Veel kijkers van de Mulan-films die Disney heeft uitgebracht, hebben een bepaald beeld gevormd van enerzijds het verhaal van Mulan en anderzijds de Chinese cultuur die binnen dit verhaal naar voren...Show moreVeel kijkers van de Mulan-films die Disney heeft uitgebracht, hebben een bepaald beeld gevormd van enerzijds het verhaal van Mulan en anderzijds de Chinese cultuur die binnen dit verhaal naar voren komt. Een probleemstelling is: Deze films weerspiegelen niet altijd een even cultuurgetrouw beeld van de Chinese cultuur. Hoe zeer er sprake is van deze correcte dan wel foutieve interpretatie van Chinese cultuur bij de kijkers van de Mulan-films, is weinig onderzocht. De hoofdvraag in deze scriptie luidt: “In hoeverre is er sprake van culturele vertaling van de Chinese cultuur door Disney’s Mulan-films bij Nederlandse kijkers en Chinese kijkers, en wat is het verschil tussen hun receptie van normen en waarden uit de films?” Mijn hoofdhypothese is dat er sprake is van een foutieve culturele vertaling die Nederlandse kijkers interpreteren als Chinese cultuur. De gebruikte methoden zijn literatuuronderzoek en kwalitatief en kwantitatief onderzoek. Het belangrijkste resultaat is: er is inderdaad een discrepantie tussen de duiding van de Mulan-films binnen de Chinese cultuur en de daadwerkelijke Chinese cultuur, er is dus sprake van niet succesvolle culturele vertaling. Daarnaast is er een significant verschil tussen respondenten met een Chinese achtergrond en respondenten met een Nederlandse achtergrond. Disneyficatie blijkt uit de antwoorden van de respondenten waarin sprake is van foutieve culturele vertaling. Mijn conclusie: er is sprake van succesvolle culturele vertaling in verschillende gebieden van de films, die opgemerkt wordt door zowel kijkers met Chinese als Nederlandse achtergrond. Daarnaast is er sprake van niet succesvolle culturele vertaling, die met name zichtbaar wordt in de antwoorden van de Nederlandse respondenten. Vervolgonderzoek zou kunnen gaan over hoe begrip van cultuur juist vergroot kan worden door middel van film.Show less
Songs are often translated for musical films and stage musicals. In order to gain more insight into this type of translation, research is needed. While there has been some research, there is still...Show moreSongs are often translated for musical films and stage musicals. In order to gain more insight into this type of translation, research is needed. While there has been some research, there is still a lot to be done in the field of song translation. There are, for example, hardly any comparative studies on different translations of the same song into the same language for different singable purposes. This thesis therefore compares the Dutch translations of songs from Disney’s The Lion King in both the film and the musical version, in order to see if the differences between these translations can be caused by a different focus. This was done by determining the overall translation approach in all songs using Franzon’s (2008) five choices in translation. Additionally, both versions were analysed for the aspects of Low’s (2005) Pentathlon Principle. It was then determined on which aspect the translations focussed. For the film translation, the factors of dubbing, i.e. the visuals and lip synchrony, were taken into account as well. The results show that both the film and the musical translation generally adapt the lyrics to the music. However, the results also show that the film translation generally stayed closer to the ST with regard to sense, compared to the musical translation. This could sometimes be explained by the visuals or the need for lip synchrony. We also see that the musical translation makes more use of singable vowels in long notes than the film translation. Still, the results show that both versions mainly seemed to focus on the rhyme.Show less
This paper is concerned with the role that The Walt Disney Company’s licenses play within the Kingdom Hearts series, developed by Japanese company Square Enix and directed by Tetsuya Nomura. This...Show moreThis paper is concerned with the role that The Walt Disney Company’s licenses play within the Kingdom Hearts series, developed by Japanese company Square Enix and directed by Tetsuya Nomura. This franchise has been a major success worldwide, and it is not only because of Disney’s presence; the game displays a large array of original ideas that have enchanted millions of fans worldwide. The aim of this research is to shine light upon the many nuances this video game franchise presents. This research demonstrates how Kingdom Hearts challenges the traditional notion of Disney as a cultural imperialist force. This is due to Square Enix commodifying the larger power, while denoting a deeper correlation between the methods of the two companies. Furthermore, the fact that Disney hands a generous portion of its licenses to a foreign company to be managed and adapted to a completely alien environment, is an occurrence rarely seen before/in the past. The research question reads: How does Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts video game series challenge the traditional view of Disney as a cultural imperialist force in East Asia? In order to answer this question the research explores the discourse of past research written on the topics of Japanese role-playing-games, Disney, cultural imperialism, as well as analysing the video game series itself. This paper argues that the Kingdom Hearts franchise is a one-of-a-kind representation of transnational cooperation, existing outside of the boundaries of cultural imperialism and which reflects the similitude of two different international actors.Show less
This bachelor’s thesis has investigated the use of accents in the portrayal of characters in Disney movies. The thesis is of sociolinguistic nature and will contribute to the field of language...Show moreThis bachelor’s thesis has investigated the use of accents in the portrayal of characters in Disney movies. The thesis is of sociolinguistic nature and will contribute to the field of language ideology and language attitudes. Previous studies on accent use in children’s television and Disney movies tended to only focus on animated Disney movies and did not usually take live-action versions into account (Dobrow & Gidney, 1998; Fouts, Callan & Lawson, 2006; Sønnesyn, 2011; Lippi-Green, 2012; Reinacher, 2016; Soares, 2017). To fill the niche between the animation-focused studies and the recent release of live-action remakes of older Disney movies, this thesis compared two sets of Disney movies in order to detect a change in the accent use between the first and latest release. It is important to understand language use in combination with character portrayal to see whether conveyed stereotypical messages have changed or have remained the same.Show less
