The alchemy of time and discourse in Fullmetal Alchemist: problematizations of rhythm in intersemiotic translation

Abstract

It aims to problematize the rhythm in intersemiotic translations of the manga series Fullmetal Alchemist (Arakawa, 2016-2017), by Hiromu Arakawa. Product of a Masters dissertation currently in development, the problematizations are justified by the distinct possibilities for (re)organizing a discourse and its forms of meaning in narrative arts translated into other semiotic means. Based on the dialogue between the theory of rhythm (Meschonnic, 2010) and intersemiotic translation (Plaza, 2013), along with the constitutive elements of comics (McCloud, 1995), this work analyses, in a sample selected via analytical relevance, the legisigns adopted in Fullmetal Alchemist’s intersemiotic translations, into anime and live-action, and how they relate to the development of the narrative’s time stream and their impact in the discourse’s forms of meaning. As main results, the analyses shows that there were a discourse’s (re)organization, regarding the time stream, from the manga to the intersemiotic translations, and that such (re)organization establishes a specific reading of the narrative, which although still corresponds to the source text, distinguishes the discourse’s forms of meaning.