Speaker
Dr. Patrick ZHOU
Dr. Patrick ZHOU is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Translation at CUHK. His research interest lies at the intersection between translation studies and media studies. He is particularly interested in engaging contemporary translation theories (e.g. post-translation theory) with critical scholarship in media studies, in description of popular media reception phenomena. His PhD thesis investigates the reception of popular media in the context of social media-based convergence culture, drawing on an interdisciplinary framework comprised of theoretical and methodological elements from translation studies, media studies and fandom studies. His forthcoming article entitled ‘The multiple layers of Mulan’s legend in Chinese classical literature’ has been accepted by Monumenta Serica.
Disney’s 36th animated feature Mulan (1998) represents one of the most well-known Chinese-sourced stories in the world. In translation studies, several scholars have analysed it as a kind of translation, in the broad sense, based on the ancient Ballad of Mulan 木蘭詩. However, few have examined, in Gentzler’s words, its “social and psychological reception matters” and “post-translation effects” on viewers. This observation also holds in adjacent fields such as film and cultural studies, where the reception of the film, despite its huge popularity, remains largely under-researched. To fill this gap, Dr. Patrick ZHOU conducted a research for investigating the reception of Mulan by Disney fans with a queer taste. In this talk, he will introduce this research.