The present study addresses the translation of metaphors in dubbed song translation and presents a comparative analysis of eight songs from eight Disney movies along with the Dutch translations of...Show moreThe present study addresses the translation of metaphors in dubbed song translation and presents a comparative analysis of eight songs from eight Disney movies along with the Dutch translations of the dubbed version of these movies. The metaphoric units in the lyrics were analyzed using Steen et al.’s (2010) Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit, or MIPVU, a refined and extended version of the Pragglejaz Group’s (2007) Metaphor Identification Procedure, or MIP. After analyzing the songs, it was found that the metaphoric units in the translated songs were mostly deleted or explicitized, and that only a small number of metaphors were transferred from the ST to the TT. The study revealed that the visuals of the movies and the constraints of song translation often limited the translators in their translation of the metaphoric units that occurred in the English songs.Show less
The aim of this thesis is to compare the Dutch and Italian translations of the songs from the Disney movie Frozen (2013). The field of song translation, and musical song translation in particular,...Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to compare the Dutch and Italian translations of the songs from the Disney movie Frozen (2013). The field of song translation, and musical song translation in particular, has been underdeveloped and underresearched compared to other areas in translation. For this reason, the author decided to compare the translations of the original English songs, focusing on elements such as word count, grammar, humour, use of abstract vs concrete language, exaggeration and culture. This thesis first examines the research and studies done on the subject of song translation over the years. In a second stage, the lyrics from the original movie are compared to the Dutch and Italian translations, with special focus on the elements listed above. The results of the author’s research show that the Dutch translation is truer to the original English source text, whereas the Italian translation differs in areas such as concrete language, humour and word count. The author recommends further research on multiple other musicals, and the comparison between English, Dutch and Italian translation of the musical songs in particular, in order to be able to fully support this conclusion.Show less
Disney has been releasing Disney Princess films since 1937. They started out with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and just now, a thirteenth film has been added to the list: Moana. A distinct...Show moreDisney has been releasing Disney Princess films since 1937. They started out with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and just now, a thirteenth film has been added to the list: Moana. A distinct change in character is noticeable when looking at the princesses. The princesses from the first generation (1937-1959) have passive characters, they are submissive, enjoy domestic chores and play no active role in their own tales. They simply wait to be swept off their feet by a prince. In fact, they represented what people considered to be the perfect woman in those days. However, nowadays, that is not what we consider the perfect woman to be. The second generation princesses (1989-1998) introduced a change. They were rebellious, took agency and instead of falling for any man, they wanted the right one. However, these films still focus on finding love, as if that is all that a woman's life should be about. The most recent princesses (from 2010 onwards) are increasingly more independent and active. They do not rely on men to save them, take matters into their own hands and determine their own fate. They are progressive princesses and continue to increasingly become more proactive and independent. These new princesses provide the twenty-first-century audience with role models they can actually learn from. Disney is not there yet, but they are slowly but surely letting go of the Disney formula.Show less
Are there a difference between the translations made for subtitling and dubbing, and if so, what is the result of these differences? This thesis contains an overview of theory on subtitling,...Show moreAre there a difference between the translations made for subtitling and dubbing, and if so, what is the result of these differences? This thesis contains an overview of theory on subtitling, dubbing, and wordplay, and applies this in a case study on the audiovisual translations of wordplay in Disney films in order to determine which translation form shows more retention of wordplay and humour.Show less
In the public debate about race inequality, the notion of color-blindness is nowadays often discussed. In today’s society, many people like to believe racial prejudice does not play a role anymore,...Show moreIn the public debate about race inequality, the notion of color-blindness is nowadays often discussed. In today’s society, many people like to believe racial prejudice does not play a role anymore, but a growing group of people now states this wish for a color-blind society could be dangerous. This debate raises the question how children should be educated about racial differences and the struggle for equality. Because many people in the United States are brought up watching Disney films, the question exists how significant the impact of the representations of race in these films is on children. In order to answer a question like that, it is necessary to look at what these race representations actually are and if a trend could be spotted in these representations.Show less
Recent fairy-tale film releases by Disney show that the company is attempting to retell the classical fairy-tale films from new perspectives, especially featuring stronger fairy-tale heroines. This...Show moreRecent fairy-tale film releases by Disney show that the company is attempting to retell the classical fairy-tale films from new perspectives, especially featuring stronger fairy-tale heroines. This change is the result of a cry for subversion after feminist writers discovered values of a strictly patriarchal society in fairy tales, and they therefore campaigned for the abolition of female passivity in Disney’s fairy-tale films. This thesis will examine the theme of female agency and villainy in Disney’s fairy-tale films. Comparing and contrasting the original Walt Disney Sleeping Beauty (1959) adaptation with the same studio’s most recent film version Maleficent (2014), this thesis argues that the two movies reveal an apparent shift in the way they explore and present female identity, from valuing passivity to celebrating agency, and closely related to this, a growing sympathy towards the figure of the morally ambiguous villain who appears to seek redemption through motherhood. The notion of moral ambiguity will be discussed in relation to the villainous female character, and the differences in the portrayal of their agency compared to the agency attributed to the heroine.Show less
