Reception Studies Research Articles

Fansubbers as cultural mediators: a case study of the use of screen notes in the Chinese fansubs of the Spanish series El Ministerio del Tiempo

ABSTRACT Fansubbing, the collaborative, unpaid effort by dedicated enthusiasts to subtitle audiovisual content, is seeing significant growth in the digital era. This paper presents a case study of the use of screen notes in the Chinese fansubs of the Spanish series El Ministerio del Tiempo (2015–2020) by two major fansub groups, Shenying and YYeTs. Focusing on the first season (2015) of this acclaimed series, which blends fantasy and historical fiction, we explore fansubbing practices, and we analyse the types of notes and the kind of information fansubbers provide to their audiences. The paper begins with a brief overview of the fansubbing phenomenon in China and the use of screen notes in fansubs. Then, the series is introduced, and the methodology is described, which consists of descriptive textual analysis and a small-scale reception study. The textual analysis revealed that Chinese fansubbers mainly include notes for cultural references related to history and literature with a didactic intent, to familiarise their viewers with Spanish culture. The reception study showed that participants liked screen notes, because they provide them with additional information that helps them understand the cultural context better, although they stated they could understand the scene without the notes.

A Pilot Study of Pulmonologists' Receptivity to Artificial Intelligence Use

A Pilot Study of Pulmonologists' Receptivity to Artificial Intelligence Use

From street talk to screen: the usage and reception of youth language in Spanish dubbing

ABSTRACT Youth language, which reflects cultural trends and communication styles among a specific generation of speakers, is pivotal in expressing individual and group identity. Its dynamic and creative nature, combined with its assimilation into mainstream usage, poses considerable challenges for translation in audiovisual contexts such as dubbing. This study addresses the underexplored area of youth language in dubbed dialogue, focusing on a corpus of U.S. teen series dubbed into Spanish. The research adopts a three-stage methodology: first, a quantitative analysis to identify frequent youth terms and expressions in the target versions; second, a reception study with young Spanish respondents to evaluate the naturalness and plausibility of dubbed youth language; and finally, an examination of how this jargon differs when uttered by African American characters, who tend to be hyper-characterized, or by socially unmarked characters, typically standardized. Our findings reveal that Spanish dubbed versions often incorporate stereotypical youth expressions. Moreover, commonly used terms and expressions were rated by respondents as slightly more natural and plausible than less common youth terms. However, no significant differences were found in the perceived naturalness and plausibility of youth language between African American and socially unmarked characters.

Translated from English or created in Spanish? The reception of audio description for video games

Abstract Video gaming has gained immense popularity as a form of entertainment all around the world. However, most games are not fully accessible for players with visual disabilities. Audio description (AD) translates visual elements into spoken words, thus making games accessible to players with vision loss. The TransAD4games project aims to explore the creation and translation of audio descriptions for video games to improve game accessibility across languages and cultures. This article presents part of the research findings from the TransAD4games, reporting the outcomes of a reception study on players’ preferences and opinion about AD for the game Before I Forget (3-Fold Games, 2020) translated from English into Spanish and AD created from scratch in Spanish. Results show that while players preferred the original Spanish AD created from scratch, they also appreciated the translated version, suggesting that translating AD is a viable and acceptable option to improve visual game accessibility.

Theory-Building and Multi-Level Analysis: Further Broadening the Horizon of Communication & Sport

In this brief essay, I will highlight and elaborate on some of the main reflections put forth by Cummins and Hahn in their recently published systematic review of 10 years of academic work in Communication & Sport (2013–2022). In the first part, I will elaborate on some of the shortcomings the authors identify in the use of theory in the sampled articles. In the second section, I will reflect on methodological approaches in the journal, as they are discussed in the article, in particular the emphasis on content analysis. Cummins & Hahn’s review reveals how audience reception studies or examinations of production processes, or a combination of these, are still less represented in the journal than would ideally be the case. The essay closes with some concluding remarks summarizing and extending on some of the main challenges and ways forward as suggested by the authors.

Exploring the potential use of easy-to-understand language in video games

ABSTRACT Video games are a growing force in the entertainment industry, but their expansion must include accessibility measures. People with cognitive disabilities or learning difficulties may struggle to process game stimuli. One potential solution is easy-to-understand language, which simplifies wording, structure, and formatting to improve comprehension. This study explores its application in video games. A preliminary search revealed little research on the topic, leading to the present narrative review. Twelve academic and non-academic sources mention clear language but provide no concrete implementation guide. This review examines existing guidelines for easy-to-understand language in websites and printed materials to assess their potential for video game accessibility. This feature could be optional, allowing players to enable or disable it as needed. However, reception studies are necessary to evaluate its effectiveness. If proven beneficial, this accessibility option would mark a significant step toward making video games more inclusive.

