Dubbing The Flintstones and The Simpsons in French. A Comparative Perspective between France and Québec

• Author / Creator

  Huet, Justine

• The present dissertation conducts a comparative study of the dubbing of
  two American animated TV series, The Flintstones and The Simpsons, in two
  francophone regions/countries, Québec and France. Since audiovisual products
  are complex blends of semiotic signs, in which the interplay between the visuals
  and the verbal is crucial to the understanding of the product, and since they
  convey their own cultural world, the study is led along three axes: the
  verbal/nonverbal dynamics, the language(s) used in the dubbing and cultural
  references. While most theories rely on either a linguistic or a cultural approach to
  the dubbing process and product, the present research throws a bridge between
  both and offers an interdisciplinary analysis.
  The dubbed shows are conceived as processes and products of the “contact
  zones” understood as “… social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple
  with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power...”
  (Pratt 1991: 34). These contact zones create points of tensions inscribed within a
  power play at the industrial, linguistic and cultural levels. The dubbing industry is
  conceived as a space of negotiations or a contact zone between the local and the
  global characterized by power relations. The dubbing process becomes a
  subversive “Third Space” (Bhabha 1994: 36) in both versions, a space in between
  the verbal/visual dynamics, language(s) and cultures that generates a semi
  (in)visible translation.
  Ultimately, both versions become rhizomatic (Deleuze and Guattari 1987)
  entities connecting heterogeneous elements within the dubbing process that blurs
  the TV series’ fixed identities. The translation becomes literally political in The
  Flintstones through multiple references to Québec’s language policies and
  figuratively in The Simpsons by featuring a meta-commentary on the state of the
  dubbing industry as an invisible art. The French version incarnates a limbo place
  or a Third Space in The Flintstones matching its artificial Third language and, in
  The Simpsons, evolves towards a more concrete patchwork matching a more
  ‘authentic’ language.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Dubbing
  • Quebec
  • France
  • Audiovisual translation

• Graduation date

  Fall 2013

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3862BJ5W

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.