Dubbing and subtitles. Case study, 'Natural Born Killers' ('Tueurs nes', Oliver Stone)

A case study of Natural Born Killers reveals that subtitling and dubbing fa il to transmit a network of intricate cultural references which are essenti al to the understanding of the underlying themes in the film. Since, for a foreign audience, the images, music, effects and dialogue are stripped of t heir implicit meaning in both the dubbed and subtitled versions, one may wo nder whether the latter is a better option for a postmodern film which aims to titillate the spectators' senses more than their intellect.