“Lip-Sync for Your Life” (Abroad). The Distribution, Adaptation and Circulation of <i>RuPaul’s Drag Race</i> in Italy

Authors

  • Luca Barra Dipartimento delle Arti, Università di Bologna
  • Paola Brembilla Dipartimento delle Arti, Università di Bologna
  • Linda Rossato Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali Comparati, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia
  • Lucio Spaziante Dipartimento di Filosofia e Comunicazione, Università di Bologna

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18146/view.210

Keywords:

Italian television, media industries, reception studies, dubbing, stardom, celebrity

Abstract

The article aims to critically explore and understand the ways both RuPaul’s star persona and its program, RuPaul’s Drag Race, are distributed in Italy, circulate across, and impact on the Italian television industry and media culture, it also aims to show how many forms of national mediation, professional negotiation and audience reception deeply modify, and re-shape the TV product. To tackle the manifold facets of this case, four aspects will be analyzed: (trans)national distribution; adaptation and dubbing; global/local stardom; reception and cultural impact. Over a decade, the Italian edition and distribution of the show have changed, together with the national media landscape and its audiences.

Author Biographies

Luca Barra, Dipartimento delle Arti, Università di Bologna

Luca Barra is Associate Professor at Università di Bologna, Department of the Arts (DAR). He teaches courses of Radio and TV History and Digital Media. His main field of research is Media and Television Studies with special interest in industrial, production and reception aspects. He published three books (La sitcom, 2020, Palinsesto, 2015, and Risate in scatola, 2012) and co-edited Taboo Comedy. Television and Controversial Humour (Palgrave, 2016, with Chiara Bucaria) and other collections.

Paola Brembilla, Dipartimento delle Arti, Università di Bologna

Paola Brembilla is Senior Assistant Professor at Università di Bologna, Department of the Arts (DAR). She mostly works in the field of Media Industry Studies, with a focus on the mutual impacts of economics and culture in shaping audiovisual products. She authored two books: Game of Strategy (2015) and It’s All Connected (2018). With Ilaria A.De Pascalis, she co-edited Reading Contemporary Serial Television Universes (Routledge 2018).

Linda Rossato, Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali Comparati, Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia

Linda Rossato is Senior Assistant Professor at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies. She was awarded a Master’s degree in Screen Translation from the University of Bologna and she obtained a Ph.D. in English for Special Purposes from the University of Naples Federico II. Her research interests also include the translation of televised food culture and child language brokering. With D. Chiaro, she co-edited a special issue of The Translator, (2015) and with R. Antonini et al. she co-edited the book Nonprofessional Interpreting and Translation (John Benjamins, 2017).

Lucio Spaziante, Dipartimento di Filosofia e Comunicazione, Università di Bologna

Lucio Spaziante is Senior Assistant Professor at University of Bologna, Department of Philosophy and Communication, where he teaches courses of Media and Semiotics. His research interests focus on music, youth cultures, media studies, sound and audiovisual language. He is the author of Sociosemiotica del pop (2007), Dai beat alla generazione dell’iPod, (2010) and Icone pop (2016). He has been vice president of AISS, the Italian Association of Semiotic Studies.

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Published

2020-08-31

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 17 (2020): Canned TV Going Global

Section

Explorations

License

Copyright (c) 2020 The Author(s)

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