The Occurrence of Cross-Media and Cross-Cultural Anxiety: Two Stars in the Milky Way from the Perspective of Meta Film

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.