The Big Bang Theory: the analysis of humor in dubbing and fansubbing

TBBT

One factor, which has led the present author to analyse the specific language

in the comedy series The Big Bang Theory is to understand how the scientific

language is set up with the purpose of capturing the humorous discourse and

specialized terminology, which need to have a re-adjustment in the target product

(the Italian dubbed version). All is essential, therefore, to gain a full appreciation of

its product.

A high number of television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy or Dr House

now rely on scientist consultants to keep their facts straight. So does The Big Bang

Theory. To put a 30-minute television show on air, the network needs first: actors,

producers, directors, camera operators and at least a physicist. In this case, the one

and only brain behind the CBS sitcom TBBT is David Saltzberg, an astroparticle

physicist and a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California,

12 13

Los Angeles. In a 2009 interview with National Public Radio’s host Scott Simon ,

David Saltzberg talked about his effective help on set: he receives the scripts several

9 N.d.T. Master Universitario

10 http://www.iatefl.org

11 http://www.tesol.org

12 th

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Saltzberg, Accessed on November 13 , 2014.

13 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100103094, Accessed on November

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13 , 2014. 11

weeks beforehand and he makes sure the whiteboards on set, used by Sheldon or

Leonard, are correct. 14 Figure 1. David Saltzberg on the right

Here some examples of the scientific language adopted in the show, in the

form of Physics theories applied on everyday life will be introduced:

 st

A scene between Sheldon and Penny in her apartment, in the 1

season, episode 17 called The Tangerine Factor, where Sheldon in

order to explain the relationship between Penny and Leonard

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employs a scientific theory : .

Figure 2 Sheldon (on the right) and Penny (on the

left) in her apartment.

Penny: Sheldon, do you have anything to say that has anything to do with, you

know, what I’m talking about.

Sheldon: Well, let’s see. We might consider Schrodinger’s Cat.

Penny: Schrodinger? Is that the woman in 2A?

Sheldon: No. That’s Mrs Grossinger. And she doesn’t have a cat, she has a

Mexican hairless, annoying little animal, yip yip yip yip…

14 http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/09/23/224404260/the-man-who-gets-the-

science-right-on-the-big-bang-theory , Accessed on November 13th, 2014.

15 th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QOS1LX498A , Accessed on November 13 , 2014. 12

Penny: Sheldon!

Sheldon: Sorry, you diverted me. Anyway, in 1935, Erwin Schrodinger, in an

attempt to explain the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics, he proposed

an experiment where a cat is placed in a box with a sealed vial of poison that will

break open at a random time. Now, since no-one knows when or if the poison has

been released, until the box is opened, the cat can be thought of as both alive and

dead.

Penny: I’m sorry, I don’t get the point.

Sheldon: Well of course you don’t get it, I haven’t made it yet. You’d have to be

psychic to get it, and there’s no such thing as psychic.

Penny: Sheldon, what’s the point?

Sheldon: Just like Schrodinger’s Cat, your potential relationship with Leonard

right now can be thought of as both good and bad. It is only by opening the box that

you’ll find out which it is.

Penny: Okay, so you’re saying I should go out with Leonard. 16

Sheldon: No, no, no, no, no, no. Let me start again. In 1935, Erwin Schrodinger…

 A scene between Sheldon and Kripke in a rock climbing centre, in

nd

the 2 season, episode 13 called The Friendship Algorithm, where

Sheldon, in order to control the new open science grid computer that

he needs to use to run some simulations of structure formation in the

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early universe, decides to befriend Kripke :

18 .

Figure 3 Kripke on the left and Sheldon on the right

16 http://bigbangtrans.wordpress.com/series-1-episode-17-the-tangerine-factor/

17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uvAwb5Unic

18 The image is taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1256023/ 13

Sheldon: You know, I am a fan of ventriloquism. Maybe you, me and your dummy

could go get a hot beverage. He could talk while you drink.

Kripke: Nope, I wanna climb some wocks.

Sheldon: This appears significantly more monolithic than it did on my laptop. No,

one expects to see Hominids learning to use bones as weapeons.

Kripke: You afwaid of heights, Cooper?

Sheldon: Hardly. Fear of heights is illogical. Fear of falling, on the other hand, is

prudent and evolutionary. What would you say is the minimum altitude I need to

achieve to cement our new-found friendship?

Kripke: Come on, they have birthday parties here. Wittle kids climb this.

Sheldon: Little kid Hominids, perhaps. (To man who attaches him to ropes) Is this

your entire job? Your parents must be so proud.

Kripke: Let’s go, Cooper.

Sheldon: Coming, Kripke. Okay. Harness seems to be secure. Small amount of

incontinence just now, but the website said that’s to be expected. Hey, this isn’t so

bad. A bit like vertical swimming.

