Introduction: The Fantastic as Sino-Enchantment in Contemporary Chinese Cinemas

Abstract

This introductory chapter employs the theoretical concept of Sino-enchantment to explore the cultural, political and ideological complexities, contradictions and complicities of contemporary Chinese fantastic films. The chapter briefly maps out the history of the fantastic in Chinese cinemas and locates the contemporary resurgence of the fantastic in that historical timeline. The theoretical exploration of Sino-enchantment emphasises the playfulness inherent in fantastic cinemas, which serves as a means for audiences to find re-enchantment in a modern, disenchanted world. Finally, the chapter threads the individual key points that the separate chapters articulate into a larger theoretical framework in order for readers to understand the key appeals that contemporary Chinese films make when they deploy the fantastic in newly reconfigured ways.