últimas corrientes teóricas en los estudios de traducción - Gredos ...

RAINER MARIA KOEPPL–ALFRED HITCHCOCK AND JOHN WAYNE
METAMORPHOSIS OF A MASTERPIECE, PART V (1999): A NEVER-ENDING
STORY?
“Traditore” doesn’t only mean traitor. The root of this word can be traced back to
mean “he who passes on the tradition.” No matter whether a translation is good or bad,
correct or incorrect, the translation often betrays more than the translator himself knows
or wishes to tell us. Germany and Austria were attempting to build up a new and liberated
society after the fall of the Nazi regime. Yet this new society was still based upon
traditional behavioral patterns, such as deception, betrayal and treason. Translators, film
critics and even the police collaborated to make the fake German versions. Some film
critics praised the German version of Notorious as a “semi-documentary” educational film.
A high-ranking police officer even claimed that the film was used by the police to instruct
policemen-in-training in the methods of combatting drug dealing.
That is why the synchronized versions of these movies – that were faked by
treacherous translators – are valuable political documents. The translator as a traitor
keeps poor traditions alive. The faked versions of the movies betray a lot more about
politics and culture in the twentieth century than the original versions ever could have
told us.
Traduttore – traditore is a never-ending story. In 1999, Hitchcock’s 100 th birthday
was celebrated throughout the world. Once again, a German company paid a special
tribute to him with a new edition of Notorious. This time one can judge the video by its
cover. The summary of the story on the box cover does not contain the words “Nazi,”
“Germany” or “uranium,” but the word “Rauschgift”, dope!
The 1999 special edition for Hitchcock’s 100 th anniversary (distributed by
Polyband Video) once again tells the old drug story. Not a single word about the original
story. In the year 2001 it still remains impossible to buy or rent a politically correct
German-language version of Hitchcock’s 1946 classic Notorious!
Has anyone got an idea for a nice new present for Old Hitch’s next anniversary?
The author is presently establishing an international network dealing with films
whose social or political background was changed in the process of synchronization. For
further information please contact the author at the University of Vienna (Austria):
rainer.m.koeppl@univie.ac.at
or visit the homepage of the INSTITUTE FOR MEDIA STUDIES:
univie.ac.at/ims/koeppl
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