Chapter 4 Applicability of Skopostheorie to the Subtitle Translation: Taking Hero for an Instance 9

4。1 Analysis of subtitle translation from the Skopos Rule 9

4。1。1 The skopos of Zhang Yimou 9

4。1。2 The expectation of target viewers 9

4。1。3 The retainment of Chinese cultural factors 10

4。2 Analysis of subtitle translation from the Coherence Rule 10

4。2。1 Deletion 10

4。2。2 Addition 12

4。2。3 Condensation 12

4。2。4 Generalization 13

4。2。5 Domestication 15

4。3 Analysis of subtitle translation from the Fidelity Rule 16

4。4 Defects of the subtitle translation in Hero 17

Chapter 5 Conclusion 18

References 19

Chapter 1 Introduction

1。1 Research Background

 On December 28th 1895, Lumie’re brothers released a motion picture at a café in Paris to the public, which declared the birth of the film。 And then Thomas Edison invented the first phonographic film in 1914。 But its real great breakthrough took place in 1927 until Warner Brother produced the musical film The Jazz Singer。 And this film was considered as the mark of the arrival of the “talkies”。 In 1970s, digitized technology began to enter film industry, and the image quality and sound effect significantly improved。 American films applied digitalized technology made a hit around the world and made many box office legends, for instance, Avatar, Titanic, Star Wars and The Avengers all created high box office over $100 million and attracted thousands of audience around the world。 At present, the Hollywood films are in a dominate position and flood into other countries。 论文网

With the dramatic development of economic and cultural globalization, an increasing number of Chinese films are able to enter foreign market, and among which the film Hero directed by Zhang Yimou is the most dazzling。 This film is based on a well-known Chinese story of Jing Ke’s assassination attempt on the King of Qin in the Warring States Period。 As for the accomplishments, Hero is one of the highest-grossing foreign films in North American box office history and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at 2003 Academy Award。 Apart from elegant image, breath-taking fight and vivid sound effect, the elaborately translated subtitle partially contributes to the success of Hero。 

The study of film translation can date back to the early 20th century, but filmmakers used to concentrate on the plot, scene and voice rather than subtitle translation。 At that time, the films usually applied dubbing。 “In the 80s of 20th century, movies with subtitle gradually gained wide popularity。 In 1990s, subtitle translation began to enter its era。” (Mona, 2001: 18) The function of subtitle translation is to convey both the oral speeches and culture to the target audience。 Although film subtitle translation belongs to literary translation, it has its unique features。 The rapid process of globalization greatly facilitates cross-cultural communication, and as a result, people can appreciate a variety of foreign movies at home。 Nowadays, films has become a vital cultural medium, and thus the subtitle translation has raised a wide concern。 High-quality subtitling can not only provide audience with better spiritual enjoyment, but only can help people broaden their horizon。 In addition to that, subtitling is beneficial to overcome linguistic and cultural barriers though subtitling is the last step of film-making。