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Article published In: Babel
Vol. 67:5 (2021) ► pp.620–645

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Understanding intervention in fansubbing’s participatory culture

A multimodal study on Chinese official subtitles and fansubs

 | University of Liverpool
 | University of Liverpool
Published online: 29 September 2021
DOI logo with link
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.
Résumé
Le développement de la technologie numérique au cours des deux dernières décennies a non seulement fait des produits audiovisuels un moyen de divertissement indispensable, mais a également provoqué l’émergence de nouveaux phénomènes socioculturels, notamment la montée de la culture participative et de l’engagement civique. En s’appuyant sur la notion de multimodalité directement liée à la linguistique fonctionnelle systémique, cet article se propose de comparer certaines des méthodes les plus caractéristiques des sous-titres officiels et des fansubs dans le contexte socioculturel complexe de la Chine. L’objectif est d’examiner les façons dont les fansubbers manipulent les ressources sémiotiques pour concevoir des stratégies très innovantes et d’étudier comment ces pratiques interventionnistes contribuent à maximiser leur propre visibilité et à accroître la participation du film. Les résultats montrent qu’en allant à l’encontre des conventions établies par les professionnels, les fansubbers chinois ont tendance à produire des sous-titres hautement esthétiques et fonctionnels et cohérents dans leur choix sémiotiques. Cette tendance n’est pas seulement le reflet de la résistance des fansubbers et de leur insatisfaction à l’égard des sous-titres officiels soumis aux contraintes de l’État. Elle est aussi la manifestation de la culture participative qui se développe rapidement dans ce monde de plus en plus numérisé.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Participatory media fandom in the digital era
    • 2.2The proliferation of grassroot Chinese fansubbing
  • 3.A multimodal framework for the analysis of subtitling practices
    • 3.1Rationale for multimodal analysis of subtitled films
    • 3.2The SFL-based multimodal transcription
  • 4.Data analysis: A multimodal description of official subtitles and fansubs
    • 4.1Diegetic narrative vs. non-diegetic narrative
    • 4.2Static subtitles vs. karaoke-style subtitles
    • 4.3“One size fits all” subtitles vs. emotive subtitles
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Note
  • References
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