Chinese film industry aims to challenge Hollywood

[Developereo]

I see viewers lining up for that on the Food Network. Maybe they should get Andrew Zimmern as one of the judges for some of the more "exotic" dishes.

Well, here in Australia, it is popular enough that they show it on free TV. I don't know if they are new shows or old repeats, but they do get Chinese chefs once in a while.

You guessed it right. It is Journey to the west set in in present day. It is 3D. I am involved in designing some sets and characters.

Arrrgh. Please tell me the story and acting is going to be good....

In my opinion, Avatar was a disaster because it set the scene for crappy movies with no plot, no acting, nothing but 3D special effects. Frankly, after 15 minutes, I don't even notice or care if a movie is 3D or 2D.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Sir do you suggest that we start working on movies about Chinese cuisine ? Don't laugh though since a Hong Kong film about a food competition, Man Han Quan Xi, was quite the comedy. Given the number of Western films with food themes perhaps we could try making an entry in that field as well.

Are you talking about 金玉滿堂 with Leslie Cheung?

I remember a cooking movie from my childhood that was really good but I can't recall the name of the film, they kept going on about a "Buddha's pot" ultimate dish or something.

What about action movies set in the modern world? Hong Kong puts a lot of these out, but I don't know if they are well received in the Mainland, since they can often be quite violent.

I know 新宿事件 was not released in the mainland which is a shame because it shows off Jackie Chan in a role that involves NO kung fu at all, it's more of a drama film. It's quite "serious" and a bit bloody though.

 

[Nomenclature]

That is very true, but it also underscores the reason why Hollywood is hard to dethrone.

As I mentioned earlier, Hollywood's greatest asset is the global reach of Western culture and the English language. The only other countries who enjoy that advantage are the UK and Australia, and neither of them has the money (or desire, evidently) to challenge Hollywood.

Chinese martial artists find global acceptance because martial arts is one of two areas where Chinese culture intersects Western culture. (The other is cuisine, and Chinese cooking shows are extremely popular in Australia.)

So, yes Chinese artists need to break out of this stereotype, but it will be a tough battle.

China's commercial film-making is in an embryonic state and the real story will only begin 15-20 years from now. At the current stage of development I think it's more important to put emphasis on China's uniqueness rather than universal appeal. For example, films of China's most successful commercial director Feng Xiaogang are not popular even in Hong Kong or Taiwan, because of his unique mainland Chinese sensibilities. Only after becoming a mature industry (which as I said will take 15+ years) we can begin to challenge Hollywood on more universal themes.

Sir do you suggest that we start working on movies about Chinese cuisine ? Don't laugh though since a Hong Kong film about a food competition, Man Han Quan Xi, was quite the comedy. Given the number of Western films with food themes perhaps we could try making an entry in that field as well.

Actually Ang Lee also made a film called Eat Drink Man Woman.

 

[jayron]

Arrrgh. Please tell me the story and acting is going to be good....

In my opinion, Avatar was a disaster because it set the scene for crappy movies with no plot, no acting, nothing but 3D special effects. Frankly, after 15 minutes, I don't even notice or care if a movie is 3D or 2D.

By 3D I meant 3D animation(like kungfu Panda, Toy Story). I don't think the format will be 3D. The acting of the characters will be as good as the people who animate them .

 

[Nomenclature]

Hello guys... How is the animation movie industry in China? How are animated movies received?

BTW, I am currently working on a medium budget Chinese animation movie which might release in a year.

IMO Chinese animation films suffer from a lack of market, Chinese parents are busy taking their child to cram schools rather than movie theaters.

 

[siegecrossbow]

IMO Chinese animation films suffer from a lack of market, Chinese parents are busy taking their child to cram schools rather than movie theaters.

That is only part of the reason. Japanese anime still has a huge market in China. I think anothe reason is that animation is still treated as "children entertainment" in China and there has been no real effort to innovate.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

IMO Chinese animation films suffer from a lack of market, Chinese parents are busy taking their child to cram schools rather than movie theaters.

That is a good point, which is why I think there is enormous potential in the market for "Educational" movies and video games.

