Contesting Captions: Netflix, Fan Campaigns, and the Labor of Access

Abstract

This article theorizes the work of deaf fans and audiences in securing streaming video captions, which it names the labor of access. While prior scholarship on captions tends to emphasize policy and regulation, streaming video lacks the legislative framework for disability access seen with televisual captions in the United States. Drawing on disability studies and fan studies, this article shifts focus to fan campaigns, which become a central site for renegotiating industry accessibility practices in the absence of regulatory oversight. Using Netflix as a case study, it chronicles how audience campaigns contribute to both the company’s initial provision of streaming captions and the ongoing work of captioning quality control. It then argues that fan-driven access victories in the era of global streaming are uneven and contingent: a successful captioning campaign in one context has no necessary impact in others.