Chris Homewood
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781474456272
- eISBN:
- 9781399501569
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474456272.003.0006
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter considers China’s use of film to build its soft power in the West. In recent years, the Chinese film market has grown (and seemingly continues to grow) at an exponential rate, and this ...
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This chapter considers China’s use of film to build its soft power in the West. In recent years, the Chinese film market has grown (and seemingly continues to grow) at an exponential rate, and this remarkable turn of events has enabled China to co-opt Hollywood as an adjunct soft power asset. Keen to deepen its penetration of China’s now highly lucrative market, the Hollywood majors are adopting a more ecumenical understanding of geopolitical space and proffering affirmative images of China’s role in world affairs. This chapter considers the depth and scope of this understanding and its articulation on screen. It argues that the positively framed understanding of China and its place in the world faces mounting competition from other Western sources of China information, few of which seem to share Hollywood’s affirmative stance.Less
This chapter considers China’s use of film to build its soft power in the West. In recent years, the Chinese film market has grown (and seemingly continues to grow) at an exponential rate, and this remarkable turn of events has enabled China to co-opt Hollywood as an adjunct soft power asset. Keen to deepen its penetration of China’s now highly lucrative market, the Hollywood majors are adopting a more ecumenical understanding of geopolitical space and proffering affirmative images of China’s role in world affairs. This chapter considers the depth and scope of this understanding and its articulation on screen. It argues that the positively framed understanding of China and its place in the world faces mounting competition from other Western sources of China information, few of which seem to share Hollywood’s affirmative stance.
Stephen M. Norris
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781474456272
- eISBN:
- 9781399501569
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474456272.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter analyzes recent Russian popular historical movies in the era of Vladimir Medinskii as Minister of Culture and Vladimir Putin’s return to the Russian presidency (2012-present). Following ...
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This chapter analyzes recent Russian popular historical movies in the era of Vladimir Medinskii as Minister of Culture and Vladimir Putin’s return to the Russian presidency (2012-present). Following Keith Dinnie, Melissa Aronczyk, and Robert Saunders, I see attempts to “brand” a nation, even for domestic audiences, as a crucial component of soft power and as a form of public diplomacy. Medinskii in particular has helped to promote a patriotic culture centered on the Second World War, Soviet sports achievements, and the Soviet space program. Developing this patriotic brand, however, has come with some costs. The branding of a Russian nation as advertised onscreen since 2012, in short, has produced a mixed bag of results in terms of soft power success.Less
This chapter analyzes recent Russian popular historical movies in the era of Vladimir Medinskii as Minister of Culture and Vladimir Putin’s return to the Russian presidency (2012-present). Following Keith Dinnie, Melissa Aronczyk, and Robert Saunders, I see attempts to “brand” a nation, even for domestic audiences, as a crucial component of soft power and as a form of public diplomacy. Medinskii in particular has helped to promote a patriotic culture centered on the Second World War, Soviet sports achievements, and the Soviet space program. Developing this patriotic brand, however, has come with some costs. The branding of a Russian nation as advertised onscreen since 2012, in short, has produced a mixed bag of results in terms of soft power success.
