Translating Folktales into Chinese Animated Films

oleh: Yuling Liu

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: School of French Language and Literature, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 2022-09-01

Deskripsi

As China continues to play an increasingly dynamic role in international society, attention to its cultural relevance is also on the rise. This is indicated in the global popularity of recent Chinese animated films adapted from Chinese folktale, such as Xiyouji zhi dasheng guilai (Monkey King: Hero is Back) (2015), Nezha zhi motong jiangshi (Ne Zha) (2019) and Baishe: Yuanqi (White Snake) (2019) in the global market. But while these films offer international society a new window to access Chinese culture, they also pose challenges presented by their innate Chinese elements which significantly differ from the West’s conventional presentation of Chinese culture. Since most Chinese animations are adapted from Chinese folktale which contains rich cultural elements that are context-dependant and exclusive to Chinese communities, intercultural interaction that happened within an animated film can include adaptation of the story from the original source to the script; intersemiotics translation from script to the audiovisual production; and interlingual translation which occurs in bilingual subtitles. Looking to the performance of Chinese animated films both at home and abroad, this paper aims to evaluate the above translation-related activities and the success of a Chinese animated film. Special attention will be paid to the extent to which cultural translation plays a role in the making of these animated films.