Translation as metaphor, metaphor as translation: Emotions in Squid Game’s facial expressions

Abstract

The unprecedented growth of access services in the media and visual arts has boosted the role of audio description which has taken centre stage on numerous debates in the academic field and in the context of audiovisual translation. The present study addresses the function of audio description in virtual platforms as a means of cross-cultural mediation and as an instrument of human communication, both of which give access to audiovisual products by offering engaging forms of participation. In line with the belief that human facial expressions in media products, together with the plot, facts, settings, among others, are essential features for the engagement of the audience (the blind and visually impaired people) to media contents, it is claimed that facial expressions in particular are vital elements which necessarily need to be integrated within audio described scripts since they reveal the psychological dimension of the characters, that is, their emotional states. By investigating the Netflix Korean series, Squid Game, where silenced scenes are crucial to the whole narration of facts and events, the research aims to investigate to what extent facial expressions as metaphorical depositaries of emotions deserve more attention in audio description practices, as well as to prove the fact that facial expressions are transferred by means of metaphorical language that acts as a translational operation when dealing with audio description. Metaphor is thus claimed to be crucial to facial expressions themselves as the instrument for their visual representation on screen, as well as to their rendering to the world of blind people in terms of intersemiotic translation practices.