Sweet Transvestites: From "The Rocky Horror Show" to "One Piece". A Case of Intersemiotic Translation

This article exemplifies intersemiotic translation as a process of crossing and reconfiguring semiotic, cultural, and ideological borders, through a comparative analysis of Dr Frank-N-Furter from "The Rocky Horror Show" and the fictional character of Emporio Ivankov from Eiichirō Oda’s manga "One Piece". Drawing on the theoretical and methodological framework of Multimodality, the study explores how Frank’s transgressive identity travels across media, genres, and sociocultural contexts, and how it is resemiotised in Oda’s characterisation of Ivankov. Rather than a linear transfer of meaning, intersemiotic translation emerges as a site of negotiation in which identities, styles, and discourses are reconfigured as they move across borders and boundaries. The analysis shows that intersemiotic translation functions as a form of discursive border crossing that enables the circulation of queer identities across transnational and transmedial spaces, while simultaneously challenging normative regimes of gender and authority. While Frank stages queerness through theatrical excess within a constrained moral landscape, Ivankov inherits and reshapes this legacy into a revolutionary performance grounded in political resistance. By foregrounding borders and their transgression, the article contributes to Critical Discourse Studies by demonstrating how popular culture reshapes identity and ideology through movement across semiotic and cultural boundaries.