Social Media’s War Against Misogynistically Translated Film Titles

Those who have been surfing on Chinese social media lately likely have come across a wave of posts and short videos. They are commentaries offering readings of films through a feminist lens, which, at first glance, is hardly new. Yet surprisingly, much of this discussion deviates from the usual focus on plot and performance. It instead zooms into something far smaller: the handful of words in a film’s translated title.

When Translation Distorts Her Story

Legally Blonde, about Elle Woods’s perseverance, self-definition and subversion of stereotypes as she proves her competence in law school, appears in Chinese as《律政俏佳人》.

The scrutiny lies in the letter “俏”. It places Elle’s appearance in the spotlight, and neglects her efforts and transformation throughout the film.

Perhaps a more ironic case is She’s the Man, where Viola Hastings disguises herself as a man to bypass sexist restrictions targeting female soccer players. A tale about women’s empowerment and the subversion of gender norms is translated into 《足球尤物》(taken literally as “an exceptional object of soccer”). It diminishes Viola as nothing but a figure placed under the male gaze, only valued by her appearance.

Across these and many similar examples arises a pattern. When a foreign film centers on women, its Chinese title almost always involves a connotation of desirability and charm. Unlike movies led by male characters, whose title tends to preserve the original narrative focus, such names share an excessive emphasis on sexual attractiveness.

Words Shape Perception, Perception Shapes Words

Titles are not incidental. They are the first point of contact between a film and its audience, the first framing of a story. They function as marketing tools in commercial cinema, designed to spontaneously attract attention. By this logic, production companies do not choose titles for the sake of enraging a group or catering to personal tastes. They select them as they believe it will catch the eye of the widest audience, and what catches the eye, in turn, is shaped by social norms. 

When women’s charm is repeatedly used as an effective hook, it reveals the societal belief that her sexualized image is more of interest than her competence. Our society as a whole neglects women’s talent and hard work.

This logic is also not confined to cinema — media coverage heavily emphasizes women’s appearance and romantic or sexual past and identities to grab focus. In advertisements, women are four to five times more likely to be sexualized, according to a 2021 United Nations study.

Yet, the title is also where we are introduced to her, and first impressions linger. When we are frequently exposed to the cue that a woman’s desirability matters more than other qualities, we internalize it. As this internalization occurs with most of the population, collective expectation is shaped. The media continues to employ such expectation when translating titles. Misogynistic beliefs become increasingly normalized as we continue in this vicious cycle.

Social Media Uprising as a Sign of Change?

  The very phenomenon that started this article — social media discussions on films’ translated titles — suggests that the cycle can be broken. These posts highlight that people are noticing the discriminatory translations. They show that people acknowledge the power of framing, especially in widespread forms of media, and raise awareness of the issue among the broader public. Most importantly, they reveal a growing societal recognition of gender bias and the willingness to push back. 

For decades after foreign films were introduced to the mainland market, the translation choices attracted little, if any, public scrutiny. But we now debate single words, which itself signal an upcoming cultural shift.

Transformation Occurs When Voices Rise

If history shows anything, it is that public opinion does not shift on its own. It changes because ordinary people start to challenge what once was ‘the standard’. The Suffragette movement of the early twentieth century shifted the perception of women from dependents of their husbands to independent political citizens. The Riot Grrrl movement of the early 1990s asserted that women can be creators and activists in music scenes. The more recent #MeToo movement reduced the stigma surrounding sexual harassment and reframed it as a systemic injustice.

Seen in this light, the recent wave of discussion follows the same pattern. The norms that persisted because they went unchallenged are now being commented, critiqued. Each post and comment contributes to a gradual redefinition of what is normal.

Change, however, does not occur just because the issue is visible for one moment, merely as another internet trend that will soon die down, neglected by our memory. It occurs when people continuously engage, when the questioning becomes habitual. To allow women to be introduced as themselves instead of their bodies, we must sustain this attention. We must vocalize our dissent and promote the ongoing movement, whether through writing, sharing, commenting, or simply liking a post.

Written by: Miki O