{"title":"Analysis Report on the Development of the Chinese Film Industry in 2023","authors":"Hanwen Liu, Hang Shi","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2024-0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2024-0019","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The year 2023 marked a period of burgeoning opportunities and a return to rationality for the Chinese film industry. Throughout the year, favorable policies continued to guide the comprehensive recovery of the industry. The film market flourished again, and segmented distribution officially commenced, with new directors achieving notable successes. However, the Chinese film industry also faced challenges, such as lukewarm investment enthusiasm, uneven market demand during different periods, a shortage of high-quality films, and the rise in profit share for micro and short dramas. In the future, it will be necessary to adhere to policy-driven, creativity-driven, market-driven, enterprise-driven, and technology-driven strategies to achieve high-quality recovery and sustainable development.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"13 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141102678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Song of Spring: The Manifestation of Love and the Metaphor of Illness","authors":"Haizhou Wang, Lin Zhang","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2024-0023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2024-0023","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The film Song of Spring creatively portray a pair of mother and daughter who are distinct but twinned and complementary, with a focus on traditional Chinese family ethics. The intertextuality between the two characters not only enriches their images but also enhances the ambiguity of the film. Additionally, the film utilizes the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease as a metaphor and employs the love between the mother and daughter as a “medicine” to bridge the gap between them. Through this depiction of the disease, the film also provides a glimpse into the collective memory of the Chinese nation.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"52 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140970921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ethnic Identity and Traces of Culture: Pema Tseden in a Centenary History of Films","authors":"Haizhou Wang, Wenjun Yan","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2024-0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2024-0020","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 As a Tibetan indie filmmaker, Pema Tseden is endowed with an ethnic advantage. In his films, he focuses on the real-life conditions of Tibetans. Observing ethnic groups through the personal perspective of the individual, he profoundly contemplates the condition of Tibetan culture in the modernized world while reflecting on China through the geographical perspective of borderland. In terms of form, Pema Tseden’s films represent the unique features of Chinese film aesthetics and poetics by adopting special Tibetan images and the implicit narrative structure of blank space.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"30 17","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141004726","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A “Creating God” Experience of Chinese Film Industry and Aesthetics: Conversation with Wuershan, Director of Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms","authors":"Xuguang Chen","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2024-0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2024-0016","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Wuershan is a well-known Chinese film director, screenwriter, and producer, who is known for his directorial blockbusters The Butcher, the Chef, and the Swordman (Daojianxiao, 2011); Painted Skin: The Resurrection (HuapiⅡ, 2012); Mojin: The Lost Legend (Guichuideng Zhi Xunlongjue, 2015); and Creation of the Gods Ⅰ: Kingdom of Storms (Feng shen: zhao ge feng yun, 2023). This interview was conducted between Wuershan and Xuguang Chen on October 12th, 2023 in Wuershan’s Director Studio, Beijing. In this in-depth interview, they focused on the experience of the Chinese film industry and the aesthetics of Creation of the Gods Ⅰ: Kingdom of Storms. First, they discussed industrialized operations of filmmaking in terms of film creativity, screenwriting, production, and casting. Second, they emphasized the classical aesthetic elements involved in the movie, including selection criteria and their creative transformation, and the inheritance and innovation of traditional values. They also analyzed the characters and stories of the movie in the third part, which are derived from Chinese historical texts, and rewritten to meet the requirements of both a mythological movie framework and the contemporary times. And then they explored the role of technology in cinema, the place of authorship within the system, and the consumption of imaginative films. In the end, they discussed the issue of cross-media operations and the international communication of Chinese films.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"3 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141047773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Revivalism in the New Life Movement and Cultural Conservatism in Early Chinese Films, 1934–1937","authors":"Jiuru Li","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2023-0070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2023-0070","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 During the period of 1934–1937, the cultural atmosphere of revivalism was magnified by the New Life Movement (新生活运动, Xinshenghuo yundong). Within this period, certain films of cultural conservatism (文化保守主义, Wenhua baoshou zhuyi) were produced. These films, whose modern significance has been overlooked until recently, tended to be treated simply in the traditional narrative of film history.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"347 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139858580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Revivalism in the New Life Movement and Cultural Conservatism in Early Chinese Films, 1934–1937","authors":"Jiuru Li","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2023-0070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2023-0070","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 During the period of 1934–1937, the cultural atmosphere of revivalism was magnified by the New Life Movement (新生活运动, Xinshenghuo yundong). Within this period, certain films of cultural conservatism (文化保守主义, Wenhua baoshou zhuyi) were produced. These films, whose modern significance has been overlooked until recently, tended to be treated simply in the traditional narrative of film history.