The Burning Qur’an and the Benign Bible

In this article, we examine the way the (Christian) Bible and the Qur’an are represented in Swedish press in the wake of the Qur’an burnings that took place in Sweden 2020–23. Through critical discourse analysis we investigate debate articles and identify prominent discourses that stress the Bible as benign and the Qur’an as malign for Swedish society. The Bible is framed as harmonizing with Swedish values, including freedom of speech, while the Qur’an is framed as non-compatible with a modern, secular society. The result is then related to biblical reception studies on various notions of Bibles in the public sphere and the theory of the politicization of religion as applied in sociology of religion. Ultimately, we argue that an increasing politicization of the Bible risks reinforcing problematic notions of the religious Other, through framing sacred scriptures as contrasting symbols for groups of people, even in the world’s most secularized country.

The Impact of Gender on Political Perception: A Reception Study of the July 2023 Spanish Election Campaign

The Spanish general election held on July 23, 2023, was significantly influenced by the discourse on feminism and gender-based violence, issues that all the political parties were determined to address either directly or indirectly. This research paper explores the electorate’s reception of the feminist agenda, evaluating the extent to which the gender perspective is integrated into political discourse and resonates with the general public and investigating the gender-specific perceptions and biases that influence their assessment of political candidates. The responses to a survey administered between July 19 and 21, 2023 to 1,590 Spanish residents aged 18 and above, demographically weighted by gender, age, and geographical location, reflect the profound influence of gender on electoral perceptions and reveal nuanced differences in the evaluation of conservative candidates according to respondents’ gender. Notably, the analysis highlights the critical role of women in moderating the advance of conservative and far-right political narratives. This study contributes to the broader discourse on gender politics by underscoring the complex interplay between feminist policies and political perceptions within the context of the 2023 Spanish general election.

Kesadaran Body Positivity Dalam Film Imperfect

The phenomenon of self-acceptance or self-love is increasingly relevant in today's society. The beauty standards formed in the community often lead individuals to feel less confident about themselves, which can negatively impact their self-image. In response to this issue, the concept of body positivity has emerged as a form of self-acceptance and a positive view of one's own body. These body positivity values are disseminated through various mass media, including films. The film "Imperfect" is one such medium that addresses themes related to body positivity.This study aims to analyze body positivity awareness through a reception study among students. The research employs Stuart Hall's reception analysis approach, utilizing primary data from direct interviews and secondary data from relevant literature studies. The findings of this research indicate that reception varies depending on the information and knowledge received by an individual. In the reception study of the film "Imperfect," most informants viewed body positivity as a positive self-view. The analysis using Stuart Hall's reception theory revealed that two informants held a dominant hegemonic position, one informant was in a negotiating position, and two informants were in an oppositional position.

Classical Studies and the Public Humanities

Abstract This article introduces the reader to current work at the intersection of classical studies and the public humanities. It begins from the observation that in recent years, efforts by classical scholars to relate to a wider public have intensified and taken on a new quality. Not so long ago, public-facing research was considered detrimental to “real” scholarship. By contrast, as this article sets out to show, there is now a growing interest in a true exchange of perspectives, knowledges, and methodologies with stakeholders outside of the confines of the academe. I argue that some of the most interesting work in this space emerges from the way in which the aims and objectives of the public humanities intersect with several trends currently driving classical studies. These include the emergence of the digital humanities, the maturing of classical reception studies, and the (often difficult) conversations around calls to “decolonize” the classics.

Rank Intersectionality and Othello

As a crucial concept in critical theory, intersectionality satisfies a need within global Shakespeare reception studies. The reason for this is the way it permits cross-currents between conceptions of race and gender in particular; it also allows for an awareness of the historical and cultural location of the audience or reader as distinct from the moment of the production of a particular play. It is therefore fundamentally dynamic and can be further extended via discussions of rank, sexuality or religion. This essay argues for the importance of a lively approach to intersectionality that integrates concerns of race and gender in Othello with social rank in Shakespearean Venice and Cyprus. The article deliberately eschews a psychological analysis of character, insisting that a sense of inwardness, that these stage figures should somehow be treated as though they were real people, is a much later, modern preoccupation. Instead, the play is treated as not only early modern but pre-modern. This is also why there is no treatment of class as such; that too is a much later modern category that carries all sorts of baggage, anachronistic and otherwise. Class is not a sophisticated enough notion to account adequately for the permutations in a society that was obsessed with tiny gradations in rank, dignity and honour. Beginning with reference to Toni Morrison’s conceptualization of modern American literature as predicated on a constructed whiteness, the essay moves by analogy back towards Shakespeare’s drama to the structured interplay between gender, rank and race that is this play. Althusser’s sense of interpellation is revived in order adequately to describe how these positions work to emplace Othello and Desdemona in order to open up the play to a global perspective that accounts for multiple possibilities. The article therefore goes well beyond the old familiar groupings so beloved of character-based criticism, instead insisting on the primacy of social definitions of the positions available to the personages in the play.

