South Park in Brazil

Just like the Simpsons, South Park has been dubbed into different languages around the world. The show is about four grade school boys - Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny. They live in a small city, named South Park, in the state of Colorado.

South Park is characterized by its crude and satirical humor. The show is full of graphic images of violence, profanity, and sex. Most of us understand the creators’ intentions of using these images because we understand the context in which they are created. These images are familiar to most of us because they mock people or events from American culture and society.

Do these images make sense if shown in a different country? Do audiences from a different culture understand the messages these images are trying to send?

To try to answer these questions I watched the episode “The List” in English and in Portuguese. In this episode, the fourth grade girls make a list rating the boys from the cutest to the ugliest. The boys become obsessed with this list and plan to steal it from the girls.

The translation to Portuguese is almost literal. I noticed very few things that were changed, such as when Cartman mocks Kenny because he eats “pop tarts “every night. In Brazil people do not eat pop tarts so they dubbed it as “biscoito”, which means “cookie”. Another example is when Stan’s mom says he has not eaten his “cannish”. In the dubbed version she says “comida”, which is “food”. Most Brazilians are not familiar with cannish so translating it as food made more sense. Considering only language, I would say that the show’s images can be easily understood by Brazilians. Regarding the context, I would say that they make sense in Brazil too. This particular episode is mocking girls and their love for shoes. Also, it is exposing American society’s ideals of patriarchy. Carter says, “Screw [the girls]. We are guys. We can outthrust them”. This line was translated literally to Portuguese, “Nos somos homens. Nos podemos engana-las”. The context here makes sense in Brazil too since the country’s culture shares the United States’ patriarchal ideal.

Although this specific episode of “South Park” fits well within Brazil’s structures of society, we cannot forget that media corporations’ main interest when dubbing American shows is to make profit. In addition to that, I believe that media corporations are interested in preserving American cultural imperialism. Maybe that is why many American shows appear to fit within other cultures. Perhaps these images fit well because other cultures have changed or adapted some of their values and beliefs to the American values and beliefs.

Taciani D.