The Impact of Italian Dubbing on Viewers’ Immersive Experience: An Audience Reception Study

Francesca Raffi 1 *
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1 University of Macerata, ITALY
* Corresponding Author
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, Volume 10, Issue 3, Article No: e202019. https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/8371
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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.
Keywords: audiovisual translation, dubbing, reception study, psychological immersion, Game of Thrones

CITATION

Raffi, F. (2020). The Impact of Italian Dubbing on Viewers’ Immersive Experience: An Audience Reception Study. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 10(3), e202019. https://doi.org/10.30935/ojcmt/8371

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