Subtitling of Italian Cinema: A Case Study on Cultural Negotiation - Essay Example

The film Caterina va in cittá can be viewed as a learning tool for English speaking audiences wishing to understand issues of contemporary Italian culture and society. I contend that the analysis of this film’s subtitles can show the extent to which such a learning tool is, in fact, legitimate. The study first critically analyzes the film, focusing on the central theme of the film, i.e. the struggle of a girl in a diverse culture of Rome. This section deals with the dilemma of the central protagonist, and her agonies and conflicts on the background of a politically volatile Rome.

In addition, the study highlights the importance of translating foreign movies into English. Also explored are various problems that are faced by translators while writing subtitles for foreign film. The study critically analyses some of the major problems, like translating emotions into words, colloquial phrases into proper English connotations, restriction of space, time, etc. Further, the study also studies these problems in the context of Caterina va in cittá. The research tried to find out whether the translator was able to capture the real essence of the film in its subtitles.

This section also deals with the various possible problems the translator would have faced while doing the translation and how they would have overcome the same. The study was able to identify the possible reasons why Caterina va in cittá is very good cultural material for foreigners. The findings of the research suggested that although the subtitles clearly followed the basics of subtitling, it missed some very good opportunities in making the subtitles nearer to the connotative and symbolic power of the film.

The film’s screenplay is complex but rich in little details and generally uses simple conversational Italian in common day to social encounters in the natural settings of school, church, households, cities during the different times, characters and