Translating the sensitive content in audiovisual fiction: the expanding case of Chinese subtitling in the streaming era

Abstract

This study aims to examine the underexplored subject of sensitive audiovisual content in the research area of Chinese audiovisual translation. It draws on studies in language practice to highlight multimodal, multisensory and multisemiotic sense-making in subtitling, with reference to Chinese-subtitled media works released on global streaming platforms. A further analysis will focus on the ‘kitchen’ scene in the critically acclaimed FX series The Bear. The selected scene contains English dialogue with derogatory and sexualised expressions, reflecting the tension arising from the communicative zone of the kitchen space. The study focuses on the translations of sensitive language into three versions of Chinese-language subtitles as follows: Mandarin-based Traditional Chinese, Mandarin-based Simplified Chinese and Cantonese-based Traditional Chinese. The conclusion will summarise the discussion and speculate further on how communicative meanings are rendered in the subtitling medium where linguistic, material and semiotic factors are orchestrated within and beyond the mediated communicative zone.