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Posts: 1693

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Q: Why can't the Chinese film industry produce a truly global film?

Like a futuristic thriller, or fantasy, or historical drama (about another country). All I see are films set in 1920's-30's Shanghai, or CPC/Nationalist/Japanese fighting each other. Most of these are for domestic consumption, and technically, not even particularly well made. What's up with that?

12 years 13 weeks ago in  Arts & Entertainment - China

 
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I agree gladrosich, that the films are all setup in the 20's 30's. That brings up a good point hope to see them make more futuristic films like you say. Making a film about robots or space travel in China would be a good idea.

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12 years 13 weeks ago

There are cookies, bookies and too many rookies for me to sit here trying to be a hooky! Looky Looky don't call me a wooky. Touchy Touchy Feely Feely Spicy Spicy Nicey Nicey & that's what the doctor Ordered!!

 
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I've always wanted to see a good zombie movie the hords of Chinese could provide.

giadrosich:

Exactly! A post-apocalypse Zombie thriller set in China would be very cool. Imagine scattered bands of unlikely heroes up against 1.4 billion walking dead!

12 years 13 weeks ago
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Jnusb416:

Combine that with time travel, ancient Chinese warriors vs. zombies...

12 years 13 weeks ago
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Shining_brow:

China already HAS 1.4 billion zombies... why make a movie about it?

12 years 13 weeks ago
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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Perhaps the Chinese lack creativity? Or even fear it?

Last month, I wrote and directed a play that won a provincial school English acting competition, and the school were to progress to the National Finals at Beijing University, along with one school from each other province in China. However, my school currently refuses to let the students go, seemingly because it was an original play written by a foreigner.

A Chinese friend of mine is a final year student in dramatic arts in Beijing, and has expressed discontent at not being able to exercise her creativity. She is transferring to Hong Kong next year, where she believes she will be able to develop her ideas better.

It seems China just doesn't want to produce entertainment that is not distinctly Chinese, and creativity is discouraged here. So those that do have creativity have to move to Hong Kong, or other countries, to escape the extreme limitations in China.

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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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The Chinese film industry doesn't understand foreign tastes. That's why they tried to make a global film with "The Flowers of War" (just saw it) and what was supposed to be the best WW2 movie ever was forced to be an English language propaganda film. Not most westerners cup of tea. 

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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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They fear creativity.  I had some students a few years ago write their own play for an English competition.  They practiced it all week, but on the day of the event, they ended up reciting "a scene from Sense and Sensibility".
When I asked them about that, they told me that their teacher did not allow them to do their own play and assigned them that one instead.
I have never again agreed to judge an English competition after that.

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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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There's probably something stopping them. Maybe no one will back their project, or they can't get the money. Corruption? Governmental regulations? It could be many things. I personally believe there is not a lack of creativity in China, but those people just don't get the chance to express it properly.

GuilinRaf:

I agree especially with the creativity issue. I have seen just how imaginative my students can be, only to be squelched by the teachers, etc. It is there, it just is not being encouraged!

12 years 13 weeks ago
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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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It has to do with the fact that the governement only allows certain type os films to be produced, all films must be culturely educational, and show a percentage of fact from History.
Besides China in the center of the earth way would they care about other countries wanting to know anything about what goes on here.

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12 years 13 weeks ago

Come on thumbs down everything I say. rnrnPlease I like it thumbs down some more.

 
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I have to disagree most above comments. Most Chinese people don't like science fiction and zombie movies. Furthermore these movie genres don't sell a lot of tickets. China has many talents such as  Zh ang Yimou.  His movies were very famous outside China. Even you are a famous director; you still have difficult time is to get investors to put up money into a movie.  Some of his famous movies were funded by a foreign company. It's not a lack of talent, I tell you.

freakboy:

Ok now why is it your say they don't like science fiction, I say it has to do with lack of imagination and why is it the whole country of 1.3 billion people don't like it? I say it is because they have been conformed to all enjoy the same things. I know many Chinese people in fact who love SF and they tell me that if they had known about it earlier then their lives would be different. SF opens minds. Chinese movies does not.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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Sammah, you are wrong about Chinese ppl dont like science fiction and zombie. Dont need to compare the audience of each countries, basically we are same. Film industry is set to entertain ppl. Zhang yimou is the very famous one for foreingers and Chinese, but my personal opinion about him is that he was good when he was in the indepent side, now he is a commerical director, just like all of those commerical movie director, nothing sparking there....

Why doesnt China have truely global(commerical) movies? My simple obversations are below:

1. Government haven't open film industry completely yet (aka Media). This is why you see some same old stories played again and again here.

2. Chinese commerical movies got a bloom not more than 5 years, there are lots of things for them to learn. Hollywood has 80 years history. This is a big gap to catch up.

3. Those ppl working in China film industry are mostly local ppl, most of them dont speak foreign language, don't know the world enough, some of them maybe got talent but it's mostly for domestic audience. They dont have a "global" view yet.  Hongkonger only got some views but it's too small to have a truely global movie.

