The Socio-digital dynamics of the subtitling field in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: The rise of social media fansubbing and its digital paratexts on Twitter

Abstract

This thesis documents the subtitling practice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) through the investigation of the eco-political, socio-cultural and tecno-logical developments since the 1950s. Considering the impacts of digital advances on the digital culture in KSA, this research traces the emergence of social media fansubbing (SMF) on Twitter. Inspired by the lack of research on subtitling’s history and SMF’s dynamics in KSA, this research adopts a Bourdieusean framework along with insights from digital sociology and media studies. It analyses the structures of the field of subtitling and subfield of SMF and examines the habitus and capital of the agents of these field/subfields. The analysis of theses dynamics was elicited from archival resources, online data, Twitter metadata, observation notes and a questionnaire. The outcomes of this research emphasise five primary aspects. First, the utilisation of Bourdieu’ sociology could be expanded and modified to include the digital fields. Second, the evolution of the subtitling field from the 1950s till 2015 was (re)shaped by the audiovisual production in KSA and the field of power. The field of religion played a critical role into inspired the doxa of the field. Third, the emergence of SMF was promoted by the arrival of Internet, video-sharing platforms and social media. Fourth, the fansubbers involved with SMF on Twitter illustrated their multiple position-takings which were adopted to seek capital and secure central position in the subfield of SMF. Emotional, digital and social (media) capital were the most obvious forms. Fifth, the use of Twitter for SMF demonstrated significant digital paratexts which the fansubbers harnessed as means of competition and position-takins. The paratexts were marks of distinction and tools for capital accumulation. Finally, the findings deepen the understanding of the various socio-cultural and technological factors influencing the trajectory of the subtitling field in KSA. The particular significance of this thesis lies in the examination of the emergence and evolution of the subfield of SMF on Twitter and its interconnectedness with Saudi Vision 2030. The analysed data demonstrated valuable findings regarding the Saudi fansubbers’ digital habitus, social media capital and digital paratexts.