One ordinary afternoon, local workers at Rwandan agricultural institutions are skillfully placing mushroom seeds into sterilization bins, and the entire disinfection procedure takes 15 minutes to wait. A local brother quietly took out a transsion card function phone and was watching the costume martial arts drama "Wudang a Sword" that was popular in China at the same time. In the dimly lit disinfection room, authentic Kinyarwanda simultaneous dubbing is heard from a worn-out mobile phone. Although the sound effects of the film and television drama have long been distorted, the bright and fierce martial arts action in the play still amazes him and his co-workers. In order to reduce the cost of watching movies, they usually go to the local print shop or small shop to download their favorite movies and TV shows to their mobile phone cards for free time to watch. To do this, they need to pay the store $0.1-0.2 for the download. Compared with mainstream communication channels such as television or online traffic websites, this cheaper way helps the non-dissemination of Chinese film and television dramas.
In fact, domestic film and television dramas have entered the African market very late. With the entry of Chinese media companies into the African market in recent years, domestic martial arts dramas, family ethics dramas, urban life, youth idols, historical dramas and other multi-genre translated dramas have been put into "testing the waters". Among them, Chinese kung fu movies and family ethics dramas are popular among many local "fans". In contrast, the recent large-scale release of urban life dramas has performed poorly. From the perspective of audience taste, local film and television dramas starring local actors have more advantages. However, countries generally present the following characteristics in the production of local film and television dramas: low production volume, very few production teams, extremely high unit costs, and slow production speed. In Rwanda, for example, there is only one complete film and television shooting team in the country, with an annual production of only 4-5 sitcoms, each with 11 episodes and 45 minutes each. Not only that, but the purchase price of Rwandan dramas is as high as $2,000 per episode, which makes film and television operators prohibitive.
Kigali City, Rwanda
When the supply of local film and television dramas cannot meet the cultural needs of local people, actively introducing transnational film and television capital has become a common choice in African countries. As a result, European and American dramas, Filipino dramas, Indo-Pakistani dramas, Niri dramas, and South American dramas (such as Brazilian dramas) have poured into the African market, forming a diversified film and television cultural landscape of "a hundred flowers blooming". This is both an opportunity and a challenge for domestic translated dramas. On the one hand, there are huge differences in consumption levels, viewing preferences and religious beliefs between Chinese and African audiences, and the translation of domestic dramas for the domestic market is incompatible with the needs of local multiculturalism; On the other hand, African audiences have developed multicultural tastes, making it impossible for any genre to form an exclusive advantage, resulting in a highly uncertain return on investment in film and television dramas in Africa.
First, create a precedent: the domestic drama "The Belle Epoque of the Daughter-in-Law" has created a classic
In 2011, the Chinese family ethics drama "The Belle Epoque of the Daughter-in-Law" (hereinafter referred to as "The Daughter-in-Law"), which was translated into Swahili, became "accidentally" popular in Tanzania, creating a precedent for domestic translation dramas to Africa. Since its inception, the popularity has continued unabated, and local audiences have spontaneously expressed their love for the show through phone calls and text messages. The image of "edamame" played by Haiqing in the play is deeply loved by the audience, and some classic lines such as "the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is 'you die and I live'" has aroused strong resonance among local female audiences, and the film is regarded as a "teaching film" for the contradiction between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. In the end, "Daughter-in-Law" set a record for the all-time ratings of Tanzania's national television station and was replayed as many as 4 times. Subsequently, "Daughter-in-Law" was also translated into other languages, and was released in Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal and other countries, with rave reviews.
