Fansubbers’ Motivations and Reasons for Subtitling Korean Films and TV Series

The current qualitative research was an attempt to discover the reasons that led to the interest in watching Korean films and TV series among Iranian audiences as well as making fan-produced subtitles for these products. To this end, 26 select participants (20 women and 6 men) who have been active in translating and subtitling Korean films and TV series in Iran were qualitatively interviewed. Observational data also were collected by the researchers in the fansubbing Iranian atmosphere. As for the data analysis, grounded theory procedure was mainly used. Participants ranged from 14 to 45 years of age and have been working as a fansubber from one to ten years. The academic background of the majority of these fansubbers was in engineering or natural sciences. According to the results, these Iranian fansubbers are keen enthusiasts of Korean culture and cinematic fiction. They state that their interest in Korean audiovisual fiction is due to a wide range of shared cultural similarities between the two nations as opposed to the western culture. They also point to the non-physical sexuality of the Korean films and series that seem to have an appeal to the Iranian public audiences. The Iranian audiences are also interested in use of the best and the most advanced cinematography technologies as well as the eastern color and philosophy in the Korean television products. Iranian fansubbers proport to intended to help their Persian speaking friends and fellow-enthusiasts to access these foreign language films and TV series so as to enjoy watching such programs. In addition, they also feel motivated to support their favorite Korean film actors as well as their work.