Subtitle Translation as Imagological Mediation: Creative Subtitling and National Self-Images in Korean Historical Dramas

Öz

This article discusses creative subtitling as a site of imagological mediation in South Korean historical dramas. Studying the official English subtitles of Empress Ki, Under the Queen’s Umbrella, and Knight Flower, we aim to explore how creative subtitling participates in the circulation of Korean national self-images in these series. The study adopts a text-oriented imagological reading and examines culture-specific references, explanatory annotations, royal and administrative titles, historical geography, gendered morality, everyday cultural practices, and visible multimodal interventions through the selected paratextual captions inviting creative translation strategies from the three dramas under scrutiny. We argue creative subtitling combines retention, explicitation, localization, and visual emphasis to preserve culturally embedded meanings while making them accessible to international audiences. Our findings show that in the selected dramas, such captions function as active agents of cultural transmission, enabling Korean historical narratives to remain culturally specific, globally intelligible, and open to imagological reinterpretation.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Imagology
• Audiovisual Translation
• Subtitle Translation
• Creative Subtitling
• Korean Dramas
• National Self-images

İmgebilimsel Dolayım Olarak Altyazı Çevirisi: Kore Tarihi Dizilerinde Yaratıcı Altyazı ve Ulusal Öz-İmge

Öz

Bu makalenin amacı, tarihi dizilerde yaratıcı altyazı tercihlerini ulusal imge oluşturması bakımından incelemektir. Metin odaklı bir yaklaşım benimseyen bu çalışma, Empress Ki, Under the Queen’s Umbrella ve Knight Flower adlı dizilerinden seçtiğimiz İngilizce altyazı örnekleri üzerinden Kore ulusal öz-imgesinin bu tarihi metinlerde nasıl yansıtıldığını araştırır. Bu nedenle, çalışmanın konusunu oluşturan bu üç Kore dizisinin İngilizce altyazılarında, kültürel göndermeler, açıklamalar, kraliyet unvanları, toplumsal cinsiyete dayalı geçmiş ahlak anlayışı, coğrafi topografya, gündelik kültürel pratikler ve çok-kipli altyazı müdahaleleri incelenmiştir. Bu dizilerde altyazının dilsel aktarım sağlamanın yanı sıra kültürel unsurları koruyarak bunların uluslararası izleyiciler için erişilebilir olmasını sağladığı görülmüştür. İncelememizden elde edilen bulgular, altyazıların kültürel aktarımın etkin araçları olarak işlev gördüğünü, Kore tarihi anlatılarını kültürel özgünlüğü koruyarak küresel ölçekte anlaşılır kıldığını ve aynı zamanda ulusal imge inşasını da desteklediğini ortaya koymaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Ulusal imge
• Görsel-işitsel çeviri
• Altyazı çevirisi
• Yaratıcı altyazı
• Kore dizileri
• Ulusal öz-imge inşası

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