Abstract

Since the recent advent of over-the-top media services, such as Netflix and other internet-based streaming platforms, the very way in which media content is consumed and broadcasted has changed drastically. This thesis investigates the specific ways in which modern LGBTQ media translation influences queer identity. Its framework is based on the idea that language plays an important role in the construction of identity. It relies on the concepts of power (Michel Foucault), performance (Judith Butler), agency (Luise von Flotow) and community (Keith Harvey). Through a comparative English-to-French translation case study of seasons eight and nine of the series RuPaul’s Drag Race, I present eight trends in translation that influence queer identity: the conceptualization of drag; the employment of English lexicon; the transposition of grammatical gender markers; the diminishment of queer source material through mistranslation and omission; the enrichment of queer source material; the alteration of register; the treatment of transgender lexicon; and the transformation of reclaimed vocabulary. I argue that, for gender and sexual minority groups, these translation trends have real and important influences on the evolution of queer identity and the visibility of various LGBTQ communities.