Source: ACAS: Association for Chinese Animation Studies (10/16/18)
The Rise of Wolf Culture: Thoughts on Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf
By Jianhua Chen; translated by Isabel Galwey

The first ten years of the twenty-first century have passed in a snap of the fingers. Many trends have come and gone, but nothing has prevented the onward march of the globalized economy. The world, the globe, and our everyday lives are undergoing historic changes — and so are our value systems. People live as if in constant movement; danger accompanies opportunity.  People have become more materialistic, more impatient, and more fragile. Under all this pressure, they seek relaxation and pleasure. This era has been described as the “digital age,” the “information age,” but also the “the age of entertainment.”[i]

Half a century ago French Philosopher Guy Debord posited his theory of the “society of spectacle:” that the urban environment brought about by capitalism is coloured by its alienated, fetishistic ideologies — and citizens unconsciously live in accordance with its capitalistic logic. Now, new digital technology and internet culture have brought about a new world of mass media, stranger even than the “spectacular society.” Nobody is interested in “ideology” anymore. The intelligentsia of the 20th century were at the forefront of ideological movements, but in an age dominated by mass media, these intellectuals are powerless. Ideology itself, however, has not been absent. Rather, it has remained in the background of everyday entertainment. Ideology is transmitted though the globalised circulation of cultural products and aesthetics. Our essential values — what is “truth” and what is “good and evil”— are undergoing unprecedented and dramatic changes. Continue reading The Rise of Wolf Culture →

Source: Time (9/17/18)
China’s Leading Actress Fan Bingbing Has Vanished. Here’s What to Know
By ELI MEIXLER / HONG KONG

In past years, actress Fan Bingbing was a regular presence on film festival red carpets and fashion catwalks from Barcelona to Busan. And then, suddenly, she wasn’t.

Film fans are expressing alarm at Fan’s disquieting recent disappearance from public life: she was last seen on July 1, while visiting a children’s hospital. Her account on China’s popular Sina Weibo social media network, where she has 63 million followers, has been silent since July 23.

Speculation is linking the disappearance of Fan, one of cinema’s top-earners, to an alleged tax evasion scandal at a time when China’s state-controlled film industry is cutting back on bloated budgets and star-driven blockbusters. Continue reading Fan Bingbing has vanished →

Source: NYT (9/6/18)
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Has Soared, but It May Not Fly in China
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By Amy Qin

“Crazy Rich Asians” does not yet have a release date in China. Under China’s strict quota system, a limited number of foreign films are approved for import every year and some experts are skeptical about the movie’s chances there.CreditCreditSanja Bucko/Warner Bros. Entertainment, via Associated Press 

HONG KONG — “Crazy Rich Asians,” the first major Hollywood studio release in 25 years with an all-Asian cast, has been hailed as a breakthrough in the United States, one that has topped the North American box office three weekends running. It has been dominating in other markets with large ethnic Chinese populations as well, including Taiwan and Singapore, where the film is set.

With its cast of mostly ethnic Chinese characters, a soundtrack featuring a number of Chinese artists and story notes that emphasize Chinese culture, it would also seem assured of success in China, the world’s second-largest film market, which is playing a growing role in Hollywood’s calculations. The movie even opens with a quote from Napoleon: “China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.” Continue reading Crazy Rich Asians may not fly in China →