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In:Reassessing Dubbing: Historical approaches and current trends
Edited by Irene Ranzato and Serenella Zanotti
[Benjamins Translation Library 148] 2019
► pp. 245–262

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Chapter 12
Sleeping with the fishes

Italian Americans in animation

 | Università degli Studi di Milano
Published online: 6 August 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.148.12par
Abstract
The use of accents and language variation in films is a long established practice that manipulates language as a tool in the construction of characters, so as to convey specific characteristics. This is even more evident in animated films, where language is used as a quick way to build character and reaffirm stereotype. Shark Tale is an animated comedy produced in 2004 by DreamWorks Animation. The characters of the film speak different variations of American English, which are used to attribute different features to them. This paper will focus on a group of characters who present a series of elements (both on a narrative and a linguistic level) that makes it easy to identify them as Italian American Mafiosi, and on the strategies used in Italian dubbing.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • The Shark Tale issue
  • Shark Tale: Cultural and linguistic representation of Italian Americanness
  • Shark Tale in Italian dubbing
  • Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
  • Films and TV series
References (34)
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2024. Viewing Multilingual Films in the Original and Translated Version(s): What Message Do Audiences Receive?. In The Palgrave Handbook of Multilingualism and Language Varieties on Screen, ► pp. 239 ff. DOI logo
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2023. The representation of multilingualism in dubbing and subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH). Multilingua 42:5 ► pp. 675 ff. DOI logo
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2023. Subtitling the Mafia and the Anti-Mafia from Italian into English: An Analysis of Cultural Transfer. Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura 28:2 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
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Minutella, Vincenza
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Minutella, Vincenza
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[no author supplied]
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