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"20 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139798753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Application and Innovation of the Stylized Performance of Traditional Chinese Theater in the Animated Film New Sanchakou","authors":"Lijun Sun, Siqi Cao","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2023-0065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2023-0065","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In Chinese animated films, the stylized performance of traditional Chinese theater allows for greater expression and creativity, due to 3D digital technology and 8K display technology. This paper takes the animated film New Sanchakou (The Crossroads Inn, 1951), adapted from the traditional Duanda Wusheng (短打武生: martial arts performers equipped with short clothes and short-handle weapons) drama Sanchakou in Peking opera (Jingju) as an example, to explore the application and innovation of stylized performance. In the digital era, Chinese animated films innovate based on past achievements and utilize new technologies to both construct an aesthetic system with Chinese characteristics and to further display the unique charm of traditional Chinese aesthetic thought. By exploring new forms of animation’s performance creation, New Sanchakou meets the new challenge of Chinese animated film nationalization in the new era of China.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"59 7","pages":"563 - 576"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139240390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Occurrence of Cross-Media and Cross-Cultural Anxiety: Two Stars in the Milky Way from the Perspective of Meta Film","authors":"Bo Cheng","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2023-0064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2023-0064","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The 1920s was a period of exploration for the development and innovation of Chinese films, providing a direction for the localization of Chinese film creation and the reflexive thinking of film culture. Additionally, it paved the way for films that were created with a spontaneous “meta film” consciousness, such as Two Stars in the Milky Way (Yinhan shuangxing, 1932) and The Romance on the Screen (Yinmu yanshi, 1931), which appeared in the early 1930s. Released in 1931, The Romance on the Screen has been endowed with important historical value. Notably, Two Stars in the Milky Way was created earlier than The Romance on the Screen; understood as a “meta film,” the exploration of its media characteristics, narrative structure, audio-visual language, and national consciousness deserves further attention, in relation to the process of film’s change from silence to sound. From the perspective of the social perspective of the time, the context of the early film industry, and the meta film consciousness of the film workers, it is possible that Two Stars in the Milky Way may be the first “meta film” in the history of Chinese film. Moreover, it is also an expression of the value of observing cross-media and the cross-cultural anxiety of the early Chinese film.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"348 ","pages":"543 - 562"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139240428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Staging Shanghai in Love and Duty 戀愛與義務 (1923, 1931)","authors":"Kristine Harris","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2023-0036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2023-0036","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study explores the significance of the various urban locations for representations of gender in Love and Duty—the 1931 silent film from Lianhua Studios, as well as the 1923 illustrated serialized novel by “Luo Chen” (a.k.a. Madame S. Rosen Hoa/Horose). I show that both the novel and the film foregrounded the built environment to express the aspirations and frustrations of the female protagonist, played by Ruan Lingyu; and that the novel effectively served as a previsualization for the film as produced by Luo Mingyou and directed by Bu Wancang with cinematography by Huang Shaofen. Further, drawing on sources relating to the publication and film production, Shanghai and Beijing cultural history, and China’s changing geopolitical circumstances, I suggest that Lianhua strategically “staged,” even allegorized, Shanghai to signal its cosmopolitan ambitions while simultaneously alluding to Chinese filmmakers’ quest for a kind of “cinematic sovereignty” during the early Nanjing decade.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"650 ","pages":"411 - 447"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139240809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Revisiting the Stardom of Yang Naimei: The Typecast, the Modern Girl, and the Femme Fatale","authors":"April Wei","doi":"10.1515/jcfs-2023-0028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2023-0028","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper aims to revisit Yang Naimei’s stardom by discussing her as China’s most famous femme fatale of the 1920s. She was the first Chinese film actress to be typecast according to her public persona, and the first to be cast in a series of anti-heroes. In my discussion, I treated her as an extreme case of the 1920s film actresses through which we could see more clearly their ambitions, their talents, their situations, and their struggles. I would like to argue that she is an extreme locus of modern femininity in 1920s China, where being a modern girl, a film star, or a femme fatale is one and the same thing. As a modern girl in search of her subjectivity, she exerted a vibrant energy in the search for visibility through performing stardom. This paper also examined the bense discourse that has been popular in China for almost a century, and in particular discussed why the film actress is always closely tied between her on-screen image and her off-screen image, as a response to an essentialist idea, attitude, and assumption that surrounds Yang Naimei, that she can effortlessly play a femme fatale on screen simply because she is a femme fatale herself.","PeriodicalId":342453,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Film Studies","volume":"2004 12","pages":"449 - 465"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139239172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}