pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Search Ins ide C hico State

Chiara Ferrari

From The Nanny to The Sopranos: Stereotypes, Ethnicity, andAmerican Television

Communication design professor and Italy native Chiara Ferrari was sitting in a television criticism class at theUniversity of Arizona in her first semester of graduate school when the class began a discussion of Fran Drescher’sportrayal of a Jewish American princess on The Nanny.

Something didn’t sound right to Ferrari—she had watched the show in Italy manytimes and was certain Fran Drescher wasan Italian American. “Since when is FranDrescher Jewish?” she asked, to which theclass laughed.

“To me, she was an Italian American,”says Ferrari.

This moment of realization spurredFerrari’s master’s thesis, PhDdissertation, and her latest book, SinceWhen is Fran Drescher Jewish?, all of whichfocus on the idea that television portraysethnicity through stereotypes and howstereotypes are adapted depending onthe country they are broadcasted in.

“I was interested in seeing what happens to American television when it gets exported abroad,” says Ferrari. “Iunderstand now that Drescher is perfectly Jewish, but the fact is that no one knows what a Jewish American princess isin Italy.”

Her research began as a six-page paper, which later turned into a 20-page paper on The Nanny and how it istranslated in Italy. This turned into her master’s thesis, “The Nanny in Italy: Language, Nationalism and Cultural

ICS HomePage Stories:Indian Youth Speak

An Historian Writes Senryu

Sicily Revisited

Playing for Peace in theMiddle East: ResearchShows Positive Changes

Building Empire in 18th-Century North America

Teaching and Advising:Inseparable

From The Nanny to TheSopranos: Stereotypes,Ethnicity, and AmericanTelevision

Outstanding StudentsReceive Rawlins MeritAward

AS and Other CampusOrganizations Join NationalEffort to Register NewVoters

October 25, 2012 Vol. 42, Issue 8

ICS HOME NEWS CAMPUS CALENDAR ARCHIVES SUBSCRIBE CONTACT US

pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

translated in Italy. This turned into her master’s thesis, “The Nanny in Italy: Language, Nationalism and CulturalIdentity,” which was strong enough to present at a conference.

When she presented her paper at the Southwest Popular Culture Association (PCA), she won the award for beststudent paper. “That gave me some confidence, and made me realize that it was something worth pursuing.”

Ferrari was accepted to UCLA in the Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media. She wanted to see if she couldfind an overall argument that could apply to television series other than The Nanny. At the time, global televisionwasn’t as explored as it is today, and there were not a lot of papers with topics similar to hers. She had a lot ofresearch work cut out for her.

“The idea was there, but it needed to become a bigger idea that was supported by academic research,” she says.“What I needed to find was at least two other television series that needed to be domesticated for an Italianaudience.”

The Sopranos was a perfect candidate and presented different issues for adaptation than The Nanny. Since thecharacters on the show are Italian Americans, Ferrari found that an Italian audience could get close to the show. Shewanted to know the problems faced by dubbing practitioners when the audience might be too close to the charactersportrayed. In The Sopranos, it wasn’t so much a case of domesticating characters like it was with The Nanny, but rathera case of sensitivity.

After some research, Ferrari learned that Italian dubbing studios were required to erase the word “mafia” from theshow. The director of dubbing told her that the Mafia is a national wound in Italy.

“Nowhere in the Italian version of The Sopranos will you hear the word ‘mafia,’” says Ferrari. “That was very surprising.”

The Simpsons was the third show Ferrari studied. She found that it was notonly popular around the world because of its global appeal (they make fun ofevery ethnicity), but also because the show could be easily adapted to acountry’s local environment.

“The Simpsons is successful abroad not only for its global reach but also forthe possibilities it offers for re-contextualization and localization in foreignmarkets,” she says.

Ferrari spoke with the television dubbing practitioners, television interpreters,and translators responsible for bringing The Nanny, The Sopranos, and TheSimpsons to Italy. She learned how much creativity also went into the dubbingprocess.

“The idea of a Jewish American princess was very foreign to an Italianaudience,” says Ferrari. “Therefore, they looked to find an adaptation thatwould domesticate the character.”

All three of these shows are the focus of Since When is Fran Drescher Jewish?Since the publication of the book in 2011, Ferrari finds her research interests

Other:Credits

CSU, Chico News

AchievementsNew photography book byByron Wolfe,Communication Design.more achievements

Chico Experience WeekPhoto Contest Resultsvisit the Chico State blog

pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Public A ffairs and Publications400 West Firs t StreetC hico, C A 95929-0010E-mail: ins idechicos tate@csuchico.edu

Share

are changing. Her minor as an undergraduate in Italy was film studies, and she is re-opening that research with anew perspective.

“I think it is time to look at my country now that I have a privileged position and I can see it as both an insider andan outsider,” she says.

Ferrari has earned a global perspective over the years to qualify her as an outsider to Italy. After receiving herbachelor’s degree from Università degli Studi di Genova in Italy, Ferrari moved to Mexico.

“Mexico opened a whole new world to me. It made me realize I could live in a foreign country, and that helped me tomake the decision to get my master’s in the United States,” she says. “It’s a major decision to move so far awayfrom home, but it’s a decision I was clear about.”

Ferrari has received many grants and awards and has been published many times, including two books, BeyondMonopoly: Globalization and Contemporary Italian Media and Since When is Fran Drescher Jewish?

Now as a professor at CSU, Chico, her current research focuses on a number of topics that are recurrent incontemporary Italian film and society—the representation of domestic terrorism and the representation of SouthernItaly, for example. Last summer, Ferrari was awarded a CSU Summer Scholar Grant that allowed her to travel to Italyand participate in a seminar on cinema in Rome.

“We covered everything from audiences to the idea of cinema for memory, gender representation, location andarchitecture, history, and archival research—using the cinema of Rome as a case study,” says Ferrari. “It was a very,very intellectually stimulating experience.”

Even though her research is shifting from global television to national and international cinema, she still incorporatesher research into the classroom. World Cinema allows her to explore the research she is just beginning, whileGlobalizing Film & Video allows her to incorporate her book.

Ferrari’s curiosity is what has driven her career, and she encourages that same inquisitiveness in her students.

“I’m a curious person. I like to explore things; I like to read. Every time a colleague mentions something I don’tknow, I go look it up,” says Ferrari. “And you never know what you’re going to find.”

—Cassandra Jones, Public Affairs and Publications

pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API