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Understanding Intervention in Fansubbing’s Participatory Culture:
A Multimodal Study on Chinese Official Subtitles and Fansubs
Siwen Lu and Sijing Lu
University of Liverpool
Abstract: The development of digital technology over the past two decades has not only
made audiovisual products an indispensable way of entertainment, but also 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 the ways in which fansubbers
manipulate semiotic resources to design highly innovative strategies and to investigate how
these interventionist practices contribute to maximizing their own visibility and increasing the
participation of the film. The results show that by breaking the conventions established by the
professionals, Chinese fansubbers tend to produce subtitles in a highly aesthetic, functional
and semiotically coherent way. This tendency is not only a reflection of their resistance and
dissatisfaction of the official subtitles under the state constraints, but also a manifestation of
the rapidly developing participatory culture in this increasingly digitalized world.
Keywords: fansubbing, subtitling, participatory culture, multimodal, intervention
1.Introduction
Over the past two decades, the development of digital technology has not only made
audiovisual products an indispensable way of entertainment, but has also witnessed the
emergence of some new sociocultural phenomena, such as the rise of participatory culture and
civic engagement. Fansubbing, an online subtitling activity made by fans for fans, has shown
that audiences are no longer the passive recipients of audiovisual products but are playing an
increasingly active role in both the production and consumption of audiovisual materials
(Prez-Gonzlez 2020). Thanks to the advances in digital technology, audiovisual programs
are not only made for audiences, but are also made by audiences as subtitling software online
has become increasingly accessible, providing a novel platform for fansubbers to create their
own subtitles and share opinions with other fans. The role of fansubbers as prosumers, namely
a merger of producers and consumers, is evidently reflected in their subtitling practices as
they tend to break the conventional practices established by the professional subtitlers and
manipulate the semiotic resources in film in a more innovative and creative way.
Drawing on the Systemic Functional Linguistics-informed multimodal framework, this
article compares some of the most distinct practices in official subtitles and fansubs in the
complex sociocultural context of China. It examines the ways in which fansubbers manipulate
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the semiotic resources to design innovative strategies and investigates how these
interventionist practices contribute to maximizing their own visibility and increasing the
participation and interactivity of the film. Following this introduction, the article initially
describes the emergence of Chinese participatory media fandom triggered by the advent of the
Internet and the state constraints in mainstream section, followed by an account of the
proliferation of Chinese grassroot fansubbing in relation to its new patterns of production and
distribution. The article then provides the theoretical foundation that informs the multimodal
analysis of subtitling practices in this study. After comparing the most distinct practices
between the two forms of subtitling, the article concludes with a discussion of the active role
played by fansubbers in the creation of more aesthetic, functional, and semiotically coherent
subtitles, and the ongoing position in facilitating a participatory culture in China.
2. Background
2.1 Participatory media fandom in the digital era
As attested by a growing body of literature, professional subtitling practices are widely held
to foster social and cultural standardization (Daz-Cintas 2005). Insights into professional
subtitling in China suggest that the political manipulation is the most significant among all
constraints, and it is mostly based on the ordinances and regulations set by the State
Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) (Li 2012).1
According to Li (2012), the China’s ruling party, the Communist Party of China, has made a
series of macro-level policies to guide cultural fields. One main guidance is that all cultural
materials need to promote both socialist material civilization and spiritual civilization under
the guidance of Marxism to enrich people’s social and cultural lives. Restrictions have been
strictly imposed on the distribution of harmful language, pornography, violence or
homosexual-related content in China through films and TV series. Sustained political
ideology and traditional moral values have standardized the language usage and “un-polluted
the translation content” in the professional industry, although the commercial drive for box-
office success has impelled some professional translators to “produce more entertaining
elements in their translations through intercultural rewriting” (ibid, 77). Such influence of
external constraints on professional subtitling in China echoes Lefevere’s (2004, 2)
description on the situation of translation: “translation is a channel opened, often not without
a certain reluctance, through which foreign influences can penetrate the native culture,
challenge it, and even contribute to subverting it.”
Nevertheless, the fact that fan-made versions have taken the Internet by storm in recent
1 The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, which has changed into
the National Radio and Television Administration since 2018, is a ministry-level agency directly led by
the State Council of China. Its main duty is to supervise and manage the media industry.
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years and have received more positive audience ratings than professional versions, tends to
imply the significance of aesthetic manipulation on audiovisual translation (AVT) (Li 2012).
In fan-made videos, the increasing and creative use of Chinese idioms, set phrases, and
especially neologisms or buzzwords derived from amateur cultures have impelled the source
dialogue to be received as more natural and idiomatic to the domestic audiences. The status of
passive audiences fulfilled by the traditional medium has been subverted by the global
popularization of the Internet. Users are on longer involved as one-sided receivers; rather,
they become both consumers and producers to disseminate the information they create in a
decentralized communication system (Tian 2011). Internet media fandom is emerging as a
major component of this new type of culture and virtual communities are beginning to
provide fans with an alternative platform with “intellectual interaction and emotional
nurturing” during the digital era (Kong 2012).
