Understanding intervention in fansubbing’s participatory culture
- 29 September 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by John Benjamins Publishing Company in Babel-Revue Internationale De La Traduction-International Journal Of Translation
- Vol. 67 (5), 620-645
- https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00236.lu
Abstract
The development of digital technology over the past two decades has made audiovisual products an indispensable way of entertainment and witnessed the emergence of new sociocultural phenomena, including the rise of participatory culture and civic engagement. Drawing on the Systemic Functional Linguistics-informed multimodality, this article compares some of the most distinct practices in official subtitles and fansubs in the complex sociocultural context of China. The aim is to examine how fansubbers manipulate semiotic resources to design highly innovative strategies and investigate how these interventionist practices maximize their visibility and increase the film’s participation. The results show that Chinese fansubbers tend to produce subtitles in a highly aesthetic, functional, and semiotically coherent way by breaking the conventions established by the professionals. This tendency is not only a reflection of their resistance and dissatisfaction with the official subtitles under the state constraints but also a manifestation of the rapidly developing participatory culture in this increasingly digitalized world.Keywords
This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
- The verbal art of tucao and face-threatening acts in danmu screeningMedia Language and Discourse in Cultural China, 2015
- Audiovisual TranslationPublished by Taylor & Francis Ltd ,2014
- Multimodality in Translation and Interpreting Studies: Theoretical and Methodological PerspectivesPublished by Wiley ,2014
- Fan activism sustained and challenged: participatory culture in Chinese online translation communitiesChinese Journal of Communication, 2013
- Fansub Dreaming on ViKiThe Translator, 2012
- Kinetic Typography in Movie Title SequencesProcedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2012
- Fandom, youth and consumption in ChinaEuropean Journal of Cultural Studies, 2009
- FANSUBBING ANIME: INSIGHTS INTO THE ‘BUTTERFLY EFFECT’ OF GLOBALISATION ON AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATIONPerspectives, 2007
- Reading ImagesPublished by Taylor & Francis Ltd ,2006
- Evidence of Explicitation in Subtitling: Towards a CategorisationAcross Languages and Cultures, 2003