Context over content: the importance of cultural contextualization in comedy

Abstract

This paper explicits the concept of context over content in comedy sitcoms, showing that there are moments in the translation where the content might hinder the core meaning and objective of the text if the context isn’t put above it. Sitcom cuts in L1 and L2 were compared and analyzed, bringing about some successfully contextualized translations but also displaying examples of texts where the comedy aspect gets completely lost due to solely translating its content. The analysis has shown that when the context is presented within the L2’s cultural background, the comedic purpose presents itself in a more efficient and understandable way, hitting its target audience and conveying its central meaning.