Communicating food-related sustainability to the Italian culture. A Proposed EN>IT subtitling of the documentary “MILKED”

Abstract

This work aims to communicate food-related sustainability to the Italian culture through the translation and subtitling of “MILKED”, a New Zealander documentary about the exploitation of land perpetrated by the dairy industry in the natural area of Aotearoa, New Zealand. The first Chapter will be dedicated to analyzing the role played by food in the Italian culture, which goes far beyond a simple biological necessity, holding in itself several key values that must be taken into consideration for the present analysis. This will be the starting point to investigate the Italians’ knowledge on the topic, as well as possible biases which may interfere in the learning process, explained in detail. The second Chapter will outline the main characteristics of the documentary, concerning style, vocabulary and general use of the language, focusing on particular aspects that are worth considering in a pre-translation analysis, as well as some meaningful aspects that are the key of its communicative power. The third will be a theoretical Chapter about subtitling, integrted with the practical application of the strategies used in translation and subtitling, classified into categories. The translation itself will be fully consultable in Appendix. Finally, a few conclusions will be illustrated focusing on potential difficulties encountered throughout the work, along with some reflections on strategies that will have to be adopted in the immediate future to strengthen the complicated relationship between the Italian culture and this peculiar sustainability theme.