Holy gee: blasphemies and insults against religious figures in italian film dubbing
Blasphemies and insults against religious figures have entered everyday life, a tendency increasingly mirrored in American-English films. This paper firstly explores whether this statement is true and, in that case, it analyses how religious swearwords are rendered in Italian films. To this aim, a c...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Italian |
| Published: |
Milano University Press
2019-02-01
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| Series: | Lingue e culture dei media |
| Online Access: | https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/LCdM/article/view/11211 |
| _version_ | 1797759279268102144 |
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| author | Patrizia Giampieri |
| author_facet | Patrizia Giampieri |
| author_sort | Patrizia Giampieri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Blasphemies and insults against religious figures have entered everyday life, a tendency increasingly mirrored in American-English films. This paper firstly explores whether this statement is true and, in that case, it analyses how religious swearwords are rendered in Italian films. To this aim, a corpus of mostly American films dating from 1974 to 2015 has been created. What emerges from the analysis, is that Italian translators tend to omit blasphemies owing to self-censorship, legal constraints, and/or social non-acceptance. Epithets against religious figures are among the worst swearwords an Italian could hear or utter. For this reason, foul language is generally lessened or turned into mere appeals to divinities. In other instances, a shift to scatology or sex takes place. This paper's findings reveal that, in most cases, the swearwords uttered do not do justice to the dramatic or tense situation a film character is experiencing. A call for more creative solutions and the urge to resort to authentic euphemisms will finally be stressed, given the vast repertoire of Italian substitutes for blasphemies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T18:42:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c229c4a669494680a94091a78f3abaaf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2532-1803 |
| language | Italian |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T18:42:08Z |
| publishDate | 2019-02-01 |
| publisher | Milano University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Lingue e culture dei media |
| spelling | doaj.art-c229c4a669494680a94091a78f3abaaf2023-08-02T07:48:59ZitaMilano University PressLingue e culture dei media2532-18032019-02-012210.13130/2532-1803/11211Holy gee: blasphemies and insults against religious figures in italian film dubbingPatrizia GiampieriBlasphemies and insults against religious figures have entered everyday life, a tendency increasingly mirrored in American-English films. This paper firstly explores whether this statement is true and, in that case, it analyses how religious swearwords are rendered in Italian films. To this aim, a corpus of mostly American films dating from 1974 to 2015 has been created. What emerges from the analysis, is that Italian translators tend to omit blasphemies owing to self-censorship, legal constraints, and/or social non-acceptance. Epithets against religious figures are among the worst swearwords an Italian could hear or utter. For this reason, foul language is generally lessened or turned into mere appeals to divinities. In other instances, a shift to scatology or sex takes place. This paper's findings reveal that, in most cases, the swearwords uttered do not do justice to the dramatic or tense situation a film character is experiencing. A call for more creative solutions and the urge to resort to authentic euphemisms will finally be stressed, given the vast repertoire of Italian substitutes for blasphemies.https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/LCdM/article/view/11211 |
| spellingShingle | Patrizia Giampieri Holy gee: blasphemies and insults against religious figures in italian film dubbing Lingue e culture dei media |
| title | Holy gee: blasphemies and insults against religious figures in italian film dubbing |
| title_full | Holy gee: blasphemies and insults against religious figures in italian film dubbing |
| title_fullStr | Holy gee: blasphemies and insults against religious figures in italian film dubbing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Holy gee: blasphemies and insults against religious figures in italian film dubbing |
| title_short | Holy gee: blasphemies and insults against religious figures in italian film dubbing |
| title_sort | holy gee blasphemies and insults against religious figures in italian film dubbing |
| url | https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/LCdM/article/view/11211 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT patriziagiampieri holygeeblasphemiesandinsultsagainstreligiousfiguresinitalianfilmdubbing |