An Austrian in Hollywood: the representation of foreigners in the films of Billy Wilder
VIEW FULL TEXT

Keywords

humour
multilingualism
cultural stereotypes
representation of foreigners
multilingual humour

How to Cite

Chiaro, D., & De Bonis, G. (2019). An Austrian in Hollywood: the representation of foreigners in the films of Billy Wilder. The European Journal of Humour Research, 7(1), 7–23. https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR2019.7.1.chiaro

Abstract

This paper examines the work of Billy Wilder whose rich cinematic production frequently involves the collision of different languages as well as the clash of dissimilar cultures. As an Austrian living in the USA, the director had the privilege of gaining insight into his adopted culture from the point of view of an outsider – a bilingual ‘other’ who made 25 films in almost 40 years of working in Hollywood. His films recurrently depict foreign characters at which Wilder pokes fun whether they are English, French, German, Italian, Russian or even the Americans of his adopted country. More precisely, the paper offers an overview of the multi-modal portrayals of diverse ‘foreigners’, namely Germans, Russians, French and Italians, with examples taken from a small but significant sample of Wilder’s films. The subtitling of dialogue in the secondary language for the target English-speaking audience and the specific translation solutions are not within the scope of this discussion, instead we focus on the comic collision of two languages and more importantly, on the way Wilder implements humour to highlight the absurdity of cultural difference. In other words, our main goal is to explore two or more languages in contrast when they become a humorous trope.

https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR2019.7.1.chiaro
VIEW FULL TEXT

References

Baldo, M. (2009). ‘Subtitling Multilingual Films. The Case of Lives of the Saints, an Italian-Canadian TV screenplay’, in Federici, F. M. (ed.), Translating Regionalised Voices in Audiovisuals, Roma: Aracne. 117-135.

Chiaro, D. (2007). ‘Lost, found or retrieved in translation? Cross-language humour in multilingual films’, in Scelfo M. G. & Petroni S. (eds.), Lingua, cultura e ideologia nella traduzione di testi multimediali (Cinema, televisione, web), Roma: Aracne, pp- 123-137.

Chiaro, D. (2010). ‘Found in translation: cross-talk as a form of humour’, in Valero-Garcés C. (ed.), Dimensions of Humor: Explorations in Linguistics, Literature, Cultural Studies and Translation, València: Universitat de València, pp 33-54.

Chiaro, D. (2015). ‘Mimesis, reality and fictitious intermediation’, in Antonini R. & Bucaria C. (eds.), Non-professional Interpreting and Translation in the Media, Bern - Berlin - Bruxelles - Frankfurt am Main - New York - Oxford - Wien: Peter Lang, pp. 23-42.

Chiaro, D. (2017). ‘Humor and Translation’, in Attardo S. (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Language and Humor, New York: Routledge.

Chiaro, D. (2018). ‘Cross-Languaging Romance on Screen’, in Abend-David D. (ed.), Representing Translation, New York: Benjamins.

Davies, C. (1990). Ethnic Humor Around the World: A Comparative Analysis. Indiana University Press: Bloomington Indiana.

Davies, C. (1998). Jokes and their Relation to Society. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Davies, C. (2002). The Mirth of Nations. New Brunswick: Transaction.

De Bonis, G. (2014a). Commedia in scompiglio: One, Two, Three. Il multilinguismo come veicolo di umorismo’, in De Rosa G. L., Bianchi F., De Laurentiis A. & Perego E. (eds.), Translating Humour in Audiovisual Texts, Bern - Berlin - Bruxelles - Frankfurt am Main - New York - Oxford - Wien: Peter Lang, pp. 189-214.

De Bonis, G. (2014b). ‘The semiotic implications of multilingualism in the construction of suspense in Alfred Hitchcok’s films’, in Cadera, S. M. & Pavic Pintaric A. (eds.), The Voices of Suspense and Their Translation in Thrillers, Amsterdam - New York: Rodopi, pp. 141-158.

De Bonis, G. (2015a). ‘Translating multilingualism in film: A case study on Le concert’. New Voices in Translation Studies, 12 (2015). IPCITI 2013 Proceedings. Guest-edited by P. Castillo, P. Karanasiou, M. Shamy & L. Williamson, pp. 50-71.

De Bonis, G. (2015b). Tradurre il multilinguismo al cinema: Lingue, identità culturali e loro rappresentazione sullo schermo. Bologna: University of Bologna. Unpublished PhD Thesis.

De Bonis, G. (2015c). ‘Mediating intercultural encounters on screen. The representation of non-professional interpreting in film’, in Antonini R. & Bucaria C. (eds.), Non-professional Interpreting and Translation in the Media, Bern - Berlin - Bruxelles - Frankfurt am Main - New York - Oxford - Wien: Peter Lang, pp. 43-64.

Delabastita, D. (2002). ‘A great feast of languages. Shakespeare’s multilingual comedy in “King Henry V” and the Translator’. The Translator, 8(2), pp. 303-340.

Delabastita, D. (2005). ‘Cross-language comedy in Shakespeare’. HUMOR - International Journal of Humor Research. Special Issue Humor and Translation, 18(2), pp. 161-184.

Delabastita, D. (2010). ‘Language, comedy and translation in the BBC sitcom ’Allo ’Allo!’, in Chiaro D. (ed.), Translation, Humour and the Media, London - New York: Continuum, pp. 193-221.

O’Sullivan, C. (2011). Translating Popular Film. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Sternberg, M. (1981). ‘Polylingualism as Reality and Translation as Mimesis’. Poetics Today, 2(4), pp. 221-239.

Wahl, C. (2005). ‘Discovering a genre: the polyglot film’. Cinemascope 1: Translating the cinematic experience across cultures: 1-8.

Wahl, C. (2008). ‘Du Deutscher, Toi Français, You English: Beautiful! – The Polyglot Film as a Genre’, in Christensen, M. and Erdŏgan, N. (eds) Shifting Landscapes. Film and Media in European Context, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 334-350.

Films & TV series cited

Avanti! (USA, Italy, 1972)

Fawlty Towers (UK, BBC2, 1975-1979)

Irma La Douce (USA, 1963)

Love in the Afternoon (USA, 1957)

One, Two, Three (USA, 1961)

Sabrina (USA, 1954)

All authors agree to an Attribution Non-Commercial Non Derivative Creative Commons License on their work.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.