3.4.2 What Is About Despicable Me 1
Despicable Me 1 is about a super-villain called Gru,who adopts three girls from an orphanage,and his rival villain called Vector.When Gru discovers that Vector has stolen the Great Pyramid of Giza,Gru plans an even bigger crime — to steal the Moon.But Gru is finally transformed into a kind person because of his new life with his three adopted daughters.The theme of this film is that humans are essentially kind because a bad man can be reformed by “niceness”,just like innocent children.
Besides,there are many cultural elements that appear in the film.Among these cultural factors are well-known landmarks around the world,such as the Great Pyramid of Giza,which is located in Egypt.It is reasonable to assume that there is global recognition of landmarks such as this,while others may not be as universally known and understood; examples include:
• Gru lives in an American suburban neighbourhood surrounded by white picket fences and flowering rose bushes,which can be argued to represent an idyllic representation of American society.
• Gru wants to steal the moon in order to prove to his mother that he is the best super-villain in the world.His mother’s dialogue is spoken by English actress Julie Andrews,who is known for the matriarchal roles of the eponymous nanny in Mary Poppins and Maria in The Sound of Music,both Hollywood films.
• Gru tries to get a loan from the Bank of Evil.On screen,the sign over the bank’s entrance also states “Formerly Lehman Brothers”.In 2008,the American banking giant,Lehman Brothers,filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,an event widely accepted as a major contributing factor to the global financial crisis.
• The Bank of Evil building shares similarities to the Ministry of Magic as depicted in the Harry Potter film series,both in the style of the pillars in the lobby,and using toilets as a method of entry.
• Towards the end of the film,there is a dance recital featuring a section of the classical Russian ballet,Swan Lake.
In subtitle translations，these cultural elements need to be transferred in order to deliver as much as of the source culture as possible to the target audience.For well-known landmarks or places like the Great Pyramid of Giza，subtitlers may only use the traditional translation involving standard Chinese characters： “吉萨大金字塔” （吉萨） is the standard transliteration into Chinese，while “大金字塔” is the literal translation of “the Great Pyramid”.Besides，with the rapid development of globalization，I will also discuss another up-todate way of translating the names of famous places，landmarks and commonly used people’s names in the discussion chapter in detail.
For the above-mentioned cultural elements,such as the Western style of living,the identify of the dubber,the financial crisis,references to other popular stories or films,and famous ballet music,subtitlers need to use different methods to translate these elements if they are embedded in the original English subtitles.
For examples,in the dialogue between Gru and his neighbour:
00:04:53,050 to 00:04:56,000
FYI,your dog has been leaving little bombs (Original subtitle)(https://www.daowen.com)
你的狗老是在我的院子里丢炸弹（Released translation）
Your dog has been leaving little bombs (Back translation)
00:04:56,050 to 00:05:00,050
all over my yard and I don’t appreciate it.(Original subtitle)
我不喜欢它这样。（Released translation）
all over my yard and I don’t appreciate it.(Back translation)
Gru refers to his yard,which in turn refers to the Western style of living,that is,many Western people live in a house with a yard.For this example,the literal translation of “yard” can provide direct information on a Western-style house to the target audience.
Regarding a famous dubber,I am minded that,unless the original subtitle refers to their identity,there is no need to add this information to the translated subtitles.In Despicable Me 1,Julie Andrews was invited to dub the voice of Gru’s mother.I suppose the reason for this might could be because she is associated with matriarchal roles and may leave the audience with an impression of a strict mother.So,in order to show how Gru is constrained by his mother and how much he would like to prove himself to her,the film director invited Andrews to dub her voice.If the way in which the original subtitles about Gru’s mother were translated emphasized her characteristics,such that the target audience recognize how strict a mother she is,the subtitlers succeed with their translation.
As for the reference to the “Lehman Brothers”,subtitlers could have added a short note to explain what this means.Brief information can help a target audience to better understand the corresponding picture in the film.
For cultural elements,such as classic plots in other famous films and world-famous artworks,subtitlers can use the method of adding a brief note in the lower part of the screen when the corresponding picture appears in order to remind the audience of the provenances of these elements.
However,subtitlers should ensure that the length of the added note is readable.I have referenced and analysed the readable length of subtitles both in Chinese and in English in the literature review.To add a note to explain some cultural element is a kind of “expansion” in subtitling.But the words in subtitles have the feature of instantaneity: they are unlike those in books and,as such,the audience may not get a chance to reread them.Even with such a small number of examples from Despicable Me 1,it can be argued that the main challenge facing AVT subtitling is to convey meaning effectively and comprehensively within the technical constraints of film subtitles.Therefore,the strategies that can be used in subtitling,especially E-C animation filmsr,need to be discussed.
In the literature review,I referred to Gottlieb’s typology,which is considered to be the most complete set of subtitle translation strategies,albeit in the context of subtitle translations between English and Danish.In the following sections,I use my analysis of the subtitling in Despicable Me 1 in order to identify feasible strategies from Gottlieb’s typology and explain the limits of other strategies.