Netflix Korea Under Fire For Controversial Mistranslation Of “KPop Demon Hunters” Director

2 hours ago 4

The issue sparked anger.

Just now

Netflix Korea recently angered netizens with a controversial mistranslation regarding KPop Demon Hunters.

Maggie Kang, the director of the movie, recently spoke about the film in a new interview. She discussed the choice for film’s group dynamics and how it would add elements of friendship and sisterhood to the plot, creating a more powerful story.

However, the Korean subtitles omitted the word “sisterhood” and instead replaced it with “family.”

Since it tells a story about family affection, I thought it would lead to a more powerful story.

— Netflix Korea subtitles

According to netizens, the issue is bigger than a simple mistranslation. Many suggest the “petty” mistranslation reflects discomfort with women’s solidarity and was only addressed after netizens called it out in the comments. Netflix Korea then left a pinned comment on the video addressing the issue.

At 08:34, the subtitle ‘family love’ should be corrected to ‘sisterhood love.’ We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this mistranslation.

Netizens felt the change of “sisterhood” to “family” weakens the meaning and shows bias against portraying female unity.

“Even in ‘sisterhood’ they seem intimidated, what a pity.”
“Good grief…”
“Seriously, what nonsense.”
“Changing it only in the comments is so annoyingly petty.”
“Huh? I didn’t even know this was a thing. Why was ‘sisterhood’ such a problem that they mistranslated it?”
“This is beyond imagination. How small-minded can they be?”
“They hate women’s solidarity when it doesn’t involve men. That’s why these guys pit women against each other, turning it into women-vs-women conflict.”