As Fung (2009) notes, fandom is often perceived as the social locale through which
young people can share and exchange ideas, as well as criticize for the social norms and
hierarchies in the mainstream culture. The advent of the Internet provides young people with
a new place to build intimate relationships with like-minded peers. It offers a new interactive
and communicative social space for young Chinese netizens to share values and opinions,
which goes beyond merely consuming audiovisual products. Due to the nature of a virtual
space, media fandom becomes a link to bring together people from different social
stratifications, regardless of their origin and background. The online community has
especially enabled marginalized opinions to be expressed and heard. Such manifestations of
online fandom may well contribute to the decline in traditional forms of social belonging,
such as work units, membership of clubs, and neighborhood committees. These declines
foster a corresponding increase in new social networks with expressions of civic participation
that may challenge the traditional balances of conventions and power (Fung 2009). It is
probably under this situation that a group of ‘grassroots’ Chinese fansubbing communities are
able to flourish.
2.2. The proliferation of grassroot Chinese fansubbing
The emergence of fansubbing goes hand in hand with the popularity of computer technology.
When video-recorded tapes or cassettes became popular digital carriers in the 1980s,
fansubbing was initially born (Prez-Gonzlez 2007b). Over the last three decades,
globalization has transformed fansubbing into a worldwide activity rather than a local form
restricted to the field of Japanese anime. A substantial number of fansubbing communities are
rooted in countries like the United States, China, South Korea, Spain and Italy. Prez-
Gonzlez (2014a) suggests two major motivations that have accelerated the growth of
fansubbing worldwide. One is market entry restrictions. In the case of China, which aims to
protect the domestic cultural industries and maintain a fair order of competition, the
proliferation of fansubbing is mainly because of the deficiency of foreign products and the
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monotonousness of domestically produced films and TV series. Another motivation lies in the
official control incurred by the rating system and censorship. For instance, the censorship
mechanism set by the SAPPRFT in China has played a safeguard role in supervising public
morals and protecting juveniles, resulting in an extensive degree of adaptation, edition and
toning down of foreign films and TV series to reduce highly sexual and violent references.
The pursuit of experiencing cultural otherness is limited at this point; thus, it leads to the
promotion of fan-friendly copies that are more respectful and loyal to the original material.
In addition to the aforementioned social reasons, the traditional translation dichotomy
between domestication and foreignization may be regarded as another significant factor in the
proliferation of fansubbing (Perego 2004). According to Perego (2004), domesticated
translation is often preferred by professional translators as it enables audiences to more easily
comprehend and appreciate a new culture. However, as fans themselves, fansubbers’ linguistic
and cultural backgrounds mean that they are more familiar with the needs of the target
audiences and therefore reject the practices of professional subtitles that largely dilute cultural
references. A trend of what Tessa (2012, 227) names “thick translation”, whereby contextual
information of cultural-related items is provided through glosses or notes, is largely promoted
in fansubbed versions. One typical example of such thick translation is the creative usage of
Tucao (吐槽 to make comments) language in Chinese fansubbing, referring to the inserted
subtitles linked closely to the translator’s subjectivity and ideology that comments on,
criticizes or jokes about the actual plot (Zhang 2013). Given fansubbers are not often
restricted by the orthodox subtitling standards of professional translators, their promotion of
creative subtitling strategies, such as the heavy use of Tucao language, neologisms and
glosses, echoes what Massidda (2012, 61) calls a “hybrid proposal” which draws on a well-
balanced blend of the best resources used both by the professionals and amateurs.
In terms of the community mechanism, fansubbing networks are sustained and
reproduced as a result of “the mutual dialectic” between technological infrastructures and
social actions (Li 2015, 19). A codified group hierarchy is found in Chinese fansubbing
communities and displays different power hold. Senior members tend to have a high capacity
of knowledge, earn a strong sense of trust, and possess power and authority to make all
participants agree and abide by the established orders and regulations. By contrast, junior
members are at the lower level of capacity accumulation. A junior member could only become
a senior member through significant contributions, competence, and regular participation in
communal projects. Such codified hierarchy ties are not explicitly stated, but sustained
through a close-knit bond in the community. A close-knit bond is not limited to the online
production of subtitles as driven by a common interest and passion; it also manifests in
various other communal activities and mutual engagement (Lu and Lu, 2021). Assisted by the
emergence of Web 2.0, fansubbers use online communities as a site to pour out their personal
feelings and emotions, or to create and distribute news and ideas that cannot be talked about
in their offline lives. In a country with strict ideological sanctions on the media, the
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construction of online communities among China’s fansubbers creates “new neoliberal
scripts” in which fansubbers transgress national limitations and become involved in altruistic
production through the legally ambiguous online cultural economy (Hu 2013, 228). Such new
patterns of production and distribution of Chinese fansubbing mechanisms constitute a unique
ethos of grassroot spirit (Zhang and Mao 2013; Li 2015; Rong 2015), as their volunteerism
and do-it-yourself attitude have gradually transformed the traditional consumer culture into a
participatory civic culture.
