Chinese translational fandoms: Transgressing the distributive agency of assemblages in audiovisual media

Abstract

This article seeks to critically reassess common interpretations of translational fandoms light of recent developments in the Chinese context. It further negotiates the rationale and theoretical implications of fan-based engagement for altering media globalisation and fandom studies, with reference to the transgressive engagement of fan translators with the transnational distribution of audiovisual media. Building on this, the ensuing exploration situates the non-representational work of fansubbing in a distributive agency of media assemblages and aligns it with the theory of digital intermediation. This article further argues that fansubbing is no longer the sole mechanism for translating global entertainment media on the Chinese internet, as shown by the fan work of translational remix. In this emerging translatorial engagement, media fans transgress linguacultural boundaries to recalibrate the distributed media into local contexts of prosumption. The findings may yield significant revaluation of preconceived ideas and, accordingly, more comprehensive understanding of translational fandoms.

Collaborative Cultural Intermediation and Communitainment Value in the Creator Economy: The Expanding Case of Webtoons

“…As seen above, essential cultural elements accompanying the original source content are often omitted by the indirect translator. As a result, the collaboration undertaken by Webtoon fan translators differs from the objects of fan translation mentioned elsewhere (Evans, 2019; Wang, 2022). Moreover, the translated webtoons analyzed here have little in common with illegally fan-translated comics, television series, and films, which clearly exist elsewhere in the informal economy as a surrogate for officially translated texts.…”

“…As seen above, essential cultural elements accompanying the original source content are often omitted by the indirect translator. As a result, the collaboration undertaken by Webtoon fan translators differs from the objects of fan translation mentioned elsewhere (Evans, 2019;Wang, 2022).…”

“…Whereas this development in Translation Studies has yielded significant insights into web-based praxis such as website localization, news translation communities, and other forms of crowd-sourced translation (Jiménez-Crespo, 2017; Yu, 2022), their critiques on fan translation as an exploited source of labor in the creator economy requires further verification. This can be based on empirical knowledge of “translational fandom” (Guo & Evans, 2020; Wang, 2022) and the nascent philosophy of digital humanism (Fuchs, 2020). While new media research is moving forward along this line of inquiry, our illustration of Webtoon fan translation demonstrates that: although not always in harmony, the exemplary forms of value generated by (and through) the webtoons are shaped by a range of agents that intervene in and mediate the processes of user-circulated and user-generated content.…”