Adapting to change in contemporary Irish and Scottish culture: fiction to film

Abstract available: p. [ii]-[iii].

Subtitling Chinese cinema: a case study of Zhang Yimou’s films

In recent years, more and more Chinese films have been exported abroad. This thesis intends to explore the subtitling of Chinese cinema into English, with Zhang Yimou’s films as a case study. Zhang Yimou is arguably the most critically and internationally acclaimed Chinese filmmaker, who has experimented with a variety of genres of films. I argue that in the subtitling of his films, there is an obvious adoption of the domestication translation strategy that reduces or even omits Chinese cultural references. I try to discover what cultural categories or perspectives of China are prone to the domestication of translation and have formulated five categories: humour, politeness, dialect, history and songs and the Peking Opera. My methodology is that I compare the source Chinese dialogue lines with the existing English subtitles by providing literal translations of the source lines, and I will also give my alternative translations that tend to retain the source cultural references better. I also speculate that the domestication strategy is frequently employed by subtitlers possibly because the subtitlers assume the source cultural references are difficult for target language subtitle readers to comprehend, even if they are translated into a target language. However, subtitle readers are very likely to understand more than what the dialogue lines and the target language subtitles express, because films are multimodal entities and verbal information is not the only source of information for subtitle readers. The image and the sound are also significant sources of information for subtitle readers who are constantly involved in a dynamic film-watching experience. They are also expected to grasp visual and acoustic information. The complete omission or domestication of source cultural references might also affect their interpretation of the non-verbal cues. I also contemplate that the translation, which frequently domesticates the source culture carried out by a translator who is also a native speaker of the source language, is ‘submissive translation’.

Film policy in practice: a case study of Scottish Screen’s funding schemes

This thesis examines cultural policy for film in Scotland, from 1997 to 2010. It explores the extent to which the industry is shaped by film policy strategies and through the agency of public funding bodies. It reflects on how Scottish Screen, Scotland’s former screen agency, articulated its role as a national institution concerned with both commercial and cultural remits, with the conflicting interests of different industry groups. The study examines how the agency developed funding schemes to fulfil policy directives during a tumultuous period in Scottish cultural policy history, following the establishment of the Scottish Parliament with the Scotland Act 1998 and preceding the Independence Referendum Act 2013. In order to investigate how policy has shaped the development of a national film industry, a further two case studies are explored. These are Tartan Shorts, Scotland’s former flagship short film scheme, and the Audience Development Fund, Scotland’s first project based film exhibition scheme. The first study explores the planning, implementation and evaluation of the scheme as part of the agency’s talent development strategy. The outcomes of this study show the potential impact of funding methods aimed at developing and retaining Scottish filmmaking talent. Thereafter, the Scottish exhibition sector is discussed; a formerly unexplored field within film policy discussions and academic debate. It outlines Scottish Screen’s legacy to current film exhibition funding practices and the practical mechanisms the agency utilised to foster Scottish audiences. By mapping the historical and political terrain, the research analyses the specificity of Scotland within the UK context and explores areas in which short-term, context-driven policies become problematic. The work concludes by presenting the advantages and issues caused by film funding practices, advocating what is needed for the film industry in Scotland today with suggestions for long-term and cohesive policy development.