A Metamodern Approach to the Analysis of Netflix’s English Subtitling of Verbal Humour in al-Iyāl Kebret [No Longer Kids].

Abstract

Audiovisual translation (AVT) is currently a vibrant field of research due the increasing importance of intercultural communication in the modern era. The emergence of international subscription-based streaming services in the second decade of the third millennium resulted in the increase of subtitled and dubbed AV material. This study focuses on Netflix's English subtitling of verbal humour in al-Iyāl Kebret [No Longer Kids] in order to offer an academic investigation of AVT in this new medium.The study contributes to the field of translation studies by developing a metamodern model of analysis of Arabic AV material that is based on the new movement of metamodernism. Metamodernism in translation seeks to find the balance between the limits of AVT and the freedom necessary to reconstruct the message to convey the meaning and make the text perform its function in the target context. Using a metamodern approach to the analysis of Netflix's English subtitling of verbal humor in al-Iyāl Kebret, the study assesses the approaches adopted by the subtitler and the strategies he or she uses to translate the play's verbal humour into English, sheds light on the procedure of "quasi-translation", and offers recommendations regarding subtitling of verbal humor into English.