Ragged Claws

Monday, July 27, 2009

Somewhat misplaced in translation


It can’t be a fun job to translate movie titles, given the eminent blandness of so many of them. Do we have a piece of technical jargon that can be imbued with a faint air of menace? (Collateral Damage, Double Jeopardy, Flight Plan, Rules of Engagement, Proof of Life). Vaguely chipper cliched phrases? (Get Over It, As Good As It Gets, Home for the Holidays, Something’s Gotta Give, What Women Want) Song lyrics? (From the “Neither a Musical Nor a Musician Biopic” division alone, there’s Addicted to Love, Angel Eyes, Can’t Buy Me Love, Deck the Halls, Drive Me Crazy, Forever Young, It Had to Be You, Jingle All the Way, Man on the Moon, The Mighty Quinn, Pretty Woman, Simply Irresistable, Something to Talk About and The Sweetest Thing). The adjective “American?” (American Beauty, American Dreamz, American Gangster, American Graffiti, American History X, American Pie up through whatever wretched sequel is paying for Eugene Levy’s fourth beach house, The American President, American Psycho, American Splendor, An American Tail, American Teen, Wet Hot American Summer). Still, looking at Spanish translations of English-language movie titles, you get the feeling that considerations of either marketability or workload severely limit the range of words at the translator’s disposal. Consider the following:

Charlie Wilson’s War = “Juego de poder” (Game of Power)
Coach Carter = “Juego de honor” (Game of Honor)
Cruel Intentions = “Juegos sexuales” (Sexual Games)
Four Play = “Juego de cuatro” (Game of Four. At least this is literal, even if it loses the double entendre.)

Then look at the slapdash prurience of these titles:

Love’s Labour’s Lost = “Pacto de amor” (Pact of Love)
There Will Be Blood = “Petroleo sangriento” (Bloody Oil)”
Lord of War = “Hombre peligroso” (Dangerous Man)
Quills = “Letras prohibidas” (Forbidden Writings)
Little Children = “Secretas íntimas” (Intimate Secrets)
My Sister’s Keeper = La decisión más difícil (The Most Difficult Decision)

While here, someone just threw up their hands and called it a day:

Along Came Polly = “Mi novia Polly” (My Girlfriend Polly)

But then again, The Sound of Music is “La novicia rebelde,” which is an indisputable improvement. Home on the Range became the far cleverer "Vacas vaqueras." And you can only admire the patriotic snark of whoever decided to turn Not Another Teen Movie into “No es otra tonta película americana,” or “Not Another Stupid American Movie.” While a lot of spoof movies fall in the “tonta película” category – Meet the Spartans is “Una tonta película sobre Esparta,” Date Movie is “No es otra tonta película de amor,” etc. – the sentiment in this case seems especially...pointed.

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