The Shaping Powers in Rewriting Popular Fantasy: The Theory of Rewriting and Game of Thrones in the Age of Social Media

Abstract

This thesis revisits André Lefevere’s theory of rewriting in the age of social media. It does so by applying it to three Arabic adaptations of the blockbusting American fictional TV show Game of Thrones (2011). In so doing, this research aims to extend Lefevere’s theory to the social media context, a context that varies immensely from the one in which this theory was introduced three decades ago. This research focuses mainly on Lefevere’s two shaping powers in rewritings, the dominant ideology and poetics of the target culture. Moreover, it expands Lefevere’s theory by intertwining it with other theories, namely Henry Jenkins’ notion of convergence culture, and Lawrence Venuti’s idea of translator’s invisibility, to assess the role of the audience as a shaping power in its own right. While Lefevere’s theory is mainly focused on the powers at play at the production stage, Jenkins’ and Venuti’s notions enable the theory of rewriting to encompass other stages of the process, namely reception and circulation. This theoretical framework advances the theory of rewriting as well as our understanding of the case studies under examination, which, in turn, ruminates on controversial issues related to translation, such as the longstanding perception of censorship, the fixity and singularity of the source text, and our overall understanding of rewriting (encompassing translation and adaptation). In addition, by applying the translation theory of rewriting to explore cases of adaptation, this research responds to Venuti’s call for a dialogue between Translation Studies and Adaptation Studies. This thesis concludes that Lefevere’s concepts speak directly and powerfully to rewritings published in the age of social media, once these concepts are adapted in line with this new context and its powers.