadian materials that I decided to look at them again, differently, eventually including in this dissertation elements that so deeply resonate with me. Throughout this journey, Jarrod has offered excellent advice and the most pleasant and joyful of conversations. Christi Merrill, in her “Translation After Orientalism” class and beyond, gave my thinking the guidance and space necessary for the conceptual core of this dissertation to start emerging. Christi’s encouragement to pursue the Graduate Certificate in Screen Arts and Cultures was crucial in turning my interest into a firm and utterly enriching decision. And I will never thank her enough for bearing with me even as I kept thinking and saying, “I don’t do translation studies.” Right! Nilo Couret generously opened his office and schedule for crucial early and renewed conversations about this project. He offered honest and helpful feedback along the way, and invaluable advice when navigating the job market. Daniel iii Herbert has helped me translate my knowledge and inquiries to a new field while enduring my “chronically late” condition in the classroom context. Dan’s engaging transdisciplinary curiosity and generosity have contributed more than he knows to my formation as a scholar. Dan cared about this project long before he became a member of my committee. I am very thankful for his time and dedication in helping me prepare for the next steps in my academic career. The Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan has been a vibrant and welcoming place to work. As a department chair, Yopie Prins has been a wonderful advocate for graduate students. Nancy Harris, Paula Frank, Judy Gray, Griffin St Onge, Keaten North, and more recently Joseph Johnson and Katie Horne were also crucial to my experience as a graduate student. The Department of Screen Arts and Cultures has also connected me with an extraordinarily stimulating community. Carrie Moore, Mary Lou Chlipala, and Lisa Rohde-Barbeau provided much appreciated help in navigating this other institutional home and the graduate certificate experience. I would like to thank the Department of Comparative Literature and the Rackham Graduate School for their generous funding throughout the years. Many funding opportunities have allowed me to attend national and international conferences yearly, to pursue crucial research, take courses, participate in summer institutes, learn languages abroad, and write this dissertation. I am also grateful to the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies for the African Initiatives Research Grant. It made attending the FESPACO possible, and it has allowed me to gain critical insights into the materials and context examined in Chapter 2. iv Many others at the University of Michigan have actively contributed to my Ph.D. journey. Tatjana Aleksic and Caryl Flinn provided insightful and friendly advice well beyond the classroom and a healthy supply of humour about Canadians along the way. Fernando Arenas, Linda Mokdad, and Colin Gunckel welcomed me into their classrooms and helped me build and work through the foundations of Chapters 1 and 2. Matthew Solomon was especially generous in his mentorship, and his interest in classical film theory beyond the Euro-American and Anglophone spheres turned a term project into one of the most thrilling tasks of my graduate career. His encouragement was instrumental in opening new possibilities for my work. I am also indebted to the fascinating conversations I had with Ross Chambers, Markus Nornes, Phil Hallman, and Mark Kligerman. Ever since I embarked on this journey―o mejor dicho―ever since Cuban detective Mario Conde convinced me to decline that OISE fellowship, I have constantly renewed my passion for the thrilling and fulfilling pursuit of an academic career. But becoming a scholar was not my destiny. I am forever grateful to my lucky stars for those who have inspired me and contributed to making this pursuit possible and incredibly rewarding: Jean Paquin, Hélène Dupuis (a.k.a Madame Hélène), Afef Benessaieh, Alejandro Zamora, Suzanne Langlois, Jane Gilbert, Tsila Ratner, Martine Delvaux, Sherry Simon, Simon Harel, Tijana Mamula, Lisa Patti, Isabelle St-Amand, Sarah Henzi, and Masha Salazkina. I am also especially grateful to Lisa Patti, Isabelle St-Amand, and Masha Salazkina for their support with the postdoctoral application process. Your work and