‘Cultural translation’ is a metaphor whose currency is increasing in the broad field of cultural studies, but it has largely been neglected in narrower field of television studies. This article brings cultural translation to television studies by proposing an approach to describe how the industrial logics that govern the global circulation of programs also shape them as texts. It then uses this approach to explain the circulation of telenovelas in the English-language market in the United States, paying special attention to Ugly Betty, adapted from the Colombian program Yo soy Betty, la fea.
AmayaH (2010) Citizenship, diversity, law and Ugly Betty. Media, Culture & Society32: 801–817.
2.
AngwinJBarnesB (2007) News Corp. seeks new plot for slumping MyNetwork. Wall Street Journal, 8February: B1.
3.
Arango-ForeroGArangoMFLlañaLSerranoMC (2010) Colombian media in the XXI century: the re-conquest by foreign investment. Palabra Clave13(1): 59–76.
4.
AsadT (1986) The concept of cultural translation in British cultural anthropology. In: JamesCMarcusGE (eds) Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 141–164.
GarvinG (2006) Telenovela scripts coming to new audience. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, 2September.
19.
GoodwinC (2009) Latino TV station tops US ratings. The Observer, 18January: 47.
20.
GriffinJ (2008) The Americanization of The Office: a comparison of the offbeat NBC sitcom and its British predecessor. Journal of Popular Film and Television35(4): 154–163.
21.
GuldinR (2003) The (un)translatability of cultures. Studies in Communication Sciences3(2): 109–134.
22.
HarindranathR (2003) Reviving ‘cultural imperialism’: international audiences, global capitalism, and the transnational elite. In: ParksLKumarS (eds) Planet TV: A Global Television Reader. New York: New York University Press, 155-168.
23.
JordanSA (2002) Ethnographic encounters: the processes of cultural translation. Language and Intercultural Communication2(2): 96–110.
24.
KunzWJ (2010) Prime-time island: television program and format importation into the United States. Television and New Media11: 308–324.
25.
LienhardtG (1956) Modes of thought. In: Evans-PritchardEE., The Institutions of Primitive Society: A Series of Broadcast Talks. Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 95–107.
26.
LippertB (2008) The ‘Bettyer’ way to success. Critical Studies in Television3(2): 19–39.
27.
LonginovicTZ (2002) Fearful asymmetries: a manifesto of cultural translation. Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association35(2): 5–12.
LyntonM (2007) Globalization and cultural diversity. Wall Street Journal, 4September: A17.
30.
MillerJL (2010) Ugly Betty goes global: global networks of localized content in the telenovela industry. Global Media and Communication6(2): 198–217.
31.
MoranA (2009) New Flows in Global TV. Bristol: Intellect.
32.
MurrayS (2008) Phantom adaptations: Eucalyptus, the adaptation industry and the film that never was. Adaptation1(1): 5–23.
33.
NaficyH (2004) Epistolarity and textuality in accented films. In: EgoyanABalfourI (eds) Subtitles: On the Foreignness of Films. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 131-151.
34.
O’BoyleMSutterM (2006) Phenom ‘Betty’ legs it home to Colombia. Variety, 17–23July: 17.
35.
OliveiraOS (1993) Brazilian soaps outshine Hollywood: is cultural imperialism fading out? In: NordenstrengKSchillerHI (eds) Beyond National Sovereignty: International Communication in the 1990s. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 116–131.
36.
PymA (2004) The Moving Text: Localization, Translation, and Distribution. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
