Chinese Subtitling of Participants in an English Film Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol: A Narrative-Informed Visual-Verbal Reference

Abstract

Against the backdrop of increased attention to semiotic relations in audiovisual translation, this qualitative study examines the subtitling of characters and objects from verbal reference to visual information in the presenting and presuming systems in film. By comparatively analyzing the visual-verbal endophora, exophora, and homophora in the DVD and the YYeTs fansubbed Chinese subtitles of an English film Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, it is found that there is a stronger visual-verbal link in the DVD subtitle, in which the visual information functions to generalize unfamiliar world knowledge pertaining to uniquely presumed characters to meet target audiences half way, omit redundant verbal information concerning explicitly presumed characters, and explicitate indefinite lexical items relating to explicitly and implicitly presumed objects. A narrative-friendly subtitle is therefore produced featuring conciseness, high readability, and good comprehensibility. However, the visual-verbal link in the fansubbed subtitle is comparatively weak due to the predominantly employed literal translation in subtitling presented/presumed characters/objects, in which the visual information is detached from the verbal content, leaving viewers with redundant or unspecific verbal messages. Extra processing effort is therefore required for constructing film narratives. These findings elucidate the significance of visual-verbal reference in subtitling presented/presumed participants for the sake of film narratives.