The Transcreation of Animal Farm Into Arabic: Propaganda Re-Engineered

This study aims to identify potential shifts in two audiovisual (AV) texts produced from the translation of George Orwell’s novella Animal Farm. One of the AV texts is a video version, and the other is an audio version. It could be argued that shifts might be a stylistic characteristic of translated texts. However, this study is concerned with the shifts that might be ideologically motivated. Although the Arab World is lagging behind in terms of research in audiovisual translation (AVT), in recent years, it has witnessed an increased interest in research related to the different modalities of AVT. Nevertheless, fan transcreation still remains an unaddressed modality in the Arab World. Furthermore, there is not much research in the Arab World that focuses on AV texts produced or adapted for Radio. This research analyzes the two AV texts to uncover the optional shifts that are ideologically motivated, given that Animal Farm has a history of being manipulated to serve political agendas. The study is descriptive and relies on an analysis model that the researcher suggests drawing on narratology and appraisal theory resources. The analysis shows a number of optional shifts in the form of additions and shifts in representing characters and events that might have produced an effect in the AV texts that is different from the source text.