Without fully open of the industry, China won't produce a global movies in any near future. Zhang yimou will definately lose his Oscar dream no matter how hard he tried...----this is to answer Kchur....also

 (i dont really watch out my grammers here hope you get what i said!!)

GuilinRaf:

Clear as a bell! I too dont worry too much about "grammer" here...

12 years 13 weeks ago
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12 years 13 weeks ago

I like a snowy Happy new year, rather than a no sky one...Beijing's time to ban the cars---the only solution for the time being...

 
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Shifu

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Chinese people are inherently boring, it is only through interactions with western people they become interesting this is reflected in there movies.

Localla:

you are also very boring....when you want to express an opinion...would you mind to give some reasons or backups?...otherwise your words are not only boring here but also shows how dumb you are...imho....

12 years 13 weeks ago
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fish79:

You are my proof.

12 years 13 weeks ago
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Some good points on here.  I think creativity is one of the biggest ones, but also that films, cartoons, and any media in China are supposed to have "cultural" value.

The biggest of all issues is that most Chinese don't really have much of a cultural identity anymore...  Being "Chinese" is what seems to be the identity, and people cling to some basic things that have endured that are considered to be Chinese...  Kung fu, uniting against Japan, how China was before if was carved up by foreign powers (Qing dynasty soap operas), the Monkey King and Journey to the West, etc.

These things are what people hold on to as cultural identity, things that show China in a positive light.

How can you write or be creative in modern China when it has to be something of cultural significance, when there doesn't seem to be a modern cultural identity here?  This is why everything gets copied.

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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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I totally disagree with the OP, and some of the thoughts expressed here. (not the bits about the governments or the teachers...)

China HAS developed some 'global' films. And occasionally makes them even now. The problem I see, is more getting them distrbuted around the world.

And, there is the issue of language.

Also, I want to call into question this idea of a 'truly global' film... what's that supposed to be? Someone, please name a truly global film from the US, or India (the 2 biggest film-making nations on Earth) - a film that everyone can identify with.

Btw, I just did a google for 'Chinese films at Cannes" - and got hits! They're out there... we just dont' hear about them (again, probably because of the language)

Oh quick question - can you name 3 famous actors? Can you name 3 French, or Italian,  Spanish or German actors? If you can name the Chinese ones, then how could you say they don't make films that get shown around the world??

giadrosich:

By truly global, I simply mean a film that is popular world-wide. Films produced in Hollywood seem to have an edge on the market. Actually, you seem to illustrate my point, in that the Chinese are not thinking internationally yet. If they were, they would be building the infrastructure to get the product to "the market," as well as making films that would appeal to mass audience. I didn't do any research before posting the question, but from what I've encountered, most of the very successful Chinese films have been produced in Hong Kong.

The question actually came about by hearing comments from Chinese friends who have told me that, in comparison with movies from the US, Chinese movies kinda suck, and it became almost a standing joke, when asked what the latest movie was about, someone would reply, "Shanghai, Shanghai!" It got me curious why this phenomenon existed...

Examples of truly global films (just off the top of my head) would be the "Harry Potter" franchise, "Titanic," "Star Wars," "The Lord of the Rings" Trilogy, etc. Not to mention "Avatar," which was pulled from most theaters here in China to make way for the local boy movie "Confucius," which I heard bombed. The list is actually quite extensive. The box office reciepts for the films run into the billions of dollars, and often do better around the world in the long run than they do in the U.S.

I mean, take a movie like "Forbidden Kingdom," with Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Yifei Liu, Collin Chou, and Bingbing Li. It's a movie about Kung Fu!!! Written by an American, made in America! Why?

12 years 13 weeks ago
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Shining_brow:

Oh, so by 'global' you meant 'popular'.... as against - worthy of actually watching and meaningful to all people. Terminator could be considered a global film, then... :p Which still leads me back to my question about other countries around the world... name me some truly 'global' (ie, popular) films that came out of France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, India, Russia...etc etc etc I suspect, there's no NEED to make globally popular films Given all the films made in India, why aren't there so many that are globally popular? I strongly suspect, the inherent (and hidden) question you have posed is - why hasn't China produced truly global ENGLISH-LANGUAGE films? This is pretty important to getting to people around the world, due to the large number of people who can speak the language, and therefore would be more likely to be introduced to the movies you just mentioned. Also, I think another aspect is culture. This 'western' culture thing is forcing its way onto all other cultures around the world - so people are getting indoctrinated with what they think is actually 'good'. Chinese culture doesn't have that power, and so its cultural themes don't resonate as well outside of China. I mean, sword and sorcery films are abundant in China, but there's a lot less of them outside of China. Romance.. in China, there's an expectation that it won't work at the end, and both will end up alone... in Western culture, the couple has to eventually get together at the end... Sci-fi has a bit of a gathering in the west, but not so much here.... it's just a matter of perspective. Personally, I'd love to see a 'global' version of Monkey, or White Snake (the legend, not the band :p).. but would they catch on the same was a LotR did in the west (that didn't do quite so well here!) And, lastly, China still has an isolationalist (and imperialist) attitude... so, who really cares about the rest of the world?? Does the US make a film that is DIRECTED towards the rest of the world - or does it just make a film for the US, and then market it to everyone else?? I notice that Aussie actors had to change their accents to be popular in the US, but I don't see US actors changing their accents for any other country....

