Accepted Contribution
Contribution short abstract
Should Sign Language (SL) films be subtitled? Using three examples (iconic and embodied storytelling in SL, 'gestaltning' of a Eurovision song, and a SL film without subtitles), I re-examine the role of subtitles in a Sign Language context and ask us to consider what is getting lost in translation?
Contribution long abstract
Should Sign Language be subtitled and if so, what do we need to include, add, or remove in the textual version of a visual, embodied and distinct language? Using examples of iconic signing and embodied storytelling in Swedish Sign Language, a Sign Language 'gestaltning' of a Eurovision song, and a film in Ukrainian Sign Language without subtitles I ask what subtitles can and can't do for us as visual anthropologists and filmmakers. Drawing on a long tradition in ethnographic filmmaking, I re-examine the role of subtitles in a Deaf Sign Language context and end by problematising auto-generated (AI-created) captioning that has become a substitute for crafted subtitles, and ask us to consider what is, to use a classic phrase, getting lost in translation?
Shadowing Meanings: the things we do (or not) with subtitles
Session 1 Wednesday 8 March, 2023, -