English Translation of Chinese Movie Titles Viewed from the Fluidity of the Five Elements of Drama

Ye Ying

Fuzhou University,Fuzhou,China

Email:ivyghost43@126.com

[Abstract] The dramatism-based rhetorical theory founded by Kenneth Burke has in recent years aroused the attention of researchers on Translation for China's Global Communication,on which the effect of the fluidity of the five elements of drama,an unignorable attribute of Dramatistic Pentad at the core of Burke's rhetorical realm,is yet to be explored.Analysis on the English translation of Chinese movie titles shows such notable fluidity by four types of interlingual transformations,providing a new angle for studying the significance of dramatism-based rhetorical theory for C-E movie title translation.

[Keywords] translation of Chinese movie titles;the five elements of drama;fluidity

Introduction

With the Chinese government proposing the strategy of "Chinese culture going global",the global promotion of Chinese movies constitutes an integral part of the international communication of Chinese culture,making translation a necessary means for Chinese movies to be received and welcomed by the whole world.As for movie translation,the translation of movie titles must draw special attention as it's usually an intriguing or inspiring title that tempts the audience into a cinema when they know little of the plot.Therefore,it's meaningful to look into the translation of Chinese movie titles today.It should be noted that some translations seem very different from the original movie titles,but they're in essence"adaptation"or"rewriting"based on the original Chinese movies,which means the core information of such an English title is sourced in the Chinese movie.Thus,such translated titles should be deemed translation in a broad sense.So far,many a scholar has probed into the strategies or approaches of translating Chinese movie titles,presenting familiar translating approaches like literal translation,free translation and transliteration(Zhang,2002;Miao,2008) and conducting studies from perspectives like eco-translatology and rhetoric (Tao,2014;Feng &Hong,2015).However,it's rare to see the rhetorical philosophy of Kenneth Burke,the fabled contemporary Aristotle,applied to studies on movie title translation,and the sole two papers hitherto found revolve around the notion of"identification"he raised(Wang,2012;He,2020),without further exploration into his dramatism-based rhetorical realm.

Burke was one of the most influential rhetoricians in the US,whose rhetorical ideas have been applied to studies in social and natural sciences,fully showing their importance and universality.After Neild (1986) elaborated on the bond between Burke's rhetorical ideas and translation,Chinese scholars also found out the potential contribution of rhetoric to translations oriented to China's global communication (Liu,2004;Chen,2013),hence considerable research findings.Among them,the application of Burke's rhetorical theories is mainly about the audience's"identification"with Chinese-English translation(Wu,2015;Li,2016)and the significance of"dramatistic pentad"for translations oriented to China's global communication,including translation of diplomatic speeches(Lin,2012)and translation of public signs(Chai&Li,2012).However,these studies didn't touch on the dialectic core of Burke's rhetorical system so the "fluidity of the five elements of drama" ("fluidity" for short below) didn't garner the attention it deserved.Therefore,it's sensible to explore more potential applications of Burke's rhetorical thoughts.A rhetorical analysis of English translation of Chinese movie titles on the basis of the fluidity will help deepen scholars'understanding of such translations and of the importance that Burke's rhetorical thoughts have for the translation for China's global communication.

The Five Elements of Drama and Their Fluidity

Dramatistic pentad ("pentad" for short below) is a metamethod proposed by Burke inA Grammar of Motivesto study human behaviors and motives (Blakesley,2002).The term "dramatism" is rooted in the idea "life is a drama",deeming the real world as a stage.Every person,or"actor"on the stage will wield linguistic signs to convey symbolic meanings,which implies that all human verbal behaviors must take on certain purposes."Raw sense data are selected and shaped into experienced reality by the symbolic forms through which data are organized" (Burke,1989,p.14),and for this we must use "terministic screen" that "necessarily directs the attention to one field rather than another"(ibid,p.121).The forms of expressing thoughts embedded in such symbolic actions have strong impact on the meanings of verbal behaviors,and to understand how the forms work,Burke borrowed terms from drama to fix on five fundamental elements,namely,act,agent,scene,agency and purpose.From the perspective of dramatism,"act"points to"any verb,no matter how specific or how general,that has connotations of consciousness or purpose"(Burke,1969,p.14);"agent"means an actor,which can be a person or a community made up of people,or even certain attributes of a person that may be part of the dominant motive;"scene"can be the site,location or context of a symbolic action,including everything related to the setting and environment of an action or event,like situation,linguistic context and state of affairs(Liu,2008,p.341);"agency"refers to the means of an action or the device for a certain purpose;"purpose"is the intention,emotion and values of an agent.