Kripke: Hey, look at you, Cooper. You’re almost halfway to the top.

Sheldon: I am? I was wrong. It IS a fear of heights.

Kripke:You alwight there, Cooper?

Sheldon: Not really. I feel somewhat like an inverse tangent function that’s

approaching an asymptote.

Kripke: Are you saying you’re stuck?

Sheldon: What part of an inverse tangent function approaching an asymptote did

you not understand?

Kripke: Understood all that. I’m not a mowon. Just keep going.

Sheldon: Yeah, I don’t think I can.

Kripke: Well, then. Cwimb back down.

Sheldon: No, that doesn’t seem any more likely.

Kripke: So what’s the pwan, Cooper? 19

Sheldon: Well, it’s not exactly a plan but I think I’m going to pass out.

19 http://bigbangtrans.wordpress.com/series-2-episode-13-the-friendship-algorithm/ , accessed

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on January 10 , 2015. 14

1.4 The concept and analysis of the humour in The Big Bang Theory

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During the 2 year of university, the present author has run across the study of Paul

Grice’s cooperative principle, which proposes four maxims in communication.

When any of these maxims is violated or flouted, misunderstanding and hence

humour can be generated. Humour can be studied pragmatically through the

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relevance theory (Shuqin, 2013), which proposes that human communication is a

process of ostension and inference and comes from the contrast between maximal

relevance and optimal relevance. This study attempts to employ these two theories

to analyse the humorous discourse in The Big Bang Theory, with a view to the

Italian audience to understand and appreciate this form of television artistic work

and hence enrich the cross-cultural communication.

1.4.1 Research on humour

Humour is a special kind of human communication: it is humankind’s

greatest gift to unburden life; people always welcome it, bring happiness and

pleasant feeling to a person in depression; change a person’s mood and can sooth a

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sad heart and give people a way to comfort them. Furthermore, humour is divided

into verbal and visual humour, represented by words and pictures.

Since it represents a great interest amongst scholars such as the present

author because of its mystery, humour applies from the field of philosophy,

psychology, sociology, literature to linguistics.

According to a traditional accepted classification, humour can be divided

into three groups: the Superiority Theory, the Release Theory and the Incongruity

Theory.

First, Thomas Hobbes and Aristotle principally support the Superiority

Theory. They define humour as “the sudden glory arising from the sudden

conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of

others.” It bolsters up that humour is considered an expression of superiority, that

is to say people laugh at other’s misfortune or shortcoming because of their

intelligence, beauty, strength or mistakes, which reflect our sense of superiority.

20 http://ojs.academypublisher.com/index.php/tpls/article/download/tpls020611851190/4965&p

rev=search 15

While the Release Theory delves into psychology, Freud (1976) indeed is

the main representative for the release theory. It points out that laughter is a means,

which can be used to release or reduce the strain coming from controlled thought

or rationality. As the present author stated earlier, by enjoying humour, people can

release their burden and have a pleasant mood.

Finally, the most popular theory of why we find jokes funny revolves around

the Incongruity Theory, one of the most influential approaches in the study of

humour. It points out that humour is perceived at the moment of realization of

incongruity between a concept involved in a certain situation and the real objects

thought to be in some relation to the concept (Mulder, 2002) , that is to say that we

laugh at things that surprise us because they seem out of place. In many jokes, there

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is an apparent incongruity between the set-up and the punch line.

This thesis will conduct the humour study within the frameworks of two

important pragmatic theories, using the dialogue in the Big Bang Theory as a case

study. 1.4.2 Paul Grice’s cooperative principle and the creation of

humour

The aim of this thesis is to investigate, using Paul Grice’s cooperative

principle, several episodes from the sitcom The Big Bang Theory in terms of finding

out how the violating or flouting and other non-observances of Grice maxims of

quantity, quality, relevance and manner are effectively employed to create humour

in the series. The analysis section includes transcriptions of the selected parts of the

episodes, which the present author has analysed, coming across with the fact that

the Grice maxims serve as viewpoints to humour in combination with extra-

linguistic features such as body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice.

A philosopher of language Herbert Paul Grice in his well-known article

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entitled The Cooperative Principle Grice, H.P, 1975). First, put the Cooperative

(

principle forward. Grice put forward that all speakers whatever their cultural

background was, they all should obey some basic principles to govern their

conversation, which he termed the Cooperative Principle. In his paper, the

22 Incongruity theory available from http://www.richardwiseman.com/LaughLab/incon.html

23 Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Grice 16

Cooperative Principle runs as follows: “Make your conversational contribution

such as is required at the stage at where it occurs by the accepted purpose or

， ，

direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged”. In Logic and

Conversation, this principle is brok