12 years 13 weeks ago
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Shifu

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Some students once told me that china is only interested in educational movies. So the Sci-fi thrillers and futuristic movies that you talk of to them may not seem so educational. I asked about the movie GI joe and the response was they wouldn't be interested because it's not an educational movie. That's why I'm thinking most of the movies are in there 20's to 30's and it's mostly about the history as you say. 

nevermind:

Uh.... all these people do is watch Hong Kong action flicks....

12 years 13 weeks ago
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GuilinRaf:

Um, so which category does "Transformers" fall into? Cultural or educational?

11 years 50 weeks ago
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12 years 13 weeks ago
 
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Because movies are made for propaganda, not entertainment or eduction here. 

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The government here has very strict guidelines on what a movie can and can not contain.

Any science fiction, fantasy (other than martial arts and a small group of other fantasy subjects), non-Chinese history, anti-current government, etc are all forbidden from being filmed here.

A friend of mine produces movies here and he once went on for hours about all of the things they were not allowed to film, say or do.  There are even certain colors and hand motions they can not show in a film.

MrTibbles:

Could we make a movie about sh!tting and spitting? It sort of has cultural value...

12 years 13 weeks ago
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GuilinRaf:

And nose picking!

11 years 50 weeks ago
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What about the movie Flying Tiger, Crouching Dragon (or something like that -- I am sure that I have the title wrong)?  It came about 10 - 15 years and it played in all of the major movie houses in the United States.

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12 years 11 weeks ago
 
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Shining_brow: Avatar is a good example of a truly global film from the US. So popular in China that the Chinese Government tried to limit it's viewing, because it was outperforming the Chinese films so much. Harry Potter is a British offering that was truly global. India has Ghandi and Slumdog Millionaire. Even New Zealand, in between sheep marriages, managed to produce Lord of the Rings.

Flowers of War didn't quite do it. It concentrated more on justifying China's single-minded hatred of the Japanese, for a single event, than showing the fighting spirit of a country or even an individual. If they had really wanted to show the true atrocities, then the diaries of John Rabe, a Nazi Party member and Japanese ally, describing and condemning the massacre first hand, would have had a truly global impact. He actually saved over 100,000 Chinese people.

The film does not promote the Chinese Nationalistic pride, if indeed such a thing exists today. Ghandi from India managed to do just that, as did Australia's Gallipoli and numerous other films from countries around the world. It was propaganda, and is recognised around the world as "a Christian Bale film" more than a Chinese film.

Shining_brow:

When I went arguing about 'truly global', I'm not just referring to 'makes a lot of money around the world'... I was talking about themes that people from around the world will relate to. So, Avatar may have made a lot of money, and been popular with many (usually younger) people, but really, other than being in 3D, it was a pretty crap movie... nothing really special about it at all.. Which Gandhi are you talking about - the Ben Kingsley epic from decades ago? Yeah, that'd be up there. Maybe Slumdog as well - which, in Aust, was a bit of an indie film. I'm not really sure I'd call LOTR a kiwi film - as you sort of indicated, not a sheep to be seen! How many big name kiwi actors were in it (and starring??). Sure, made there, by a kiwi producer/director and production house... but that's about all... foreign actors everywhere, foreign script (Tolkien was English) - more of a US/UK production.. (was Star Wars 1-3 Australian? It was filmed in Sydney for much of it.)

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MrTibbles:

Gallipoli was a fantastic movie.

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Shifu

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as long as the script has to go through some burocrats desk for approval China will never make internationly succesfull movies. were not talking film festival art films, but the stuff people like to go to on a saturday night to watch. the biggest money makers in China in 2011 were treansofrmers 3 and kung fu panda. not flowers of war or the comunist party movie. 

remmber that in this country originalty and creativity are things to be shunned. theyll just keep making kung fu epics and fighting japanese stuff forever. even mattaya is all exited about the 1000th monkey king movie coming out

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ask ur mama

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11 years 50 weeks ago
 
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Mostly because of censorship. It leaves out little choice, leaving you with, as mentioned, 20-30's shanghai, war with Japan (or any kind of propaganda), ancient China and myths, and cooked by the book love movies (I love you -> wait I don't -> now I'm sad -> I realize stuff, I'm a better person, and I love you again -> slow pop music with piano plays as credits roll).

Mix that with a lack of creativity, and you've got the same 5-6 movie/tv-show ideas recycled dozens of times a year.

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11 years 50 weeks ago
 
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