Translation into the language of propaganda: how Russian dubbing distorts the plots of Western films

A clip from the new series “Sweetpea,” which follows the story of a woman named Rhiannon Lewis, has gone viral on social media. Rhiannon, once a bullied child, now leads a quiet life working as an administrative assistant at a local newspaper, living with her father and her dog. 

However, her life takes a dark turn after her father’s death and a fateful encounter with her former tormentor, Julia. This meeting spurs her onto a path of vengeance: Rhiannon creates a “black list” of offenders and begins exacting brutal retribution on everyone who has wronged her.

But this isn’t just another movie review. Instead, we’re exploring something more interesting and more controversial — how russian dubbing has altered the original storyline.

In the fourth episode of “Sweetpea,” Rhiannon confronts Julia, delivering a pointed insult by comparing her to a malignant tumor and… Putin. 

“You’re destroying lives, Julia. You’re like a cancer. Or climate change. Or russia. Yes, the world would be a better place without you. But with russia, at least everyone knows what a psycho Putin is. And no one even knows about you.”

Surprisingly, this scene didn’t go viral because of the Putin reference itself. Instead, it caught attention because, in the russian dubbing, any mention of Putin was erased. In one dubbed version, “russia” was replaced with “fascism,” and “Putin” with “Hitler”; in another, “russia” became “North Korea,” and “Putin”, of course, was transformed into Kim Jong-un. A third version ignored names altogether, substituting “Putin” with simply “schizophrenic”. 

This isn’t the first time russian dubbing has whitewashed the names of russian or Soviet leaders. For instance, in Season 3, Episode 5 of the Spanish series “La Casa de Papel,” a character says, “We’ll do like Putin — shoot first and ask later.” The russian version changes this line to, “Let’s do what we always do — shoot first and ask later.”

The American comic adaptation “Hellboy” (2019) saw similar alterations. In one scene, Hellboy confronts Baba Yaga, who wishes to resurrect Joseph Stalin. In the russian dubbing, Stalin’s name was replaced with Hitler’s. In an ironic twist, the effort to avoid casting dictators from russian history in a negative light instead led to equating them with one another.

russian dubbing similarly evades negative references to russia itself. In “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (2011), the hacker Lisbeth Salander tells journalist Mikael Blomkvist that she uncovered a businessman’s involvement in money laundering, with connections to russia. 

Here’s what she says, “They’re laundering money from the sale of weapons and drugs, as well as from criminal syndicates in russia. And this money makes up only 5 percent of their assets; the rest goes to accounts in the Cayman Islands.” 

However, in the version by the Ukrainian amateur dubbing studio HDrezka, which regrettably remains popular among Ukrainian viewers despite its russian affiliation, the “russian connection” was erased entirely.

The revised line reads, “They launder money from drug and arms sales. This money makes up only 5 percent of their holdings; the rest ends up in the Cayman Islands.”

A similar approach is taken with references to Ukraine in russian dubs of foreign films — either such mentions are omitted or they’re manipulated to cast Ukraine in an unfavorable light. 

For example, in the fourth episode of the third season of the American series “The Morning Show,” russian shelling of Mariupol is referenced. In this episode, a photographer travels to the city and reports grimly on the situation: “The russians are not just bombing the city, they are shooting civilians in the streets.” 

However, in the russian amateur dubbing (as this season hasn’t been officially released in russia), the line is altered to say: “Not only is the city being bombed, Azov is shooting civilians.” This shift pins the blame on Ukrainian defenders, changing the context to justify russian aggression. Such an alteration not only distorts the plot but also presents a false narrative for russian-speaking viewers.

russian dubbing also often assigns a Ukrainian accent to characters - even when it doesn’t exist in the original script -as a means of mocking Ukrainians and their language. 

For example, in episode 17 of season six of “Desperate Housewives,” a russian woman approaches a character’s son to ask for money. In the original, she speaks with a strong russian accent, mispronouncing words. But in the russian dubbing, her speech is tinged with a Ukrainian accent. She exclaims, heckles, and uses words like “beautiful” and “thank you,” a portrayal reminiscent of “Nanny Vika” - a caricature of a Ukrainian woman from Mariupol in the russian series “My Beautiful Nanny.”  This shift casts a russian character in a negative light while reinforcing negative stereotypes of Ukrainians. 

Even animated films aren’t immune to these tactics. In “Hotel Transylvania,” there’s a scene in which Dracula’s daughter, Mavis, is allowed to venture out of the castle to experience the human world on her 118th birthday. Her aunt Eunice panics, warning her hysterically about the dangers of humans, speaking with a Ukrainian dialect. 

Mavis responds, “I didn’t understand anything, Aunt Nia, you can speak ‘our way.’” 

In the original version and in the Ukrainian dubbing, Mavis says that maybe humans have changed, and she simply wants to explore. But in the russian version, this interaction reinforces the idea that the Ukrainian language is “not ours” and portrays it as strange and shrill. 

russian dubbing often deliberately changes context, introduces distorted details, or slips in subtle propaganda. With these examples in mind, if you’re still watching movies or shows with russian dubbing, it might be time to switch to Ukrainian dubbing or watch them in the original

Prepared by Aliona Malichenko.