From Page to Stage: Exploring the Adaptation of Classic Literature for Television and Film

This paper explores the complex process of adapting classic literature for television and film. It examines the challenges and opportunities inherent in translating written narratives to visual media, analyzing both the artistic and commercial implications. Through case studies of notable adaptations, the research highlights the varying degrees of fidelity to source materials and the creative liberties taken to suit different mediums. The study employs qualitative analysis, including textual comparison and audience reception studies, to understand the impact of these adaptations on contemporary culture. The findings reveal that while adaptations often diverge from their literary origins, they play a crucial role in keeping classic literature alive and relevant for modern audiences. This research paper explores the complex and multifaceted process of bringing literary works to the screen, examining the opportunities and challenges inherent in this endeavor.

Reading Political Integralism Using Eclectic and Dialectic Methods: A Study of Supomo's Reception of Spinoza, Adam Muller, and Hegel

<p>Supomo put forward the idea of political integralism (<em>Staatsidee Integralistik</em>), in the Indonesian State Establishment Session (1945), by referring to three Western philosophers: Spinoza, Adam Muller, and Hegel. The question from an academic aspect that has not been answered until now is why integralism must be based on these three philosophers and not others, and also why must it start with Spinoza and end with Hegel and not another arrangement? With this philosophical study method, we want to explore why Supomo mentioned the three philosophers in such an arrangement, was it because of chronological or study method reasons? Therefore, there are two possible answers: First, Supomo took the appropriate elements from each philosopher according to the needs to fill the philosophical substance of his integralistic idea, so it is an eclectic method. Second, considering that the three philosophers cannot simply be connected, let alone equated, and supported by the structure of Supomo's speech which is also dialectical, so he uses the dialectical method. The result of this study is that integralism uses the dialectical method with its central idea of religion: Spinoza (<em>thesis</em>) rejects a religious state; Adam Muller (<em>antithesis</em>) accepts a religious state; and Hegel (<em>synthesis</em>) defines co-existence as both, thus recognizing that religion exists in the state but does not have to be a religious state. Hegel's answer is by the <em>optio</em> <em>fundamentalis</em> of Supomo's politics, namely rejecting the Islamic State demanded by Muslims and wanting to build a nation-state that includes all groups.</p>

Hungry for antiquity: Zbigniew Herbert and reception as ingestion

Abstract This article examines the travel writing of the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert (1924–98) through a reception-theoretical lens, identifying a pattern of representing contact with antiquity as food consumption in the travelogues Barbarian in the Garden (1962) and Labyrinth on the Sea (1973/2000). While closely situating this prandial language within the changing cultural discourses of consumption in socialist Poland, I argue for Herbert’s construction of a more widely applicable model of reception as ingestion that speaks to current debates on distance, temporality, and affective relations to the past. By rooting this reception model in Herbert’s lived experiences of post-war precarity, hunger, and the connection between food scarcity and economies of violence, as well as by linking it to his practice of ‘devouring’ knowledge about antiquity through intense research in Western libraries, I also highlight the centrality of embodied experience for seemingly abstract theory-making in reception studies and beyond.

The politics of constructing counternarratives against Orientalism in popular media reception: the case of Mulan (2020)

ABSTRACT This article investigates into Orientalism in Disney’s Caro, Niki, dir. 2020. Mulan. Orlando, FL: The Walt Disney Company. and its resistant reading on Chinese social media platform Douban. It adopts a qualitative method to discipline data collected from Douban, then analyzing them in light of Stuart Hall’s articulation theory and Henry Jenkins’ ‘collective intelligence’. The analysis first reveals two ‘articulated’ Orientalist discourses in the film undergirded by a form of ‘new racism’, which serves to perpetuate the existing racial and gender hierarchies in the West–East power matrix. Then it shows how Douban users’ collective intelligence can potentially ‘disarticulate’ and ‘rearticulate’ Orientalism through a kind of microphysical, collective rewriting. The research argues that both disarticulation and rearticulation are a means by which Douban users indulge the civic imagination for alternative geopolitics in popular culture representation; compared with disarticulation, their rearticulatory practice is less effectual due to the inclusion of self-conflicting discursive elements, which ironically lay bare traces of their own discursive formation. This irony, this article suggests, calls into question the dominant-resistant binary paradigm that predominates current media reception studies. The article concludes by rethinking Orientalism and its Douban resistance in light of ‘Chineseness as identity work’, which deconstructs the oppositional paradigm and enlightens Orientalist film studies in global contexts.

