“YOU BETTER WERK”. CAMP TALK FEATURES IN THE SPANISH SUBTITLES OF RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE

Abstract

This article addresses Spanish subtitling for the reality television show RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR), which has been aired in the United States since 2009, analyzing the presence of specific microtextual features of camp (an aesthetic sensibility present in English-speaking spaces that is generally associated with homosexual identity) and of the manner in which these features have been translated into the Spanish subtitled versions found on Netflix and produced by the Facebook group RuPaul’s Drag Race Venezuela. The article begins with a description of the importance of researching camp talk in the context of Translation Studies and continues with an analysis of subtitles from two of the show’s episodes. Finally, results are discussed concerning the scope of translation’s role in camp-related acculturation processes, and new social functions for subtitling are considered.

Keywords
Audiovisual Translation; Drag Queen; Subtitling; Camp; RuPaul’s Drag Race