Research into the Subtitling of Song of the Phoenix from the Perspective of Manipulation Theory
Keywords:
Audiovisual Translation, subtitling, Song of the Phoenix, manipulation theory, rewritingAbstract
André Lefevere’s theory of manipulation emphasizes the close relationship between translation and social culture, arguing that translation is rewriting and rewriting is manipulation. Rewriting treats translations as “created or projected images” of the original source texts, representing a far more dynamic implementation of translation theory. As one of the most frequent manifestations of global communication in today’s society, audiovisual translation (AVT) is able to overcome language barriers when spreading culture around the world. Of the several modes available to translate audiovisual programmes, subtitling, grown in visibility and significance, has evolved into a prominent and prolific field of study with many more scholars devoting to the analysis of audiovisual programs in recent years. This paper takes the subtitle translation of Song of the Phoenix, a cinema with strong Chinese characteristics, as an example to explore the embodiment of Lefevere’s three elements of manipulation in cinema subtitling. It is found that, under the manipulation of such extra-textual factors as ideology, poetics, and patronage, translators will flexibly adopt certain rewriting devices in subtitle translation to transcend ideological and poetic differences and cater to the patronage’s requirements so as to successfully achieve the translation purpose.
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