3.A Multimodal framework for the analysis of subtitling practices
3.1 Rationale for a multimodal analysis of subtitled films
With the development of digital technology and the advent of a multimedia era, scholars
working in translation studies have been increasingly aware of the diversity of semiotic
resources employed in the process of meaning construction (Prez-Gonzlez 2007a;
O'Sullivan 2013; Kaindl 2013). Gottlieb (2007) indicates that there was a turn from semantics
to semiotics in terms of the interest of translation studies and of special interest is the effects
of diversified semiotic resources on the process of translation and on translation products. As
a prototypical type of translation which needs to take into consideration the multiple semiotic
channels, AVT has benefited the most from this multimodal turn of translation studies (Prez-
Gonzlez 2014b). In general, multimodality is a theory of social semiotics which approaches
communication as something more than language given it also takes into account other
semiotic resources such as image, sound, body movement, and music in the process of
meaning-making (Kress 2010). Due to space limitation, the following paragraphs briefly
introduce the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)-based multimodal framework used in
this article and elucidate the reasons for using this approach to analyze subtitling practices.
The SFL-based multimodality has its basis on the three metafunctions (i.e., the
ideational, interpersonal, and textual), which are the three concepts proposed by Halliday
(1978) for analyzing verbal language. As it is believed that metafunction is “a higher order of
meaning rather than specific to language”, it has been adopted and applied to all modes
(Jewitt 2009, 24). Among these works, Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) application of
metafunctional meanings to visual analysis is perhaps the most influential one as it establishes
a foundation for extending the social semiotics of language to other modes. In the design of
visual grammar, they rename the three metafunctions as the representational, interactive, and
compositional to fit into the analysis of image. However, since Kress and van Leeuwen’s
work only focuses on static images and audiovisual text is a dynamic text unfolding in time,
van Leeuwen’s (1996) visual grammar of films and Bordwell and Thompson’s (2010)
classification of mise-en-scène and cinematography are used as checklists for the description
of semiotic resources in order to account for the dynamicity of film texts.
The main aim of SFL-based multimodal analysis is to investigate how semiotic resources
achieve the three metafunctions systemically and to explore the meanings that arise when
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various semiotic resources are integrated into a multimodal whole (Kress and van Leeuwen
2006). In the metafunctional analysis of film, the representational analysis includes the
identification of participants (who the actors are), activity (what is taking place),
circumstances (where the action is taking place), and attributes (what the participants’
characteristics are). The interactive metafunction mainly concerns the relationship between
different types of participants: between the characters on screen, between the producer and the
viewer, and between the film and the viewer. According to Bordwell and Thompson (2010),
the relationship between these participants can be achieved through various film techniques
including mise-en-scène (e.g., setting, lighting, and acting), cinematography (e.g., camera
angle, distance, and movement) and sound. Finally, the compositional analysis of film focuses
on how the above two levels are organized together to achieve a meaningful whole. The
analysis at this metafunctional level includes the identification of the subject’s frame (e.g.,
center, margin, left, right, top, and bottom), sizes, color, and its relation to other semiotic
resources.
In brief, the adoption of SFL-multimodality to analyze subtitling has many advantages.
First, it breaks the traditional linguistic confinement of subtitling research as it allows
researchers to consider the meaning construction of subtitled films as a result of the
integration of different semiotic resources rather than linguistic elements alone. Second, by
adopting the metafunctional perspective, researchers have a unifying tool to analyze the
functionalities of different semiotic resources and to explore how they are organized into a
meaningful whole. The analysis of meaning construction can be processed systemically
according to the three metafunctions. Lastly, the SFL-multimodality highlights the importance
of treating subtitles as only one element in the construction of meaning in the whole
multimodal text and provides researchers a holistic approach to analyze subtitled films.
3.2 The SFL-based multimodal transcription
Multimodal transcription is a well-established method that has been widely used in many
disciplines for the analysis of multimodal texts (O’Halloran 2004). Based on the SFL-
multimodal framework developed in the previous section, a multimodal transcription, as
shown in Table 1, is designed in this study to analyze subtitling practices. The transcription
involves decomposing filmic texts into individual constituents according to the three
metafunctions, which facilitates a systemic understanding of how each metafunction is
achieved through different semiotic resources and enables the systemic processing of
meaning-making within the film’s overall multimodal ensemble. From a translational
perspective, the transcription is advantageous for analyzing subtitled films because it
demonstrates how meaning is realized through various semiotic resources and especially how
subtitles interact with other semiotic resources to construct the overall meaning.
Table 1: The multimodal transcription used in this study
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Visual image
Timecode
Screenshots
Representational
meaning
Identification (e.g., costume, make up),
Activity (e.g., types of behavior),
Circumstance (e.g., setting, props, lighting), Attribute
Interactive meaning
Gaze, camera angle, camera shot, color, lighting
Kinesics, proxemics, facial expression, body Language
Soundtrack (e.g., volume, pitch, intonation, rhythm) …
Compositional meaning
Information value (e.g., New – Given, Real – Ideal),
Salience (e.g., foreground or background, color, relative
size)
Framing (e.g., center or margin)
Source text (ST)
the original dialogue
Target text (TT)
and back translation
the Chinese subtitles and back translation
Intersemiotic relation between the verbal and the non-verbal elements
It is worth noting that it is unrealistic and unpractical to transcribe every single semiotic
resource in film. The elements included in the transcription are the cognitively and
perceptually salient semiotic resources that non-specialists would notice for the construction
of meaning in their viewing process. Additionally, the boundary between the metafunctional
meaning that a semiotic resource achieves is not always clear-cut, given one semiotic resource
may fulfil different metafunctions simultaneously. The division is merely for the analytical
convenience and clarity.
