Beyond Fidelity:

Ethical and Practical Choices in Subtitling Offensive Turkish Humour

Ayşe Sungur, PhD

Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy (GCGA) in Ankara, Türkiye

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4030-1081

The Turkish adult animated film Bad Cat (Şerafettin) offers a compelling case for Audiovisual Translation (AVT) research due to its rich intertextuality, urban slang, and confrontational tone. This empirical study examines official English subtitles to identify strategic shifts in the conveyance of localised humour. The analysis uncovers three consistent trends demonstrating a shift from fidelity to functional pragmatism. First, localisation maintains the film’s energy; culturally specific insults such as “damızlık lale” or “şerefsiz” are replaced with equivalents such as “selfish prick,” thereby prioritising persona over literal accuracy. Second, neutralisation occurs where anatomical violence is ‘tamed’; creative threats like “gaganı kırarım” (I’ll break your beak) are reduced to generic warnings like “I’ll hurt you,” softening the distinctive ‘off-colour’ tone. Finally, the study highlights cultural loss in intertextual references. A key example is reducing Müslüm Gürses—an iconic figure of Turkish melancholic music—to a mere “[Music]” caption during the “Ah Oğlum” sequence, erasing the deep-seated ‘arabesque’ sentiment. By documenting these decisions, this research provides a framework for determining when functional localisation is appropriate and when cultural attrition is a strategically acceptable solution. Ultimately, it assists practitioners in balancing linguistic vitality with target-culture sensitivities under technical constraints.

Keywords: Audiovisual Translation (AVT), Subtitling Strategies, Subtitling Translation, Humour Translation, Localisation

Dr Ayşe Sungur currently serves as an English Instructor at the Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy (GCGA) in Ankara, Türkiye. Her research areas include Intersemiotic Translation and Adaptation, particularly from novel to film, Audiovisual Translation research in subtitling, and terminology related to the military, law enforcement, and security. She teaches Security and Law Enforcement Terminology (SALE) to junior and senior cadets, as well as providing general English instruction to preparatory class cadets.