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Posted on 07/12/2004 8:07:25 AM PDT by Alouette
How should a joking reference to castration be translated into Hebrew? For the translators of the newly-released Shrek 2, making a reference to high-pitched singer David Da'or got the point across a little too sharply, for Da'or's taste.
The Tel Aviv District Court on Monday ruled to remove the box-office hit from screens across the country, due to an insulting reference to Da'or, Israel's representative in the last Eurovision song contest. The movie was returned to screens later in the day, after the offending remark was removed from Hebrew-dubbed versions.
The original English version of Shrek 2 contains a scene in which Shrek, the green ogre hero of the movie, and his sidekick Donkey, deliberate what to do with Puss n' Boots, the killer-cat sent to assassinate them. Donkey says:
"Let's neuter him right now! Give him the Bob Barker treatment." This is a reference to Bob Barker, the long-time host of The Price is Right TV game-show, and a well-known animal activist who would call on viewers not to forget to spay or neuter their animals.
In the Hebrew version, this line was translated into "Let's David Da'or him down there" a reference to Da'or's signature falsetto singing voice.
Da or was terribly disturbed by the translation, which he felt associated his name with castration, and so turned to the court on Sunday to issue a temporary injunction against the screening of the film until the line was changed.
"We thought Da or had a developed sense of humor, and was open to having a laugh," says Neta Ben-Tsvi, who oversaw the translation of the movie as dubbing manager for Elrom studios manager. "We did it with lots of love for David Da or, and unfortunately we were wrong."
"When we translate a movie, we don t make a direct translation of the original script since it wouldn t make sense to Israelis," Ben-Tsvi added.
"That [Bob Barker] comment was very un-Israeli, and we therefore changed the nuance to give it meaning to the Israeli audience."
The court approved Da'or's request, and ordered the movie, which according to entertainment websites has grossed over $620 million worldwide since hitting theaters two months ago, removed until the offending sentence was changed. Translators quickly changed the line to the more straightforward "Let s take a sword and castrate him."
"We received what we wanted, and the movies were switched," Da'or's attorney, Yigal Doron, said. Doron would not comment on whether his client intends to sue the movie distributors for monetary compensation.
According to the court's decision, however, even though a ruling has already been handed down in the matter, the judge granted Da'or the possibility to submit an additional suit, asking for compensation.
Puss n' Boots was unavailable for comment.
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The wife and I saw Shrek 2 this weekend. Good, but we both agreed that the first one was better.
I read where Tony Twist was awarded $15M for a cartoonist's use of his name.
I wonder how many people realize that "Shrek" is the Yiddish word for "Fright"?
Isn't Barry Manilow Jewish? Why didn't they use his name, he's such an easier target!
I did not know that, but I did know that 'Rachel Corrie' is Yiddish for 'pancake'. ;^)
Because he generally sings in a typical normal, male range.
Bad dubbing job.
Rachel Corrie's body was shattered and torn by the impact of the bulldozer, not flattened.
The rights and wrongs of that event will be debated long and hard by people much wiser than us, but in the meantime I'm not sure it's something to joke about.
Sorry to take the moral high ground, it doesn't happen very often, but I was at a book launch last month where her family were in attendence. It was all a bit sobering.
Only in certain contexts. A more literal translation is "tread grease."
Oh, yeah. What I especially like about him is the funk. If you close your eyes, you can barely tell he's a white guy.
I guess that proves he doesn't have any.
Sorry to take the moral high ground, it doesn't happen very often, but I was at a book launch last month where her family were in attendence. It was all a bit sobering.
In that case, it'd probably be really tasteless of me to post this:
That would be "Jewish-American", I think. Not "white", ya redneck!
I say that slipperduke is not going to get his wish...
If you close your eyes, you can barely tell he's a white guy Jewish-American.
How did we get on Rachel Corrie on this thread? This is in poor taste, IMO.
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