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Paolo Virzì’s glocal comedy in English subtitles: an investigation into linguistic and cultural representation

2018; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 27; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0907676x.2018.1439511

1747-6623

Veronica Bonsignori, Silvia Bruti, Annalisa Sandrelli,

Linguistic Studies and Language Acquisition

Paolo Virzì's film production is deeply rooted in Italian (often Tuscan) contemporary society, with a focus on the daily lives of ordinary people and the difference between their true selves and their public persona. The language spoken by his colourful characters, which includes regionalisms, slang, colloquialisms and a vast array of idiosyncratic traits, is the quintessence of Virzì's world and of his bittersweet irony. In this contribution, we aim to illustrate how these culture-specific scenarios are transposed in the English subtitled versions of three recent Virzì films, namely La prima cosa bella [The first beautiful thing] (2010), Paolo Virzì, Italy, Tutti i santi giorni [Every blessed day] (2012), Paolo Virzì, Italy, and Il capitale umano [Human capital] (2014), Paolo Virzì, Italy. We identify the indices of regional or Italian identity, linguistically or culturally expressed, in the three aforementioned films, with a view to elucidating the difficulties behind their translation in the English subtitles.