Translation and Interpreting Research
Research Institute for Translation Studies (RITS)

Film Remake as a form of Intersemiotic Translation

Document Type : Translation Studies

Authors

Morteza Zaeri Amirani 1
Samar Ehteshami 2

1 MA Graduate of English Translation, Department of English Language, Faculty of Humanities, Khatam University, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, English Translation Studies Department, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22054/tir.2025.88059.1048
Abstract
The article approaches Hollywood remakes of foreign films as intersemiotic translation. Analysing one selected film pair—Seven Samurai (1954) / The Magnificent Seven (2016), the study employed a two-phase methodology consisting of Description-Comparison (phase 1) and Interpretation (phase 2). The first phase identifies shifts in plot structure, narrative techniques, characterisation, and setting, while the second phase interprets those identified shifts through three main lenses: economic motivations (market-driven localisation), creative reinterpretations (auteurist vision), and socio-cultural negotiations (recontextualising identity). The findings of this study reveal that plot structure represented the most common transformation category, followed by narrative technique, characterisation, and setting; thus, the remakes reflect the proliferation of strategic recalibrations by Hollywood filmmakers in pursuit of commercial and cultural resonance within American audiences. The study also indicates that remakes function not merely as adaptations but as forms of intersemiotic translation shaped by market logics, auteurial choices, and socio-cultural repositioning. It contributes to Translation Studies by illuminating the role of remakes in cultural negotiation, originality, repetition, and transnational cinematic exchange.

Keywords

Film remake
intersemiotic translation
plot structure
narrative techniques
Translation and Interpreting Research
Volume 2, Issue 6
Spring 2025
Pages 71-84

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