Drama in Translation: Sherlock vs. Elementary

Source: http://litreactor.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/header/images/column/headers/litreactor-elementary.jpg

Continuing on from last week’s blogpost, its main focus was on the successes and failures of comedy in translation across cultures. However, this week’s blog post will have a similar theme in question but I will be discussing about the success of television dramas and how they operate across cultures, location and nationality.

An example of a television drama programme that has operated across these aspects is Sherlock Holmes. The iconic fictional character of the London-based private consulting detective was created by Arthur Conan Doyle and first appeared in the Beeton’s Christmas annual novel, A Study In Scarlet, in 1887. After being featured in numerous novels, Sherlock Holmes has also been adapted in television programmes and cinematic films, which attests the popularity and appeal of the text. Frew (2014) believes that its appeal lies within the desire for a constructed and nostalgic Victorian England where order emerged from chaos as Sherlock Holmes represents an idealised classic Englishness.

In 2010, BBC debuted their television adaption, which was simply named Sherlock. The writers of BBC’s Sherlock preserved most of the original narratives of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes such as his struggles with drugs, the care he has for few people in his personal life and lack of love/sexual interest (besides the Woman). Very few elements have been altered to cater to modern English audience like changing cab types, Holmes’ nicotine patches and the homeless network. Whilst the series is extremely popular, it has been criticised for becoming more “blog-aware” and incorporating elements into episodes that are influenced by fan responses such as fanfiction (Penny, L 2014). Fan-influenced episodes are exemplified through the ending of second series (2012) in the circumstances of how Holmes’ was able to ‘fake’ his rooftop fall death.

Another successful adaptation of Sherlock Holmes is the American television programme, Elementary. Elementary was produced by CBS and premiered in 2012 with new and unique twists to the iconic character. The CBS version of Holmes appears to be more ‘dark’ as he is now a recovering drug addict and has a sexual relationship with Irene Adler/Moriarty, played by Nathalie Dormer. There are major differences between Elementary and Sherlock such as the context of television series and casting of characters. The context of Elementary is now set in New York City in the US, where the show follows a ‘private-eye’ narrative as characters explore the city to solve crimes, also utilising an ‘open’ journey narrative. The most drastic change is shown through the change of Watson’s gender into a female, Joan Watson who is portrayed by Lucy Liu. Through the casting of Dormer and Liu, Americanised elements are brought into the show through unresolved sexual tension and political correctness respectively, creating appeal and understanding for American audience.

In conclusion, Elementary and Sherlock are both examples of success in the translation of television drama, specifically through their take on the iconic novel character, Sherlock Holmes, while maintaining the appeal of classic ‘Englishness’. However, this is not to say that all drama translations successfully operate across cultures, location and nationality as shown through examples such as Skins UK (original) and US, in which the US remake by MTV failed to connect and resonate with young American audiences after a one season of 10 episodes. Thus, as asserted in the previous blog post, it is important to consider the social and cultural practices of nations when translating media content.

References

1. Frew, C 2014, Sherlock and Elementary: Representing Englishness in Television Drama, Lecture Notes, UOW Moodle, viewed 23 September 2014
2. Penny, L 2014, ‘Sherlock and the Adventure of the Overzealous Fanbase’, NewStatesman, 12 January, viewed 24 September 2014, <http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/01/sherlock-and-adventure-overzealous-fanbase>

Comedy in Translation: Successes and Failures

Globalisation has lead to the mass exchange of media content across the world, especially television programmes. This mass exchange can be identified through the popularity of televisions programmes from a certain country amongst an international audience, leading to adaptions or remakes in other countries. However it is highly possible that certain local television programmes do not translate well in different global markets, especially in the genres of comedy. Sometimes, television programmes are altered to fit the social and cultural values of audiences or they can be simply exported from one nation to another, with little changes made to the original.

One of Australia’s most successful comedic television series is Kath & Kim, which was first broadcasted in May 2002 on the ABC. While it was widely popular in Australia, its exported American version did not garner the same reaction in which the New York Post described it as a “dish-water copy” of the original. They also believed that: “the Australian version is broader, bolder and more callous, gleefully unabashed about sending up lower-class accents and suburban vulgarity,” while “the NBC adaptation tiptoes a little too squeamishly through snobbery and bad taste” (News.com.au, 2008).

Source: http://i.dlisted.com/files/kathandkimno.jpg

Through close comparison, the first episode of both the Australian and American versions were identical in terms of plot and structure. So what was the problem? According to Turnbull (2008, p.110), the failure of cultural translation is contributed through the absence of the role and place of irony, which is how the character imagines himself/herself to be and how they are perceived by the audience. In the case of Kath and Kim, the American portrayal of the spoilt and indolent Kim by Selma Blair failed to measure up to the original. Blair’s performance as Kim portrayed a significantly younger, attractive and size 8 Kim,who was based on trashy tabloid queens such as Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. This was much unlike the original Kim, portrayed by Gina Riley, who was a self-deluded, size 16 and foolish 40-plus year old ‘horn-bag’.

