Amateur subtitling and the pragmatics of spectatorial subjectivity

Developments in communication technologies have brought about the proliferation of self-mediated textualities and empowered networks of non-professional translators to engage in participatory subtitling practices. These subtitling agencies are often part of a movement of cultural resistance against global capitalist structures and institutions, whether for aesthetic or political reasons. This article gauges the extent to which participatory subtitling challenges assumptions underpinning traditional scholarship on intercultural communication, as instantiated in the pragmatics of audio-visual translation. It is argued that affectivity emerges as a powerful non-representational force behind amateur mediation. Rather than simply aiming to deliver 'accurate' representations of the source text meaning, amateur subtitles seek to performatively intervene in the articulation and reception of the audio-visual semiotic ensemble. Drawing on selected examples of aesthetic and political subtitling activism, this article examines the relevance of non-representational theory, originally developed within the field of human geography, to the study of the expressive or transformational role of amateur subtitling. It is suggested that the epistemological and political dimensions of this non-representational phenomenon are symptomatic of a wider trend towards a radical model of democracy. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.