Burke believes that all the five elements above should be involved in observing all human actions of using symbols (Hu,2009,p.255).The pentad was thus established as a framework for understanding how the motive changes under the impact of symbolic means.The five elements make up altogether 20 ratios,namely,pairs.By looking into whether the first element determines the second in each ratio,a central,controlling element will be found out in the end so as to define the motive(Burke,1969).Scholars resort to this analytical device for discourse analysis,revealing the motives of foreign news reports about China(Deng,2011)or probing into strategies of public speaking(Xu&Zhu,2014).However,the application of dramatistic pentad is not invariable.Some scholars seek new angles from the five elements for analyzing the shift from source text to target text.Lin (2012) focuses on the ratios of "purpose-agency"and "scene-agency" to analyze the rhetorical motives of the diplomatic speeches given by former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and propose optimal translation strategies for diplomatic speeches;Chai and Li (2012) points out on the basis of the "consubstantiality" of the five elements that even in short and concise public signs,all the elements are present in a way of containing each other,which reflects the existence of certain ratios,based on which an ideal rhetorical model of public sign translation is built.These efforts imply more possibilities for the application of the pentad to translation studies,and the fluidity must be among them.

Booth(1979)believes the pentad is a widely applicable analytical framework,and the use of the elements should not be "unvarying,frozen,literal",as they are "fluid reagents,applicable in different 'ratios' for different problems".One agent's action can be another agent's scene;or a given agent can be of someone else's agency or be a part of someone's scene;or,the significance of the elements or ratios can vary with the involvement of different philosophies and critical theories(Booth,1979).In China,Deng(2012)has an insight into postmodern ideas in dramatism,holding that dramatism should not be wholly objective or invariable.The structure of the five elements is not permanent but will change with the interpreter's perspective,and different interpretations of one incident from different angles will highlight different dramatistic elements.The five elements are separated yet unified,consubstantial and fluid;with such relationships,the elements themselves and the ratios they make up can easily change,showing different rhetoric operations under different rhetorical motives(Liao&Deng,2014).

It can thus be assumed that studying translation by the five elements and their fluidity will help find out the transformation of the elements between source text and target text and discover new translation strategies applicable to a specific type of translation from a rhetorical viewpoint,so as to improve translation practice of this category and boost development of relevant theories.

Interlingual Transformation for English Translation of Chinese Movie Titles

Since the translation of movie titles is certainly part of movie translation,as it's mentioned above,the probe into the fluidity in such a translation shall be placed in the setting of the whole movie to fathom which elements are shown in the title.The elements in a movie title will become rootless if it's split from the movie itself,not to mention their transformation.

After the Chinese and English titles of various types of movies were sorted out,it's found that the interlingual transformation of the elements mainly resides in four categories.

Transformation from one element to another

This is a recurring type of transformation,meaning that the source text points to one element in the movie while the target text to another.For instance,the title of the action movie《黄飞鸿》refers to the name of the protagonist,clearly the"agent";by contrast,its translationOnce upon a Time in Chinadoesn't follow the original name unfamiliar to the target audience,but stresses the time and place for the story,transforming"agent"into"scene"and creating an enchanting background of historical remoteness and exotic mysteriousness.Similarly,the movie title《霍元甲》by the name of a patriotic Chinese martial artist is not literally translated but adopts the adjectiveFearless,a common impression of the protagonist,to profile him,transforming "agent" into "act".This makes it possible for western audience to have an initial idea of the hero and achieve identification with what's intended by the movie.

Some milestone events in Chinese history the audience may not know can be transformed in a similar way to offer them orientation about such events and arouse their interest.《建党伟业》，meaning"the great cause of founding CPC",is a movie to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China.When put in the setting of the movie,the title reveals a great historical mission for all"agents"in the movie to accomplish,making it an"act".However,the translationBeginning of the Great Revivalis designed to describe the role of CPC's founding in the broad context of historical development,virtually transforming"act"into"scene".

Transformation between an element and a ratio

Such a transformation means an element in the source text transformed into a ratio in the target text,or a ratio into an element.Take the movie《一九四二》that depicts a severe drought and famine in Henan Province in central China as an example.The concise original title,meaning 1942,calmly makes clear the temporal scene of the disaster in order to strengthen the impact of those affecting,touching stories in the movie by the seemingly ruthless figure.Its translationBack to 1942retains the "scene" of time for the abovementioned effect yet includesbackas an "act" to bring the audience back across time to the year,thus developing a dynamic sense of history.For sure,it's the year 1942 that makes it logical to addback,so the"scene"of the original title is transformed into"scene-act"ratio in the translation.