4. Data analysis: a multimodal description of official subtitles and fansubs
In this section, subtitles made by official subtitlers and fansubbers are compared in order to
describe the distinct differences between these two forms of practices and to reflect the active
role of fansubbers to maximize their visibility. Drawing upon the multimodal framework
developed in the previous section, the following paragraphs summarize the three most distinct
differences between these two forms of subtitling.
4.1 Diegetic narrative vs. Non-diegetic narrative
In professional subtitling, due to technical constraints (i.e., spatial and temporal constraints)
subtitlers need to condense the original dialogue in order to meet technical requirements. For
Chinese professional subtitling, there is a common rule that the number of characters per line
should not exceed fourteen to sixteen in order to achieve an appropriate reading speed. The
transfer of meaning in professional subtitling is centered on diegetic narrative since there is
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usually no space and time for any other information besides verbal dialogue. Explanatory
techniques such as headnotes have not been used in professional subtitling but have been the
most common practices of fansubbers (Lee 2020). Given fansubbing tends to operate outside
of the imposed constraints of the industry, there has been no common rule on issues such as
the number of characters per line, although different fansub groups may have different
guidelines. Due to this flexibility in practice, it seems to be a common convention for
fansubbers to add non-diegetic explanations in subtitles, especially for cultural-references, in
order to make the target audience understand the connotative meaning of the text effectively.
In Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), for example, there is a scene where several
candidates of Kingsman interrogate Eggsy (played by Taron Egerton) about his education
background. The cultural connotation embedded in these university names (i.e., St Andrews
and Durham) are of key importance to reflect the distinct social status of the characters.
Professional subtitlers focus on the transfer of diegetic narrative as they transliterate the ST
into 圣安德鲁斯 (sheng an de lu si) and 杜伦 (du lun) in subtitles, regardless of the target
audience’s knowledge of the cultural connotations embedded in these names; while
fansubbers, as shown in Table 2, use brackets to add some non-diegetic information in
subtitles, explicating that these are the two top universities in the UK.
Table 2: Fansubbed version of Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Visual image
00:31:31 00:31:32
Representational
Eggsy is interrogated by several candidates of Kingsman in the training
center.
Costume: Eggsy – baseball cap, sportwear; other candidates – suit and tie;
Interactive
Facial expression: Eggsy – depressed and embarrassed; other candidates –
arrogant and proud;
Body language: other candidates – crossed-arms, hands on hips, hands in
pockets;
Voice: Eggsy – low and weak; other candidates – high and strong.
Compositional
In the second screenshot, Eggsy is portrayed in the margin of the frame
while other candidates occupy the rest of the frame.
ST
- Neither.
- St Andrews?
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- Durham? Wait, I think we may have met.
TT and back
translation
- 都不是 (dou bu shi) Neither.
- 圣安德鲁斯？（圣安德鲁斯大学，英国顶级学府之一）
(sheng an de lu si? sheng an de lu si daxue, yingguo dingji xuefu zhi yi)
St Andrews? (University of St Andrews, one of the top universities in the
UK)
- 杜伦？等等，我想我们以前见过的（杜伦大学，英国一所顶尖公立
大学）
(du lun? dengdeng, wo xiang women yiqian jianguo de, du lun daxue,
yingguo yi suo dingjian gongli daxue)
Durham? Wait, I think we’ve met before (Durham University, a top
public university in the UK)
Intersemiotic relation: the verbal (subtitles) and the non-verbal (e.g., visual, acoustic and
kinesic) reinforce each other to convey the meaning.
In the official subtitled version, the non-verbal elements complement the verbal (i.e.,
subtitles) to convey the meaning of the text since most target audiences may not be familiar
with these two universities and may rely on the visual (i.e., candidates’ costumes, facial
expressions, and body language) to retrieve their sociocultural connotations. However, in the
fansubbed version, the explication of connotative meanings makes the subtitled film more
semiotically cohesive since the verbal and the visual co-exist in a more productive manner.
The high social-status of these two universities embedded in the dialogue are reinforced by
the three candidates’ costumes, their aggressive and dominant body language, and loud
voices.
As Prez-Gonzlez (2007a) suggests, the addition of non-diegetic narrative in subtitles is
an effective way for fansubbers to maximize their own visibility because this technique
breaks the convention set up in the professional industry in which the interference and
presence of the translator are not permitted. Given the information in the brackets contains
fansubbers’ own interpretation of the text, this explanatory technique tends to highlight
fansubbers’ subjectivity and to foreground their role as visible self-mediators, contrasting to
the objective and neutral tone of official subtitles. In addition, from an interactive perspective,
unlike official subtitling where subtitlers are always in an invisible position, the
interventionist stance adopted by fansubbers not only transcends the traditional relation
between the subtitles and the non-verbal, but also reduces the distance between the film and
the viewer. Chen (2019) points out that the more effort required on the part of the audience to
understand the meaning of the film, the further the distance between the film and the
audience. In the fansubbed version, the intersemiotic relationship of reinforcement contributes
to the creation of a close relationship between the film and the viewer given that the
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connotative meaning of the cultural-reference is expressed through both verbal and non-
verbal channels and audiences may need less mental effort to understand the filmic text
compared to the official version.