Source: http://www.cinemablend.com/images/sections/55610/_1368445517.jpg

Source: http://www.cinemablend.com/images/sections/55610/the_office_55610.jpg

Despite the failure of Kath and Kim to resonate with American audiences with their “slightly off-beat suburban spirit” (Idato, 2014), there have been cases where adaptations have been achieved cultural translation, receiving international success. An example would be the American version of the UK original series, The Office. Rather than simply exporting, the American version was re-invented through the imaging, naming of characters and contextualisation to appeal to an American audience. In particular, the whole office staff had become more culturally diverse (except for Dwight), better looking and more upbeat in comparison to the UK version. There have been mixed reviews on whether the British original or the American remake is better, but it is inevitable that there will be comparisons between an original television programme and its revised version (Turnbull, 2008, p.173).

In conclusion, the cultural translation of television programmes can be either a success or failure. However, it is important to remember that comedy is a cultural and social practice, shaped by the construction of national identity, with jokes implying sharing and belonging.

References

1. Idato, M 2014, “Kath & Kim on Hulu in the US after remake failed”, Sydney Morning Herald: Entertainment, 12 September, viewed 19 September, <http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/kath–kim-on-hulu-in-the-us-after-remake-failed-20140912-10fuhm.html>
2. com.au, 2008, ‘US Kath and Kim ‘worse than Vegemite’, News.com.au, 11 October, viewed 19 September, <http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/us-kath-and-kim-worse-than-vegemite/story-e6frfmyi-1111117718888>
3. Turnbull, S 2008, ‘It’s like they threw a panther in the air and caught it in embroidery: Television comedy in translation’, Metro Magazine, No.159, p. 110-115

Media Capitals and the ‘K-Pop Wave’

The development of media capitals is a result of globalisation, where cities are not only centres of media activity through the finance, production and distribution of content but also sited as an intersection for complex patterns of economic and cultural flows (Curtin, 2003, p.203-4). Media capitals are described as a switching point where national centres have been superseded into global centres (Curtin, 2003, p.204). In this blog post, I will be focusing on South Korea’s capital, Seoul, as a continuous and rapidly rising media capital.

In South Korea, there has been an influx in the proliferation of television shows and pop music production, as an outcome of the ‘Korean Wave’ or the ‘Hallyu Wave’ which is used to describe the rise of Korean pop culture in the late 1990s. In recent years, South Korean pop music (known as K-Pop) has grown to become somewhat of a phenomenon in the global music industry through communication technologies such as the Internet, particularly YouTube. It is not just popular within Asia but also in Europe, the U.S and the Middle East (Lie, 2012, p.340). Due to the increasing worldwide interest in the Korean Wave, K-Pop has started to become focused on breaking into the global music industry. With this intention, K-Pop has begun to find recruitments of foreign talent from nations such as the U.S, China and Japan in order to appeal to a global audience (Choi, 2011, p.74). In particular, the recruitment of foreign talent as idols who are fluent in either English, Chinese or Japanese can help with group promotion and activities in overseas countries (Lie, 2012, p.358).

An example of well-known K-Pop ‘idol’ groups is 9-membered girl group, Girls’ Generation. Girls’ Generation have achieved few international successes as they have had multiple worldwide tours, performing at famous concert venues like Madison Square Garden and Tokyo Dome. However, their most prominent global effort was the 2011 release of their U.S and Korean single, The Boys. The English version of The Boys served as their U.S debut, which was produced and written by Teddy Riley, whom SM Entertainment (Girls’ Generation’s record label) dubbed him as “one of the world’s top three producers” and “Michael Jackson’s producer” (Choi, 2011, p.70).

According to Lie (2012, p.342-3), Korean music has originated its sound and emulates musical concepts from American and Japanese (J-Pop) music such as U.S popular music genres (e.g. jazz, blues, pop, rock), the inclusion of English phrases and musical production and education from Japan. As demonstrated in the video above, rather than singing in Korean, The Boys is sung fully in English but still maintains the typical K-Pop element through the pop dance music and choreographed dance. SM Entertainment’s attempt at globalising Girls’ Generation and their ‘debut’ in the U.S landed them appearances on popular U.S talk shows such as ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ and ‘Live! With Kelly’ with two English speaking members participating in interviews.

However, there have been doubts in the ability of K-Pop groups, including Girls’ Generation, to break into the global music industry and whether it can be successful or not due to culture codes. There have also been arguments whether K-Pop is truly Korean due to heavy Westernization as it becomes undermined by its global goals (Choi, 2011, p. 69). Nevertheless, it is clear that Seoul is an ever-growing media capital due to its efforts in globalising K-Pop which are exemplified through its active promotion by South Korean government to enhance its soft power and export prowess (Lie, 2012, p. 340).

References 

1. Curtin, M 2003, Media Capital: Towards the Study of Spatial Flows, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 6, No. 2, p. 202-228
2. Lie, J 2012, What is the K in K-Pop? South Korean Popular Music, the Culture Industry, and National Identity, Korean Observer, 43, No. 3, p. 339-363
3. Choi, YJ, 2011, “The Globalization of K-Pop: Is K-Pop losing its Korean-ness?”, Situations, Vol. 5, p. 69-75, viewed 6 September 2014, <http://web.yonsei.ac.kr/bk21/situations5/Yunjung_Choi.pdf >