Lakhasly

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CONCLUSIONS
When embarking on this research, I wanted to explore the effects of language and
translation on the average person. Having previous experience examining the importance of
political texts and their translations, I was interested in investigating texts that were less
obviously weighted with political and ideological information; unsurprisingly, political texts
such as manifestos, speeches, etc. are the most obvious choice of discourse when searching for
ideological elements. If ideas and meanings can be produced and re-produced via language,
certainly the same is true for popular films disseminated internationally. If analyzing political
texts could reveal ideologies and motivations, what could be found within a seemingly non-
political text? What if that text was created within a specific political environment? What if it
was created in peace?
The consideration of non-traditional, politically-charged texts for this research gave way
to the consideration of Hollywood blockbuster films. These films are texts that are multi-million
dollar, international projects whose content is distributed to vastly different societies around the
globe. They regularly portray both Americanness and Otherness via discursive and semiotic
means. I wanted to look at the role that translation must play in the dissemination of American
views and perspectives, and whether translation interfered in American portrayals of the Other;
how did such films continue to find success amongst non-American audiences year after year? In
particular, how did such films find success among audiences during time periods where the
target audience was arguably anti-American? I wondered if manipulation was at play.
The Franco-American disagreement regarding the Second Iraq war seemed to be a rich
context within which to explore translation and manipulation. As has been established, by 2003123
there existed a deep-rooted foundation of anti-Other sentiments from which both French and
American cultures could draw upon for discursive use. This confirmation and strength of anti-
Other sentiment was essential to the context of this project because it granted logical reason to
believe that such sentiments could infiltrate industries that may not be immediately associated
with politics  industries such as film, entertainment and translation.
Thus, the current project and its early research questions were born. After verifying that
Franco-American relations were fairly positive just prior to the Disagreement, it seemed
important to make use of the available contexts in order to compare them against one another;
manipulation could be discussed within a context of peace and within a context of conflict. I
discovered that the increase in anti-Other sentiments within France and the United States of
America could be directly attributed to the events of 2003. Having established pre- and post-
Disagreement time periods, I felt that, logically, translation manipulation would occur only in
post-Disagreement films; if relations were positive in pre-Disagreement years, it was less likely
that linguistic, ideological manipulation would occur in the films produced and translated during
that period of time. As I researched the negative, anti-Other ideologies that resurfaced in the
wake of the Disagreement, I intended to explore if the widespread, unpredictable social effects
extended into the realm of translation.
In order to move forward with my research questions, I had to consider the massive
impact of media on the dissemination of ideology, film distribution and film translation itself. As
a key participant in the production and re-production of ideologies, media resources are powerful
in their ability to perpetuate widespread dissemination of ideologies; such was the case in the
media coverage surrounding the Disagreement. Film media distributes information for strategic
purposes, making it a plentiful source for ideological investigation, particularly in relation to its124
history of political influence; film media has an audience of millions worldwide (an audience to
which ideological information can be transferred either consciously or subconsciously), with
large audiences in both France and the United States of America.
As a form of media, film dialogue was bound to be ideologically rich, as well as hold
power within its words (spoken and unspoken), images and representations. With the
understanding that “…power is not always exercised in obvious abusive acts of dominant group
members, but may be enacted in the myriad of taken-for-granted action of everyday life, as is
typically the case in the many forms of everyday sexism or racism […]” (Van Dijk 2008, 89), I
would attempt to expose the underlying ideologies within the seemingly unpolitical, everyday
text of film – a text type that is received by the average consumer. Undoubtedly, “If we are able
to influence people’s minds, e.g., their knowledge or opinions, we indirectly may control (some
of) their actions, as we know from persuasion and manipulation” (ibid.). The discourse produced
by Hollywood reaches the average consumer, rather than the social or political elite. As an
institution, Hollywood is arguably one of the more powerful media outlets in the world, and I
wanted to explore the effects of that power from a new perspective.
In order to do this, and to effectively answer my research questions, I decided upon a
framework that combined vital concepts from Verdaguer, Machin and Mayr and Van Dijk.
Verdaguer’s research formed the foundation of the concept of French-bashing (in conjunction
with film) as understood within this project; his ideas helped to frame the idea of the anti-Other
in regards to the French and American communities. His work allowed for the integration of film
studies and translations studies approaches while investigating ideology. Critical Discourse
Analysis (CDA), as understood by Machin and Mayr and Van Dijk, provided the necessary tools
to conduct the textual analysis of the film dialogue. By incorporating CDA from a Translation