Subtitling Characterization. Frank Underwood in House of Cards

This thesis explores the characterization of Frank Underwood in the Netflix Original Series House of Cards, and more specifically how Frank’s characterization changes due to certain translation choices. James R. Keller (2015) argues that Frank resembles the ‘vice’ – a figure from the early modern stage that is also related to the well-known villain – and describes a number of traits. These traits are linked to Frank’s language use by using Culpeper’s stylistic framework of characterization cues (2001), resulting in a qualitative analysis of the Frank’s language use. Next, Vinay and Darbelnet’s procedures (1995) and Gambier’s subtitling procedures (2006) are used to analyze the way in which Frank’s character statements and metaphors have been translated. The analysis shows that fewer information than expected was omitted in the translation, despite the spatiotemporal constraints and technical limitations inherent in subtitling. Any changes seemed to result in a change in emphasis,...Show moreThis thesis explores the characterization of Frank Underwood in the Netflix Original Series House of Cards, and more specifically how Frank’s characterization changes due to certain translation choices. James R. Keller (2015) argues that Frank resembles the ‘vice’ – a figure from the early modern stage that is also related to the well-known villain – and describes a number of traits. These traits are linked to Frank’s language use by using Culpeper’s stylistic framework of characterization cues (2001), resulting in a qualitative analysis of the Frank’s language use. Next, Vinay and Darbelnet’s procedures (1995) and Gambier’s subtitling procedures (2006) are used to analyze the way in which Frank’s character statements and metaphors have been translated. The analysis shows that fewer information than expected was omitted in the translation, despite the spatiotemporal constraints and technical limitations inherent in subtitling. Any changes seemed to result in a change in emphasis, but not in characterization interpretation. Other information sources, such as video and audio that complement the subtitles, also confirm the character traits.Show less

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Subtitling Characterization. Frank Underwood in House of Cards