Media Imports and the One-Inch Barrier: Translation Debates in the Pose-Parasite Era

. In D. K. D. Kim (Ed.) Diffusion of Koran Popular Culture in Western Countries, (pp. 195-209). Seoul National University Press.

Abstract: This chapter aims to explore popular discourses surrounding Parasite and other media imports in the U.S. vis-à-vis translation practices like dubbing and subtitling. I use Parasite as an entry point to critically examine how the public, be it in the form of online articles or tweets, makes sense of translation practices through the privileged lens of U.S. culture in which dubbing and subtitling can be easily avoided. For example, the day after Parasite won its many Oscars, Twitter threads debated the relative merits of dubbing and subtitling in ways that revealed a troublingly and often racist perception of why people might prefer one or the other. Paradoxically, these texts also offered a critique of ethnocentric U.S. exceptionalism as a country that expects to be catered to.

Laurena Bernabo 

Related Research


Social Media and its Influence on Sexual Activity and Perceptions of Sexual Activity Among College Students

Baldwin-White, A., Darville, G., Shira Chess, & Beer, J. (in press) “Social Media and its Influence on Sexual Activity and Perceptions of Sexual Activity Among College Students,” Journal of American College […]

Shira Chess
read more
Picture it, U.S. 2020…’: The Golden Girls and sitcom nostalgia during the pandemic

Kate Fortmueller. “‘Picture it, U.S. 2020…’: The Golden Girls and sitcom nostalgia during the pandemic,” in The Golden Age of Television: The Golden Girls Reader. Edited by Taylor Cole Miller and […]

Kate Fortmueller
read more