Locating “la voz”: the space and sound of Spanish dubbing.

This article explores the cultural location of the dubbed voice in Spain. Dubbed films presently account for 80% of all films viewed in Spain, yet despite their overwhelming presence in Spanish everyday life, its dubbing actors have received very little scholarly attention to date. If, according to Mladen Dolar, the human voice is “the intimate kernel of subjectivity”, how might a viewer begin to identify with a star persona that is clearly incomplete? How can we begin to understand the ways in which audiences might absorb themselves within the emotional world of a Hollywood star who speaks with the voice of a Spanish actor? In analysing the styles and sound design of Spanish dubbing performances, this article explores the elusive spatiality of the dubbed voice in film. As I show, the sonic texture of vocal performance in dubbed films is a crucial, and most often overlooked, component of film form. In particular, the article focuses on Constantino Romero, one of Spain's most famous dubbing actors, who has regularly provided the Spanish voice of Clint Eastwood, among other Hollywood stars. As this article shows, Romero's performance is a powerful site of the imagination, identification and pleasure for Spanish audiences. Far from merely providing an invisible conduit between audience and Hollywood star, Romero can be considered a cultural phenomenon in his own right, a “vocal persona” whose voice circulates far beyond the confines of the films for which he performs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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