The question is how do you make it interesting to children... a lot of people have tried, and have had mixed success.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

That is only part of the reason. Japanese anime still has a huge market in China. I think anothe reason is that animation is still treated as "children entertainment" in China and there has been no real effort to innovate.

Animation has huge potential for the domestic market I think, if we can start producing more of it ourselves.

Look at the Japanese, they took our idea of 孫悟空 (Sun Wukong)... and turned that into "Dragon Ball"! In fact the Japanese name for Son Goku is 孫悟空, they didn't even change the name.

Look at the success that brought, it gave them such cultural influence in the world that you have American teenagers who want to emulate Japanese culture, I believe they call such people "Wapanese", or "Japanophiles".

 

[below_freezing]

soft power comes from hard power. the hollywood has universal appeal because it plays out movies showing the US army defeating even advanced aliens, then in real life it crushes some weak, defenseless country as "proof" of its superiority and how the movie is "real".

 

[CardSharp]

The two are connected but not perfectly I think. You can have hard power and no softpower, a road China is headed down now...

 

[Nomenclature]

That is only part of the reason. Japanese anime still has a huge market in China. I think anothe reason is that animation is still treated as "children entertainment" in China and there has been no real effort to innovate.

Yes that's true but only to an extend, Disney is the world's number 1 entertainment company even though it focuses mostly on "children entertainment".

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

soft power comes from hard power.

That is true, hard power (economy/military) is always more important. And it will lead to soft power, i.e. with a large economy you'll be able to exert more influence.

However trying to develop soft power on it's own doesn't hurt either, and it can sometimes open doors that will give us benefits in the long-term.

 

[below_freezing]

The two are connected but not perfectly I think. You can have hard power and no softpower, a road China is headed down now...

On the soft power side, we're doing much better than Germany and Russia in the hard power:soft power ratio. Despite their hard power, they've never gotten to the point where their culture can significantly influence others outside their country. At least Chinese movies are shown and watched significantly in Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea. When was the last time a Russian or German movie was shown outside Russia or Germany?

In terms of global influence, I think US culture (not western, Britain and France have no influence) is top for now, followed by Japan, then South Korea, then China, then finally India. Other countries have no cultural influence beyond their borders. Our goal should be more modest; trading spots with South Korea first is the easiest goal.

 

[CardSharp]

On the soft power side, we're doing much better than Germany and Russia in the hard power:soft power ratio. Despite their hard power, they've never gotten to the point where their culture can significantly influence others outside their country. At least Chinese movies are shown and watched significantly in Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea. When was the last time a Russian or German movie was shown outside Russia or Germany?

In terms of global influence, I think US culture (not western, Britain and France have no influence) is top for now, followed by Japan, then South Korea, then China, then finally India. Other countries have no cultural influence beyond their borders. Our goal should be more modest; trading spots with South Korea first is the easiest goal.

Biggest obstacle to Chinese softpower is western ridicule on subjects like Tibet and HR. This ridicule can only grow stronger as the west is more and more afraid of China's rise.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

On the soft power side, we're doing much better than Germany and Russia in the hard power:soft power ratio. Despite their hard power, they've never gotten to the point where their culture can significantly influence others outside their country. At least Chinese movies are shown and watched significantly in Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea. When was the last time a Russian or German movie was shown outside Russia or Germany?

In terms of global influence, I think US culture (not western, Britain and France have no influence) is top for now, followed by Japan, then South Korea, then China, then finally India. Other countries have no cultural influence beyond their borders. Our goal should be more modest; trading spots with South Korea first is the easiest goal.

Good points.

Also, you rarely (if ever) see restaurants that serve German food or Russian food in major cities etc. And when was the last German-language or Russian-language film that was released to the international audience?

So you're right that we have a lot more soft-power than it seems. Replacing South Korea will be easy I think, replacing the USA and Japan will be more difficult.

I think we can beat Japan in soft-power terms in a decade or more, as their economy shrinks and ours rises. We've already beaten them in terms of hard power, especially given their shrinking economy and pacifist constitution.