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ABSTRACT
This article argues that the study of translation as it occurs in cinema at both the production and distribution levels can provide a new critical perspective through which to analyse film. Based on recent research by translation theorists but drawing equally on film studies, the article shifts the focus from translation to cinema. It explains how a translational approach can help revisit foundational ideas in cinema, such as the realism of cinematic representation and the universality of film language. The analysis will focus on Dogtooth by the Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. An investigation of diegetic occurrences of translation, but also of the film’s English subtitles, will show how Dogtooth employs strategies of mistranslation, retranslation and performative re-enactment so as to make statements about the politics and aesthetics of mainstream cinema. A translation analysis of this kind will reveal aspects of cinema that are not easily discerned when looked at from monolingual critical angles.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Note on contributor
Dionysios Kapsaskis is Senior Lecturer in Translation at the University of Roehampton, London. His research extends across the fields of translation studies and comparative literature. In his publications, he explores the ways in which translation as a concept and as a process informs the creation and articulation of literary, cinematic and critical narratives. He has edited a journal volume entitled “Translation and Authenticity in a Global Setting” (Synthesis 4, 2012). Before becoming an academic, Dionysios worked for 20 years as a specialized translator and subtitler into Greek.
Notes
1 Extracts from the film dialogue are based on the DVD subtitles with some minor typographical and punctuation adjustments.