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Article published In: Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 18:3 (2023) ► pp.378–398

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Fan translation and film criticism in China

Re-reviewing The Wandering Earth (2019) through translation

ORCiD logo with link | University of Liverpool
Published online: 13 February 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.20093.guo
Abstract
Film criticism in China has been changing due to a growing fan community and their active participation in online film reviewing. While social media has democratized who can write reviews, there remain distinct hierarchies of professional and amateur reviewers. Drawing upon . 2006b. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: NYU Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar concept of “knowledge community” and Alex Bruns’ “produsage” model (Bruns, Axel. 2008. Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), this article will explore how Chinese film fans use translation to shape the online reception of a film and participate in the debates over film criticism in the digital age. Through a case study of the Chinese translations of an English review of The Wandering Earth (2019), a Chinese sci-fi blockbuster, it argues that translation, as an alternative form of self-expression, constitutes both an important cinematic experience for fans and a response by grassroots consumers to the existing reviewing system influenced by media capital.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • The crisis of criticism
  • Translation as a cinematic experience and a catalyst for knowledge production
  • Reviewing The Wandering Earth (2019) through translation
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (63)
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