Table 2 shows that the insertion of non-diegetic information by fansubbers is a clear
manifestation of their stance as prosumers. By playing a dual role of both consumer and
producer, fansubbers have a better understanding of what audiences really need. They attempt
to facilitate audiences’ comprehension and to best satisfy their demands by providing them
with knowledge of foreign culture references. As Zhang and Mao (2013) indicate, this
practice by fansubbers can be considered an attempt for civic engagement, as one of their
aims is to provide knowledge of foreign culture and to broaden audiences’ horizons. In this
way, it can be said that fansubbers’ role has shifted from pure entertainment sharer to
knowledge provider, which is “an activity that entails civic if not political values” (ibid, 58).
In addition to inserting explanations of cultural references, it is also a common practice
of fansubbers to include Tucao language in subtitles to add non-diegetic narrative, which
contributes to deconstructing the objective totalization or narrativization as retained in
officially subtitled films. As shown in Table 3, in the scene when Gatsby (played by Leonardo
DiCaprio) is shot dead in The Great Gatsby (2013), in addition to translating the original
dialogue as in official subtitles, fansubbers also use subtitles to express their opinions and
sarcasm on the plot and to relate it to contemporary society in China, which might be
considered politically sensitive by official censors. This subjective rather than objective tone
is a manifestation of the subversive nature of fansubbing that challenges established norms
and conventions.
Table 3: Fansubbed version of The Great Gatsby (2013)
Visual image
Timecode
02:03:00
Representational
Gatsby is shot dead in his swimming pool.
Interactive
low-key lighting, wide shot,
moving and tragic background music.
Compositional
Gatsby is positioned in the margin of the frame, in which his
black vest is in sharp contrast to the light blue water.
ST
Hello! Is everything all right?
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TT
and back translation
发生什么事了? (fasheng shenme shi le?)
What’s going on?
(阶级自始至终都没变化, 老钱贵族杀人放火逍遥法外屁事没
有, 反观穷人出生的盖茨比全部扑街, 咱们国内不也如此?)
(jieji zishizhizhong dou meiyou bianhua, laoqianguizu
sharenfanghuo xiaoyaofawai pishi meiyou, fanguan qiongren
chushen de gaicibi quanbu pujie, zanmen guonei bu ye ruci?)
(There was no change in the class from beginning to end. The old
money aristocrats got away with murder and arson. On the
contrary, the poor born Gatsby is cruelly and unfairly treated,
isn’t it the same in our country?)
Intersemiotic relation: the verbal (subtitles) and the non-verbal (e.g., visual and acoustic)
complement each other to convey the meaning.
Table 4 shows another instance of Tucao language in the film Kingsman: The Golden
Circle (2017). In this example, in order to evoke resonance with the audience, fansubbers
adopt rhetorical questions to make comments on the president’s decision on eliminating all
drug users.
Table 4: Fansubbed version of Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
Visual image
Timecode
01:18:12
Representational
The President of the United States is explaining his decision on
eliminating all drug users to his counselors.
Interactive
Medium shot, aggressive body language, red and angry face,
Voice: loud, convincing and assertive.
Compositional
The president is portrayed in the middle of the frame.
ST
And then let the junkie scum go down in flames.
TT
and back
translation
然后让那些该死的瘾君子统统下地狱
(ranhou rang naxie gaisi de yinjunzi tongtong xia diyu)
And then send all those damned junkies to hell.
(难道没有觉得总统的决策很对吗? 救那些瘾君子不是等同于纵容
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犯罪? 总统方式极端, 但是守住了文明的底线)
(Nandao meiyou juede zongtong de juece hendui ma? Jiu naxie
yinjunzi bushi dengtongyu zongrong fanzui? Zongtong fangshi jiduan,
danshi shouzhu le wenming de dixian)
Don’t you think the President made the right decision? Isn’t saving
addicts the same as condoning crime? The President’s approach is
extreme, but he keeps the bottom line of civilization.
Intersemiotic relation: the verbal (subtitles) and the non-verbal (e.g., visual and acoustic)
complement each other to convey the meaning.