Stills from "The Belle Epoque of the Daughter-in-Law"
The success of "Daughter-in-law" is inseparable from the "meticulous craftsmanship" of the national cultural propaganda unit in many links. As early as 2010, the International Cooperation Department of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television held discussions with the Embassy in Tanzania on many occasions and reached the following operational plan: the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television was responsible for solving the funding and copyright issues, entrusting China Radio International to undertake the task of program translation and promotion, and using the most influential Tanzania national television station to broadcast exclusively. For a long time, the export of film and television works based on kung fu and historical dramas has left African people with the stereotype of Chinese "knowing kung fu" and "old-fashioned". In order to reverse this situation, it has shown the African audience the image of a modern economic power, which has become an important goal for the current national cultural products to "go global". The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television clearly pointed out that the selection of a film and television boutique that focuses on "realistic themes, mainstream values, and people's lives" is the focus of this task. As a result, the well-received "Daughter-in-Law" in China was officially launched as a Sino-African cultural exchange project. In order to successfully complete the cultural exchange tasks entrusted by the state, the International Radio has drawn the strongest translators and voice actors from the Swahili Language Department and the Translation Department to complete all aspects of the translation and production with high quality, and has achieved a classic translation and production.
Under the mainstream discourse of developmentalism, the family concepts such as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and husband and wife presented in the plot of "Daughter-in-law" have also been incorporated into the expression of national modernization. However, this discursive expression has multiple effects in the actual transmission process. "Daughter-in-law" was a hit in Africa, and it caused widespread comments from European, American and local media. A class of commentators sees it as an important means for China to export value; Another group of commentators is more inclined to see it as an attempt to increase its cultural influence following China's economic success. The local elite usually does not comment, but shows a strong interest in the convenient and affluent modern Chinese way of life presented in the play; The general public has deep empathy for the "short parent" in the plot.
It is not difficult to see that the positioning of "Daughter-in-law" from the beginning is not to obtain overseas market revenue, but to "spread the national image" and play a "leading role" in the sea of excellent film and television works. On the one hand, the success of "Daughter-in-law" in word-of-mouth benefits from the efficient organization and mobilization ability of the national radio and television institutions and the highly stable high-level translation team quickly formed under the intervention of administrative forces; On the other hand, by transferring profits from overseas markets and providing other project assistance opportunities, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television has successfully exchanged important resources for Tanzania's national television station, such as daily prime time and preferential access to promotion channels. It is worth noting that most of Tanzania's national television stations belong to local clear stream channels, and all Tanzanian audiences can watch TV programs for free, which is one of the reasons why "Daughter-in-law" can quickly reach the audience in a short period of time. At the same time, because of the monopoly position of national television in the local area, it is necessary to pay a very high fee for choosing to broadcast in prime time or advertising on the channel. This high cost is often seen as a type of silent cost in the promotion of "The Daughter-in-Law". After "Daughter-in-law" became the first "blockbuster", the domestic translation and production "going to sea" entered a high-speed period, drawing on the experience of the drama "going out" in order to replicate the "success" has become the consensus of the industry.
Second, copy the "success": the new drama "Thirty Only" re-enters Africa
Since "Daughter-in-law" became a "hit", many domestic film and television dramas such as "Dulala Promotion", "Beijing Love Story", "Ode to Joy" and so on have been translated into English and Hausa language and widely spread in Africa. Domestic translated dramas have successfully entered the African film and television market. In this context, the popular urban life new drama "Thirty Only" (hereinafter referred to as "Thirty") has opened the process of going to Africa to the sea. "Thirty" scored 6.6 on a domestic community website, which has triggered a hot discussion on contemporary feminism. The three female protagonists in the play represent different types of urban women, who have experienced problems such as cheating, sister-brother love and conflicts between family and work, which have a strong resonance among young female audiences in China. The premiere of the drama on Oriental Satellite TV continued to drive the growth of the ratings of the three networks, with an average rating of 1.176% and more than 2.7 billion views. "Thirty" was also successfully selected as "Overseas Promotion of Excellent Domestic Film and Television Works". Soon, the drama was launched on the international video website Netflix, which also set off a boom in South Korea, and the costume matching of the heroine even became a Korean women's fashion topic.
