Paolo Virzi's glocal comedy in English subtitles: an investigation into linguistic and cultural representation

摘要

Paolo Virz &'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 Virz &'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 Virz & films, namely La prima cosa bella [The first beautiful thing] (2010), Paolo Virz &, Italy, Tutti i santi giorni [Every blessed day] (2012), Paolo Virz &, Italy, and Il capitale umano [Human capital] (2014), Paolo Virz &, 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.