Table 3 and Table 4 show that the use of Tucao language in subtitles, a typically
unaccepted practice in mainstream official subtitling, has become the new practice for
fansubbers to freely express their opinions on the plots and to relate their criticisms to the
current affairs in China. On the one hand, the use of Tucao language by fansubbers
contributes to fostering a “new narrative mechanism through which the authorial voice
bypasses the diegetic characters to engage directly with the audience” (Prez-Gonzlez 2020,
97), which enables the participants on both sides (i.e. subtitlers and audiences) to have direct
interaction. This manner of increasing interactivity is in contrast with the distance caused by
officially subtitled films, in which the audience is often put in a place to be told and be guided
rather than be included. As shown in Table 4, the use of rhetorical questions in subtitles is an
efficient strategy to increase interactivity, since questions can trigger response from the
audience and imply that the audience understands the question and will agree with the speaker
(Hsiao 2015). On the other hand, as Zhang and Mao (2013) indicate, this practice of including
Tucao language in subtitles can also be considered a transfer of fansubbing from the cultural
sphere to the civic sphere, or from participatory media culture to participatory civic culture,
given that fansubbers’ actions have a tendency from purely seeking pleasure to concerning
social values and public issues. In this way, they are no longer entertainment seekers and
sharers, but they seem to take a civic responsibility, expecting their voices to be heard and
opinions to be publicly expressed.
4.2 Static subtitles vs. Karaoke-style subtitles
Image 1: Official version of Zootopia (2016) Image 2: fansubbed version of Zootopia (2016)
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Image 1 and 2 show that, as far as the verbal mode is concerned, official subtitles rely on
static writing, which is a traditional and common method for positioning subtitles on screen
(Prez-Gonzlez 2007a). However, rather than being static and in one color, fansubbers
present subtitles in a more creative and interactive manner: subtitles are dynamic as the words
change color in accordance with the lyrics when they are being sung, resembling a karaoke
style. The karaoke-driven subtitles not only transgress the traditional static relation between
the subtitles and non-verbal as shown in the official version, but they also enhance the
audience’s interactivity and participation in the viewing process. Instead of being merely
passive recipients when they hear the music, audiences have now become active participants
as they are encouraged to sing the song with the music together with the characters. This type
of karaoke-style subtitles is also found in the fansubbed version of the movie Sing (2016):
Image 3 and 4: fansubbed version of Sing (2016)
Compositionally, the dynamic subtitles and the original sound are related in a coherent
manner since the karaoke-driven subtitles are consistent with the rhythm of the original
sound: the color-change of the Chinese subtitles 装，装，装，装，装 (zhuang, zhuang,
zhuang, zhuang, zhuang) and 厌，厌，厌，厌 (yan, yan, yan, yan) are synchronized with
the original sound play, play, play, play, play and hate, hate, hate, hate. Van Leeuwen (2005)
highlights in his study that, in audiovisual texts, rhythm is an important parameter for
semiotic cohesion as it can reveal the synchronicity between different modes (i.e., dynamic
subtitles and sound in this example). Given film is a multimodal text unfolding in time,
rhythm thus can help to establish coherence and provide “meaningful structure to events that
develop over time” (Reviers 2018, 26). In this example, although the semantic meaning of the
TT 装 (zhuang, pretend) is not consistent with the ST play, the verbal is still synchronized
with the acoustic in a coherent and playful way because in certain cases multimodal cohesion
is not about what it is but how it is (ibid). Rather than being an additive for transferring the
ST, the dynamic subtitles have now become a part of the visual language. This type of
“kinetic typography”, as Turgut (2012, 586) suggests, is an effective tool to unite motion,
narration, sound, and typography and to increase interactivity. By adopting this technique, a
strong link is established between the subtitles and the non-verbal, contributing to
constructing the subtitled film into a more semiotically coherent whole.
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Additionally, in the fansubbed version, the background information of the song including
the song name and the original singer are also positioned on the left-hand side of the screen.
As the title of the movie suggests, singing and music are the main features of this film. The
information about the song positioned on screen, together with the karaoke-style subtitles, can
best manifest the film’s main features as well as integrate the semiotic resources and the
whole film in a better way. From an interactive perspective, with the dynamic karaoke-style
subtitles on screen, audiences are motivated to sing the song and “shake it off” with the
characters on screen. This type of “dance to the beat subtitles” not only reduces the distance
between the translators and the viewers, but also reduces the distance between the film and
the viewer, since audiences are stimulated to become active participants in this viewing
experience (van Tonder 2015, 6).
Furthermore, Lees’s (2014) experiment suggests that bilingual subtitles, especially
karaoke-style subtitles, are ‘user-friendly’ and play an effective role in foreign language
acquisition. This is also where the pedagogical implications of fansubbing come in.
Improving English skills is one of the main motives for young Chinese audiences to watch
fansubbed programs, because unlike official subtitles with only Chinese translations on
screen, fansubbed versions often provide bilingual subtitles. The simultaneous presentation of
Chinese and English in subtitles can motivate vocabulary learning and improve speaking and
listening skills. The use of karaoke-style subtitles can further benefit English learning because
they allow audiences to catch when and where the words are said and to practice speaking by
imitating the characters on screen. As a result, similar to providing the knowledge of foreign
culture through subtitles (see Table 2), the employment of bilingual subtitles by fansubbers
can be considered a pedagogical tool for the benefit of the audience, which further
emphasizes fansubbers’ role as knowledge providers with implications for civic education.