your v thoughtful advice have helped me identify exciting new directions for my research; you have helped me see the possibilities this dissertation has opened up for me. Many thanks to my fellow graduate students and friends for making me grow in heart and head during the past six years. My particular thanks go to my fellow cohort member, fellow graduate student representative, co-organiser, and friend Harry Kashdan; to my fellow GSI and friend (the grandest woman on this planet and my sincerest inspiration), Sara Hakeem; to the “crap food dinner” crew; and to my friends Alexander Aguayo, Geneviève Creedon, Jocelyn Frelier, Irene Inatty, Leigh Korey, Preston Pasko, Shira Schwartz, Mariane Stanev, and Shannon Winston. Many special thanks to Geneviève Creedon, Sara Hakeem, Corine Tachtiris, and Patrick Tonks for their help with the job market. I also thank Philip Sayers and Jocelyn Frelier for being brilliant interlocutors and collaborators. Je dédie cette thèse à mes proches. À ma famille―À ma mère, Linda Bellemare, pour sa confiance, sa présence et son aide dévouée. À mon père, Michel Gélinas, pour une soif de comprendre et une curiosité contagieuse et, depuis toujours, le dialogue. À vous deux, mes parents, pour beaucoup d’amour, un sens du travail acharné, des pieds sur terre bien plantés et un vent dans les voiles que vous avez su encourager. À ma grande sœur, Mylène Gélinas, pour ses encouragements constants (les jolly ranchers autour du monde, le happy box de minion, les colleux, les sourires) et pour être aussi mon amie. À mon petit frère, Anthony Gélinas, pour suivre la performance des Wolverines à ma place (fiouff!) et pour son intérêt pour vi mon parcours. À ma petite sœur, Claudia Gélinas, pour les facetimes, les parties de train et de bines et pour m’avoir (des fois) laissé finir mes travaux à l’ordi tranquille. À Guillaume Robin, mon beau-frère, pour les questions sur la vie au Michigan, pour la course à pied et pour les scotchs. À tous mes Gélings, merci de votre patience avec ma bougeotte et de votre présence infaillible dans une vie que je suis heureuse et fière de partager avec vous. À Jean-Claude Campeau, Francine Durand, Charlie Campeau et Stéphane Campeau. À Guy Boulanger, Sylvie Boulanger et Caroline Lavoie. À tous les membres de ma deuxième famille pour leurs encouragements, leur générosité, leur grande curiosité et pour toujours prendre le temps de prendre le pouls de mes étapes. À ma deuxième mère et mon amie, Renée-Johanne Campeau, pour une présence aimante, sincère et capacitante depuis les tous débuts. Pour un souci de mon devenir allant bien au-delà des liens qui « en surface » nous unissent. Pour les road trips vers Ann Arbor et ceux à venir, pour les conversations passionnantes et pour l’envie de traduire ma thèse pour que tu puisses la lire. À ma meilleure amie, Marie-Joëlle Robichaud, pour une complicité inégalée et un parcours croisé qui m’ont tant aidé à avancer. Pour une amitié vraie, dans toutes ses couleurs. Par-dessus tout, à Renaud Boulanger, mon amoureux, mon ami, mon confident, mon plus grand allié, mon compagnon de parcours le plus aimant. À toi pour des ailes et la force, les rires et leur contraire. À toi pour une proximité malgré des distances océaniques ou tout « simplement » nord-américaines. À toi pour le projet et la vii concrétisation de ce doctorat, pour tous les efforts qu’il nous a coûtés. À toi pour une écoute et une confiance sans cesse renouvelées. À toi surtout, à toi pour beaucoup, beaucoup, beaucoup. Voy contigo. viii Table of Contents Dedication ii Acknowledgements iii Abstract x Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Trailers/Filters: Untranslated Indigenous Languages in Transnational Latin American Cinema 30 Chapter 2 “Francophone” Sub-Saharan African Cinema as Global Art Cinema: Heterolanguage and “Utopian Spectatorship” 47 Chapter 3 Remaking Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) 84 Chapter 4 From Canada to … Canada? “Sub-dubbing” Chiac in France Daigle’s Pour sûr (2011) 170 Conclusion 262 Appendix 1 Médium large—Segment “Canada: The Story of Us” Translated Transcript 269 Bibliography 275 ix Abstract “Heterolanguage in Twenty-First-Century Cinema and Literature: Transnational Mediations” analyses multilingual films and novels that prominently feature “heterolanguage,” or a language that is not easily accessible to part or all of a text’s target audience.