Abstract
This paper analyses the impact of Italian dubbing on the immersive psychological experience of the American TV series Game of Thrones, using data from post-hoc self-report questionnaires. The show is filled with historical and cultural references to medieval England and the characters are portrayed linguistically through different accents, regional dialects and registers. The research takes the form of an audience reception study. Two audience samples (Italian and English native speakers) watched an excerpt from the ninth episode of season two. English viewers watched the video in the original version, while the Italian sample watched it in the dubbed version. Participants then completed a 40-item questionnaire to self-report their level of immersion, using post-hoc Likert scales to evaluate their presence, perceived realism, character identification, enjoyment and transportation to the narrative world. The results showed significant differences between the immersion levels experienced by the two samples. The English audience reported higher scores on each immersion scale, especially with regard to perceived realism, character identification and transportation, while presence seemed to be the least affected by language transfer.
Highlights
In recent years, there has been an unprecedented boom in reception studies in the field of audiovisual translation (AVT)
Given that the analysis of psychological immersion can provide a reliable indication of the impact of audiovisual translation on viewer reception (Kruger & Doherty, 2018) and that dubbing, the main AVT modality for fiction content in Italy, remains largely underinvestigated, this paper aims to analyse the psychological immersion experienced by Italian- and English-speaking audiences when viewing the American TV series Game of Thrones in its original and dubbed versions, to explore the impact of dubbing using data from posthoc self-report questionnaires, which have been found to be valid, reliable, and nonintrusive (Paas et al, 1994)
Significant differences emerged in terms of the emotional and sensorial involvement experienced between the English and Italian viewers after watching the excerpt from Game of Thrones in its original and dubbed versions, respectively
Summary
There has been an unprecedented boom in reception studies in the field of audiovisual translation (AVT). Reception studies explore the forms and modes of consumption and reception of audiovisual texts, going “beyond descriptivism” A combination of experimental methods is used to examine the various cognitive aspects that influence the reception of translated audiovisual texts This notion comprises additional offline measures, such as the concepts of transportation and character identification (Tal-Or & Cohen, 2010; Green et al, 2004), presence, flow and enjoyment (Wissmath et al, 2009; Wissmath & Weibel, 2012), as well as perceived realism (Cho et al, 2014)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