4.3 “One size fits all” subtitles vs. Emotive subtitles
The increasingly accessible subtitling software online enabled by the development of digital
technology provides a condition for fansubbers to manipulate the typography (e.g., position,
size, font, and color) of subtitles in a more innovative manner. In practice, professional
subtitles adopt a “one size fits all solution” as shown in Image 5 (van Tonder 2015, 1).
Subtitles in the same font, color, and size are used throughout the whole program to maintain
a neutral and objective tone, except when subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, where
colored subtitles are employed to indicate different speakers. However, as Image 6 shows, the
typography of fansubs tends to be more diverse and creative as special-effects are often
employed to make subtitles become an integral part of the visual language and film narrative.
15
Image 5: Official version of Zootopia (2016) Image 6: fansubbed version of Zootopia (2016)
Turgut (2012) indicates that typography is not only an important method to transfer
information, but it is also an effective tool to create a design, a style and visual language
through writing. This visual-design function of typography can be clearly illustrated in Image
6: purple and green subtitles beyond the conventional size are positioned obliquely in the
upper left-hand side of the screen. Subtitles at an oblique angle can attract and surprise
audiences visually as they transgress the traditional position of subtitles at a horizontal angle
(Image 5). Additionally, words positioned in an oblique angle can also result in a dynamic
composition, that is, increasing the dynamicity of the image (Bordwell and Thompson 2010).
Subtitles with this special-effect, as often adopted in the visual design of commercials, are
consistent with the visual information on screen (i.e., the dynamic advertising boards in the
background) and can be integrated into the multimodal ensemble more coherently.
However, it has been argued that this form of subtitles can be intrusive and distract the
audience since they occupy too much space on the screen and audiences may pay more
attention to the subtitles than the content (Wang 2017). Nevertheless, this creative intrusion
witnesses the role of fansubbers as interventionists, which marks their contrast to the official
subtitling practices and maximizes their own visibility as translators. In fact, they tend to
simply acknowledge this intrusion and “make it a point of strength instead of weakness” (van
Tonder 2015, 3). As can be best manifested from Image 8, despite of its intrusion, the
typography of subtitles also contains some expressive meanings and has thus become part of
the film narrative.
Image 7 and Image 8: Official and fansubbed version of Harry Potter 3 (2004)
Official subtitles have often been criticized for their “one size fits all” solution as they
16
usually focus on telling audiences what is being said rather than how it is being said (Ohene-
Djan, Wright and Combie-Smith 2007). Although this problem may have become more
prominent in subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, the lack of emotions and the inability
to transfer the contextual information of the dialogue are considered significant shortcomings
of current subtitling practice (ibid). To overcome this weakness and maximize their own
visibility, Image 8 shows that fansubbers adopt a type of explosive subtitle in a large bold font
to illustrate the loud volume and emotional outburst when Harry (played by Daniel Radcliffe)
yells the spell. Compositionally, this explosive typography establishes a significant link
between the subtitle and the non-verbal information and increases the semiotic cohesion of
the filmic text as the effects of emotive subtitles are reinforced by the facial expressions, body
language, and voice quality of the character. In this way, the typography of subtitles has
become part of the narrative and story-telling and supports the message transferred to the
audience.
From an interactive perspective, the change in the size and font of subtitles according to
the emotions of the character represents fansubbers’ own interpretation of the filmic text. On
the one hand, it helps to establish an emotional relation between the film and the audience and
to make the subtitled film more interesting and entertaining; on the other hand, as a
manifestation of subjectivity, fansubbers tend to maximize their interventionist stance by
interfering with the image and exaggerating the effects, which is in contrast to the official
subtitles where unified font and size are used to minimize their visibility and maintain
objectivity and authority. This manner of subverting mainstream values can be further
illustrated in the example shown in Image 9, where emotive subtitles, in the form of Tucao
language, are achieved through the use of punctuation and English letters that express the
fansubbers’ dislike of the actor onscreen.
Image 9: Fansubbed version of XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017)
(Translation: How could Kris Wu be there? A paragon of boasters! )
As shown in Image 9, the internet slang TMD, which is the Pinyin initials of the Chinese
swearword 他妈的 (ta ma de, his mother’s); 装b (zhuang bi), which is a Chinese
swearword meaning boast; and the punctuation #$@!%, which is normally used in comics as
a symbol of swearing, are adopted by fansubbers to express the content that might be
considered sensitive. They are interesting examples because they indicate the intentions of
17
fansubbers to bypass the Internet censors by adopting semiotic resources in a creative way.
The innovative use of these semiotic resources makes visible what has been considered
invisible to the censors, undermining the conventions of official subtitles in a playful way.
Compared to official subtitles, the derisive and comic Tucao language, on the one hand, frees
the audience from the humorless, serious and official languages. On the other hand, through
teasing and criticizing characters on screen, this type of subtitling can also facilitate in-group
relationships with the audience. This method of creating entertainment by creating friendship
further deconstructs the power relation between the audience and the film that exists in
officially subtitled films.
