Media studies

This chapter aims to provide an overview of key ideas in media studies that can be helpful for research on translation. Given the increasing centrality of audiovisual texts and the increasing dominance of internet distributed texts (both written and audiovisual), understanding how media work is becoming increasingly important for both translation scholars and practitioners. The chapter goes beyond existing work on audiovisual translation to open up other possible areas of research on media translation by exploring topics in media studies. Beginning with an overview of the work on media in translation studies, the chapter then surveys key elements of media studies. It focuses first on research methods that are commonly used, including quantitative research, textual analysis, ethnography, interviews, and archival research, before moving on to critical issues, such as adaptation and derivative works, mediality, convergence, audiences, and institutions. It concludes by arguing for interdisciplinary research that addresses both media and translation studies audiences, which may require rethinking the relationship between translation and the media. Throughout, relevant scholarship in media studies is highlighted in order to help translation researchers become familiar with work in this discipline.