Which Sounds are Significant? Towards a Rhetoric of Closed Captioning

Authors

  • Sean Zdenek Texas Tech University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v31i3.1667

Keywords:

Closed captioning, deaf, rhetoric, style, video

Abstract

This article offers a way of thinking about closed captioning that goes beyond quality (narrowly defined in current style guides in terms of visual design) to consider captioning as a rhetorical and interpretative practice that warrants further analysis and criticism from scholars in the humanities and social sciences. A rhetorical perspective recasts quality in terms of how genre, audience, context, and purpose shape the captioning act. Drawing on a range of Hollywood movies and television shows, this article addresses a set of topics that are central to an understanding of the effectiveness, significance, and reception of captions: overcaptioning, undercaptioning, subtitles vs. captions, the manipulation of time, non-speech information, series awareness, and the backchannel.

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Published

2011-08-08

How to Cite

Zdenek, S. (2011). Which Sounds are Significant? Towards a Rhetoric of Closed Captioning. Disability Studies Quarterly, 31(3). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v31i3.1667

Issue

Section

Disability and Rhetoric