L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano D on't ask an Ital- i a n t o r e a d s u b t i t l e s a t the movies: we j u s t d o n ' t d o that! Lazy cinema-goers could n o t b e b o t h e r e d t o d o i t t h r o u g h a f o r e i g n f i l m a s everyone else in the world does, and in fact, they don't e v e n n e e d i t , b e c a u s e w e dub everything here! From movies to TV series and docu- mentaries, all that goes on a screen must be in Italian. But why? Besides cartoons – dubbed everywhere – the dubbing industry is nowhere as big as in the Belpaese, and there are h i s t o r i c a l r e a s o n s f o r i t . I n d e e d , t h e r o o t s o f the industria del doppi- aggio (the dubbing industry) in Italy are found deep in the history of cinema in our coun- try, and the US has a thing or two to say about it. When cin- ema finally embraced sound, in the 1930s, most movies came from Hollywood, with the US being the main cinema producer and exporter on Earth. The problem was that countries whose first lan- guage wasn't English didn't quite know how to ensure the public could enjoy the prod- uct if it couldn't understand what the actors said. The first solution was simi- lar to modern subtitles: cap- tions were added for each scene, but the idea wasn't successful at all. Because of the wordiness of each expla- nation or dialogue transposi- tion, films' length could actu- ally increase and moviegoers weren't too keen on reading all that. Hey, if they wanted a reading session, they'd picked a book. In Italy, things were even more complicated, because back then, in the 30s and 40s, there weren't many Eng- lish to Italian translators out there that could proficiently t r a n s l a t e m o v i e s . S o t h e thought went to It ali an- A m e r i c a n actresses and actors, who were not only versed in the art of rendering emotions with their voice but also knew both English and Italian and could double as translators. In fact, the idea of having Italians speaking over "for- eign voices" was particularly appreciated by Mussolini and co. during the Venten- nio, as the regime wasn't too fond of foreign movies – or any foreign cultural influ- ence, for that matter. So, q u i t e s o o n , e s p e c i a l l y i n R o m e , a n e w s e v e n t h a r t branch developed, that of dubbing. Under the fascist regime, there were even laws in support of translating and dubbing movies, which facili- tated the development of the industry even further and the birth of a specific type of cin- ematic performer, il doppia- tore, the dubber. Thanks to the quick pro- fessionalization of the figure, Italy became one of the lead- ing countries in the field, but after the end of the war, other places where dubbing had made an appearance previ- ously ended up turning to subtitles, a much cheaper and quicker option. But not in Italy and, at least in part, America has a role in it again. After the end of the war, il Belpaese was under special surveillance: in the end, we were one of the Fascist states that caused it all. The US - and more in general all allied, winning forces – were wor- ried about the possibility of new pockets of right-wing extremism developing in our c o u n t r y a n d t h e y s a w i n entertainment a powerful way to ensure it didn't hap- pen. By exporting movies, music, and other cultural products to Italy, Italians would grow closer not only to American culture but also to t h e i d e a o f b e c o m i n g a "nation of the world," thus keeping at bay further risks of nationalism. Indeed, part of the money that, in the Mar- shall Plan, was to be devolved to cultural activities, went to the budding dubbing indus- try in Rome. And so, during the post- war period, while other coun- tries were reverting to subti- t l e s , I t a l y e n d o r s e d b o t h t r a n s l a t i n g a n d d u b b i n g schools, making both activi- ties – in strict relation to cin- ema – a new form of art and a profession. Italian dubbing is, to be fair, a work of beauty and tal- ent, that has nothing to do with the voiceovers some other countries used to have in the 1980s: famous actors keep their dubber throughout their career and their choice is never haphazard but based on the tone and sound of the actor's own voice. It's not that surprising, in the end, that Italians grew so lazy with subtitled movies! T o d a y ' s w o r d , scorciatoia (s kohr-tchah-toh- e e a h ) , h a s a n easy translation, "shortcut." It's also quite simple to use because, con- trarily to other words that h a v e m u l t i p l e m e a n i n g s , scorciatoia means only that. O f c o u r s e t h a t d o e s n ' t mean we can't use it in dif- ferent contexts! A scorcia- toia can be a literal shortcut, a path you can take instead of the main road to cut some minutes off the walk: C'è una scorciatoia che da casa mia porta al paese ("there is a shortcut leading from my house to the village"), but shortening the way can also be figurative, as in E' inutile che provi a prendere tutte le s c o r c i a t o i e : s e v u o i q u e l lavoro, devi impegnarti di più ("taking all the shortcuts is useless. If you want that job, you need to work hard- er"). Scorciatoia appeared in our vocabulary sometimes in t h e 1 7 t h c e n t u r y , a n d i t c o m e s f r o m t h e o l d - f a s h - i o n e d v e r b s c o r c i a r e , " t o shorten." Scorciare is a form of the m o r e c o m m o n – a t l e a s t today – accorciare, but be careful, because we never say accorciatoia in Italian! If you are in Tuscany, you may also hear another ver- sion of scorciatoia, which is t y p i c a l o f t h i s b e a u t i f u l region's dialect, scorcione. But well… no one who is not Tuscan will understand you if you use it! - Q u e s t a s t r a d a è u n a scorciatoia verso il parco - This street is a shortcut to the park - Se hai bisogno di una s c o r c i a t o i a , p u o i s e m p r e chiedere a qualcuno di aiu- tarti - If you need a shortcut, you can always ask someone to help you - Darò l'esame completo: non voglio prendere scorcia- toie - I'm going to take the full exam. I don't want to use any shortcut LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Word of the day: scorciatoia, because there's a way to get everywhere quicker! Italian curiosities: why are movies dubbed in Italy? The dubbing industry developed as a branch of cinema in Italy (Photo: Lucian Milasan/Dreamstime) Photo 189426665 © Robert Laurentiu Murariu | Dreamstime.com

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