Bedrock Behind the Iron Curtain: Transcultural Shifts in the Hungarian Dubbed Version of The Flintstones (1960-66)

US serial animation has had varying success on Hungarian television. Due to the form’s link to comedy and reliance on voice casting, its local appeal has largely depended on dubbing production’s transcultural integration of the two. The aim of this article is to map cultural shifts in the ways US animation has travelled to the Hungarian cultural context via dubbing, raising issues around authorship and cultural hierarchies. This transcultural focus takes a longitudinal approach, charting the historic development of US animation’s Hungarian dubbing through key case studies. It examines the foundational impact of the Hungarian dubbed version of The Flintstones (1960-1966), the ways this translation informed Hungarian animation’s cultural development and prestige, as well as its longstanding effect on dubbing practices of US animation through the case study of South Park (1997-). The analysis focuses on sociolinguistic aspects of translation, vocal performance, and contested notions of authorship that these translations and performances inform. Crucially, the article examines the transcultural aspects of US animated programmes’ travel to the Hungarian context by outlining the historical backdrop of socialist and post-socialist Hungary’s dubbing production practices, including political restrictions and censorship. It argues that examining these are necessary for understanding US animation’s sociocultural role in the country; which in turn informs wider discourses around transnational media texts’ reception, the translator’s discursive role as auteur, and vocal performance’s significance for the cultural mediation of transcultural animated texts.