The Aesthetics of subtitling practice. A case study of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty for Chinese audiences

Abstract

Current research on creative subtitling has been largely developed within Western audiovisual translation contexts, particularly through the work of Rebecca McClarty, with limited attention paid to how creative subtitling might function within non-Western spectatorship cultures and writing systems. Meanwhile, Chinese audiences are extensively exposed to subtitles and graphic on-screen text across commercial cinema, television and digital media, creating a distinctive viewing environment that complicates dominant Western assumptions concerning subtitle invisibility. This practice-based thesis examines the application of creative subtitling to commercial cinema for Chinese audiences through a case study of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Stiller, 2013). Drawing upon film studies and translation studies, this research investigates how the Chinese context of spectatorship and exhibition may support creative subtitling practice, how creative subtitles may interact with film language, composition and Chinese typography, and how Chinese audiences respond to creative subtitles. The study combines theoretical analysis, practice-based subtitle production and a small-scale reception study involving questionnaires and follow-up interviews. The findings suggest that Chinese audiences’ long-term exposure to subtitles and graphic on-screen text produces different expectations regarding subtitle visibility and aesthetic intervention from those assumed in dominant Western subtitling models. The study further demonstrates that the visual and symbolic properties of Chinese characters reshape the aesthetic functions of creative subtitles and reconfigure the relationship between readability, visibility and aesthetic intervention in subtitle design. Finally, the research indicates that creative subtitles can enhance cinematic immersion when integrated with cinematic language, composition and gaze direction, rather than functioning as purely decorative textual additions. The thesis therefore argues for a more culturally contingent understanding of creative subtitling and for closer integration between subtitling practice and filmmaking processes within audiovisual translation. Thesis is embargoed until 31 July 2031.