Envisioning Global Governance in Chinese Sci-fi Blockbusters: Crazy Alien (2019) and The Wandering Earth (2019)

Abstract

Abstract This article examines two Chinese sci-fi blockbusters, Crazy Alien and The Wandering Earth , under a theoretical framework of global governance and its variation in Chinese state rhetoric. The article explores how the notion of global governance in China is echoed, reconfigured, and mediated in these two films via their depiction of China’s leadership in solving fictionalized futuristic global challenges. It argues that while Crazy Alien criticizes the present, neoliberal global governance, The Wandering Earth envisages a new global governance system led by China. These two films provide case studies of sci-fi blockbusters produced in a non-Western context and illustrate the convergence of Chinese politics with its sci-fi film production.