Elsewhere,a ratio in the source text can be transformed into an element in the target text,also to facilitate the audience's understanding of and identification with a movie.《北京遇上西雅图》,a love movie that used to cause a sensation in China,tells the story that a Chinese girl pregnant with her rich boyfriend's child went to Seattle for delivery but found her true love in another man.Literal translation of the original title,meaning "Beijing meets Seattle",can hardly reflect the main plot about love in the movie but may generate over-strong strangeness to baffle the audience and dampen their interest in the movie.However,the translationFinding Mr.Rightavoids the original "agentact" ratio that's somehow confusing but highlights the "purpose" that the whole movie is about so as to facilitate the audience's identification with it.

Transformation between ratios

Transformation between ratios means a ratio in the source text transformed into another in the target text.For instance,《旺角卡门》,meaning "Carmen of Mong Kok",is a masterpiece of Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai,and this title in Chinese presents a typical "scene-agent" ratio because Carmen is in Mong Kok.Certainly,in the movie set in gang fights,"Carmen" is never a character that will show up in Mong Kok,Hong Kong of a remote oriental country,but based on the movie itself,it's not hard to see this ratio stands for a tragedy about passion,love and freedom that took place in Mong Kok.In view of this,the translationAs Tears Go By,also the name of a song familiar to western audience,doesn't attempt to explain the complicated connotations above but tries to achieve an echo among the audience by transforming the scene of the movie into a scene that they will mobilize to understand the movie,so that the tragic story offered by the movie,namely,the "act" of the movie,can be naturally received by the audience.To put it simply,without the scene created by the song's name,there can be no"act"understood.That's how the original"scene-agent"ratio is transformed into"scene-act"ratio.

The English translation of the movie title《寻龙诀》also shows transformation between ratios.The original title meaning "the formula to seek dragons" takes on a "purpose-agency" ratio.However,the "dragon" here refers to an ideal site for a tomb instead of the Chinese mythical creature.That is to say,the real meaning of the title is"the formula for finding tombs".Most Chinese audience know of tomb raid as an ancient job and find little difficulty in understanding what's behind the movie title,but for the western audience,a literal translation of the title won't be concise and clear enough to arouse their interest.The final translationMojin-The Lost LegendforegroundsMojin,an ancient profession of tomb raid in China,creating some exoticness to attract the audience;and thinking ofThe Lost Legendimplying its historical significance,the audience tend to be willing to find out what the movie can offer.Thus,the"agent-scene"ratio in the translation is established.

Transformation of the signified of an element or a ratio from source text to target text

Such a transformation means source text has an element or ratio the same as target text,but the contents are different.For instance,the movie title《唐山大地震》,meaning"the violent earthquake in Tangshan",will easily refresh the common memory of all Chinese—the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the northern Chinese city in 1976.This is a"scene"that Chinese audience will react with sympathy.However,the movie is not a description of the disaster itself but focuses on the misfortune of a family after the quake,which is better reflected in the translationAftershock,shifting to another "scene".Such a transformation implies that the movie is designed to show the radical changes of people's life after the quake and more likely to trigger imagination and interest of the target audience than the original documentary-style title does.

Another example is the movie《金陵十三钗》set in Nanjing Massacre during China's Anti-Japanese War,showing how thirteen prostitutes in Nanjing sacrificed themselves for others'lives.That's why there's the title meaning"the thirteen girls in Nanjing",which establishes the"scene-agent"ratio.Although the translationThe Flowers of Warretains the ratio,the "scene" has changed into "war" and the "agent" is no longer wholly human but turns into "flowers",which doesn't closely follow source text but somehow pays respect to the nobleness of the heroines' deed.The natural conflict between "flower" and "war" will help draw the audience's attention and strengthen the impact of the movie.

Conclusion

From the perspective of the fluidity,English translation of Chinese movie titles shows four types of interlingual transformation of elements or ratios,including transformations among five elements,between an element and a ratio,and between ratios,and transformations that see an element or ratio unchanged but its content shifted.With these rhetorical devices,or "terministic screen" according to Burke,translators strive to win audience's identification with the movies,demonstrating feasible translation strategies based on dramatism.It can thus be concluded that the fluidity provides a new analytical tool for English translation of Chinese movie titles,having new translation strategies raised.Deepening translation studies from this viewpoint will hopefully contribute to further development of translational rhetoric as a new research field and help improve China's global communication.

Acknowledgements

This study is sponsored by Young and Middle-aged Teachers' Research Project of Fujian Province (JZ190003)and by Fuzhou University Research Project(GXRC201821).