Not a footprint to be seen : isolation in the interplay between words, music and image in two Dutch-language dubbed versions of ‘Let it go’

Abstract

Animated musical films, such as Disney’s Frozen, have long been immensely popular among the globe; however, the investigation of the songs of such films in a dubbing context constitutes a relatively new area of research. This paper compares the theme of isolation in one song from Frozen, ‘Let it go’, in the two Dutch-language dubbed versions released in, respectively, the Netherlands and Belgium. The triangle of aspects, an analytical model for animated musical films, is used to analyse the musical, visual, and verbal codes of ‘Let it go’ and categorise differences between the TTs and the ST. This model combines qualitative and quantitative data to compare different-language versions of songs from animated musical films. The analysis finds that the TT-NL is most similar to the ST concerning musical aspects such as rhyme scheme and rhythm, and expresses the theme of isolation most strongly through the connection between the lyrics and the music. The TT-BE is most similar concerning verbal aspects, such as semantic meaning and style, and expresses isolation most strongly through metaphor and symbolism. It is hoped that this exploration of the research field of animated musical film song dubbing stimulates further research into the genre.