New Books in Audience and Reception Study

New Books in Audience and Reception Study

ANALYSIS OF THE AUDIENCE'S MEANING MAKING PROCESS TOWARDS THE MOVIE DISNEY CARTOON MULAN (1998) AND DISNEY LIVE ACTION MULAN (2020)

This article explores the portrayal of Mulan as a symbol of women's empowerment in Disney’s animated "Mulan" (1998) and live-action adaptation (2020). Drawing on Stuart Hall’s theory of reception study, the study examines how both films depict Mulan’s defiance of traditional gender roles and her journey towards empowerment. Through qualitative analysis of audience responses, it reveals that respondents from diverse backgrounds perceive Mulan as a bold, intelligent, and resourceful heroine who challenges societal expectations. In the 1998 animated film, Mulan's valor in replacing her father in battle resonates with themes of courage and sacrifice, while the 2020 live-action adaptation emphasizes her personal growth and mastery of chi, focusing less on romance and more on self-actualization. The findings underscore the films’ success in conveying messages of female empowerment across cultural and cinematic contexts, reflecting shifts in societal attitudes and interpretations of gender roles. Keywords : Mulan, Disney, Reception, Audience Meaning, Societal Expectations, Gender Roles

Voicing TYA festival’s audiences: reception of the Haifa International Children’s Theatre Festival

ABSTRACT The Haifa International Children's Theatre Festival is an annual family theatre festival held in Haifa. This qualitative reception study focuses on young audiences and the adults accompanying them. Considering the festival as a comprehensive theatrical event, this study explores how it is perceived by Israeli children and parents. Drawing on the interviews, our analysis explores the reception process, involving a sequence of actions undertaken by parents and children that result in a distinctive family experience. These actions include: choosing plays to attend; mediating theatrical knowledge; participating in performances; celebrating the festival as a theatrical event, and reviewing performances they attended.

FROM MANGA LITERATURE TO LIVE-ACTION FILM/TV: MACKENYU'S CROSS-CULTURAL ODYSSEY IN GLOBAL CINEMA

This research examines the career of Japanese-American actor Mackenyu Arata, particularly his roles in live-action adaptations of manga and anime, to understand his influence on cross-cultural narrative integration in cinema. The study focuses on Mackenyu's portrayal of leading and important supporting characters in several high-profile adaptations, including Netflix's One Piece, where he plays Zoro, and others such as Chihayafuru, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Rurouni Kenshin, and Fullmetal Alchemist. Employing qualitative analysis, this paper investigates how Mackenyu strategically navigates away from the shadow of his father, legendary actor Sonny Chiba, to forge an independent identity and career. Data was collected through reviews, audience reception studies, and box office performance, and analyzed to assess thematic consistency and cultural impact across different markets. Experts in film adaptation theory, such as Linda Hutcheon, and resources like The Routledge Companion to World Cinema provided theoretical frameworks for analyzing how narratives are adapted for global audiences and the role of actors in these adaptations. The findings reveal that Mackenyu's choices are not merely artistic but are also deliberate efforts to blend Eastern and Western cinematic traditions, enhancing his appeal as a global actor. His roles often reflect a profound engagement with his bicultural heritage, challenging the notion that he is only a "second-generation star." These roles resonate with global audiences and contribute to the ongoing discourse on cultural integration in film. The study concludes that Mackenyu is a key figure in the realm of live-action adaptations, with a unique ability to transcend cultural and cinematic boundaries.

Translation and localization of food menus on mobile delivery apps in the United Arab Emirates: a multimodal and reception study

ABSTRACT This study investigates the quality of menu translation and localization on food delivery apps and its impact on the user experience. A corpus of food menus was collected from the Talabat app and analyzed from a multimodal perspective adopting Li’s (2019) framework and using NVivo qualitative data analysis software. A coding framework was created in NVivo to systematically identify translation and localization strategies, and issues related to images of food items. Additionally, an online survey targeting app users was utilized to gather data on preferences and the impact of menu translation and localization on user experience, satisfaction, and purchasing decisions. The analysis revealed that the meaning of food menus involves several layers, including semiotic and textual means, which necessitate approaching their translation from a multimodal perspective. Dish names were mostly transliterated into English and accompanied by an acceptable and clear description of dish information in English. The survey results also revealed that translation quality has a great role in shaping user experience, satisfaction, trust, and expenditure. The findings of this study will be of value to translators, translation trainers, restaurant owners, and food delivery app developers.