Adaptación cultural de Steven Universe para hispanoamérica: Exportación de una agenda progresista de género en animación

Abstract

This paper analyzes the cultural adaptation for Latin America of the animated series Steven Universe, which promotes a progressive agenda regarding gender identity that has been widely recognized in its home country. This project aims to explore whether such an agenda would be preserved after the process of cultural adaptation of the show for the Spanish-speaking Latin American region. Therefore, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of both the version of the series dubbed to Latin Spanish and of the promotional material for the program broadcasted in the region. We were able to confirm that, unlike other parts of the world where the scenes and dialogues that promote gender diversity have been systematically censored, in Spanish-speaking Latin America discrepancies in dubbing are scarce and likely due to technical factors, so that it is not possible to sustain that there is censorship. We conclude that the cultural adaptation of Steven Universe proposes for the region a Model Reader that is very similar to the original one from American culture.