5. Discussion and conclusion
By comparing the practices of Chinese official subtitles and fansubs, the results of this study
show that fansubbers tend to produce subtitles in a highly aesthetic, functional and
semiotically coherent way to enhance their interactivity with the audience and maximize their
visibility as translators. Rather than focusing on the transfer of source dialogue by adopting a
“one size fits all solution”, fansubbers are more aware of the polysemiotic complexity of
audiovisual texts as they subvert the mainstream conventions and exploit semiotic resources
in a more innovative and attractive way. The multimodal analysis shows that the differences
between official subtitles and fansubs are mainly displayed in the construction of interactive
and compositional meanings. Official subtitles have long been known for their unified
appearance, neutral tone and invisibility while fansubs tend to be presented in a more creative,
subjective and visible manner, which can be best illustrated in the practices of explanatory
notes, karaoke-style subtitles and emotive subtitles as discussed in this study. The
typographical manipulation by fansubbers not only increases the effectiveness and
entertainment of the film, but also strengthens audiences’ involvement and attachment with
the film. A more multimodal way of watching films and a more active spectatorial experience
can thus be encouraged through this rich multimodal ensemble (Prez-Gonzlez 2014b).
By breaking the conventions established by the professionals in the industry, fansubbers
tend to adopt “highly interventionist mediation strategies” (Prez-Gonzlez 2007a, 78),
relying on the manipulation of various semiotic resources in multimodal texts to open up a
new viewing experience for the audience. These innovative practices adopted by fansubbers
reflect an increasingly digitalized world that has stronger visual and interactional features and
where boundaries between the verbal and the visual are blurred. Furthermore, they also reflect
an increasing development of participatory culture enabled by the advances of digital
technology in which audiences are encouraged to become active participants in the creation of
content on media platforms. In opposition to official subtitling which “limits the access to the
means of cultural production and circulation,” the activity of fansubbing provides the public
opportunities of “knowledge and cultural production” and more agency and capacity to freely
express themselves through a wide range of resources and choices, which is what Jenkins, Ito
18
and boyd (2016, 191–192) define as the central idea of participatory culture. This “produsage
culture” (a combination of production and usage), as coined by van Tonder (2015, 1), reflects
a shift of power from producers to “consumer-turned-producers.” It blurs the boundaries
between producers and consumers, and it breaks down the traditional power structure between
the media and the audience as evident in official subtitles, wherein the audience is a passive
receiver. Instead, fansubbers, as both producers and consumers, have more power and
freedom in the annotation, appropriation and re-circulation of media content (ibid).
Although most fansubbers do not consider their activity politically-driven, their acts of
self-expression and knowledge sharing through online subtitling activities do have civic
implications. As Jenkin (2009, xii) argues, in addition to the diversification of cultural
expression, participatory culture can also facilitate a more democratic form of communication
and “a more empowered conceptualization of citizenship.” This view is consistent with Perez-
Gonzalez (2017), who considers fansubbing a form of citizen media since fansubbers have
gained greater visibility in the public domain by expressing their views through
interventionists strategies. As this study demonstrates, by manipulating various forms of
semiotic resources, fansubbers are more open and freer to choose what colors, fonts, and
special-effects they want to use and what comments they want to share with others in
subtitles, emphasizing “the practice of doing it yourself,” the very embodiment of
participatory culture (Duncombe 1997, 12). This practice of participatory subtitling, as Li
(2015) suggests, plays a crucial role in providing a place for individuals to freely express
themselves in a way that may challenge mainstream conventions and values. Although fansub
groups also conduct self-censorship to protect themselves from online censors, they also do
not completely follow the mainstream rules. The creative practices in their subtitles provide
them with a relatively safe place to express themselves in contrast to the heavily censored and
suppressed mainstream media. Through these practices, especially Tucao language,
individuals can actively participate in public activities like supporting their favorite actors and
sharing opinions on current affairs, which falls into Jenkins, Ito and boyd’s (2016) definition
of participatory politics. This shift from entertainment seeking to public concerning suggests
that fansubbing is being transferred from participatory media culture to participatory civic
culture.
In addition to facilitating free expression, this study also shows fansubbing’s potential in
the pedagogical aspect. As illustrated in this study, the employment of explanatory notes can
be an effective strategy to provide the public with knowledge of foreign culture that may be
not be retained in official subtitles. Additionally, the practice of using bilingual subtitles can
promote the audience’s lexical development and benefit second language learning. These
practices of using subtitles for sociocultural sharing and language learning indicate that
fansubbing has played an increasingly important role in civic education.
To summarize, the interventionist strategies adopted by fansubbers is not only a
reflection of their resistance and dissatisfaction of the official subtitles under the sociopolitical
19
constraints in China, but also a manifestation of the rapidly developing participatory culture
in this increasingly globalized and digitalized world. As Li (2015) indicates, their practices
are conductive to the emergence and development of participatory culture in China. The way
of using multimodal resources to create innovative interventionist strategies can provide
technical and social support for civic participation, which may prepare audiences to join more
complex civic engagement and participatory activities. We hope this study can further shift
the traditional linguistic focus of AVT research towards a more interdisciplinary, especially
multimodally-informed direction, with the understanding that subtitling activity should not be
thought of as a merely linguistic activity. More research could be done to explore
fansubbing’s growing importance in civic engagement, drawing insights from various
disciplines including media studies, cultural studies and translation studies.
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