Poster for "Thirty Only"
Compared with the state-led communication model, the "Thirty" goes overseas more on the commercial operation of enterprises. Continuing the boutique route of "Daughter-in-law", the Chinese media company Quatar Times[1] which has been operating in Africa for many years[1] introduced "Thirty" to Africa. Judging from the translation process, the play almost perfectly "copies" all the elements of "Daughter-in-law". The company's professional dubbing and translation team translates Chinese lines into authentic Swahili, and the accent and accent are absolutely synchronized with the character picture. There is no doubt that the quality of the translated film is excellent. Surprisingly, "Thirty" did not get the same attention as "Daughter-in-Law" and did not perform well in terms of ratings fee pull.
Zhang Cheng (pseudonym), head of StarTimes International Channel, has extensive experience in the operation of film and television products in Africa. She has an objective evaluation of "Thirty", "The reason why "Thirty" is not well received is that the urban life in the play has nothing to do with the daily life of African housewives, and it cannot form cross-cultural identity and emotional resonance." In addition, prime-time broadcasting and advertising on African national television stations are expensive. Even in accordance with the commercial cooperation practice of copyright sharing, the possibility of a deficit in investment-return is still very high. For African audiences with multicultural tastes, the promotion strategy of avoiding "all eggs in one basket" is clearly the best choice for companies. As a result, "Thirty" was "packaged" with other domestic dramas and broadcast on the Sino Drama Chinese channel that was founded by itself. Although this "retreat to the second" plan is conducive to enhancing the brand influence of Chinese channels, it makes "Thirty" insufficient in publicity and channel resource allocation.
The "explosive" production model that wins reputation value regardless of cost makes it difficult for private media companies to "follow the gourd". The fierce competition between diverse film and television cultures has made it a norm that the reputation of domestic translated dramas does not match the actual market profits. Based on the premise of good word-of-mouth evaluation in the domestic film and television market, this "high-quality" route has exacerbated investment risks. More importantly, there is no close link between the feedback from the African film and television market and the producers of domestic film and television dramas, which are more inclined to meet domestic policy requirements and audience needs. After successfully launching the classic IP of Chinese daughter-in-law "Edamame", "Daughter-in-law", which no longer shoots a sequel, is doomed to be unable to transform this hard-won word-of-mouth "success" into actual market revenue. Unfortunately, although the market operation of domestic translated dramas has become more and more perfect, "Thirty" is still hovering in the initial stage of "testing the waters", once again retaking the road of "Daughter-in-law" in the year.
Third, create a "hit": the Philippine drama "Brothers" stands out
In order to meet the diverse cultural tastes of the audience as much as possible, the Copyright Department of StarTimes has purchased hundreds of various film and television dramas on a large scale. After selecting the film and television dramas with good market feedback, they are then translated into mainstream languages such as Swahili, Hausa, English, and French by the translation and production center. Judging from many market feedbacks, Filipino dramas and Indo-Pakistani dramas have been generally welcomed by the African people, while South American dramas (such as Brazilian dramas) have performed well in African countries such as Mozambique[2]. According to the data, the 2021 Philippine drama "Brothers" contributed the most in the annual ratings, and even contributed more to the ratings of important episodes than ace sports programs including the European Football League. More interestingly, in the popular perception, it is generally believed that the target audience of Filipino dramas is limited to African women, but it is found that male audiences contribute as much as 40% of the ratings. Wang Xiao (pseudonym), head of the data support department of StarTimes Admiralty, admitted that it may be a cognitive bias that "women like TV dramas and men like football".
Filipino drama "Brothers"
"Brothers" has hundreds of episodes, simple plot logic, and low purchase unit price. The male protagonist, Paolo Rivero, is a popular star in the Philippines. His strong and healthy body and handsome face are undoubtedly one of the reasons why the show is favored by female audiences. In addition, the sexual suggestive fragments and the complex "polyamorous love" relationship that appear many times in the play are another major attraction for African audiences. In fact, in the plot layout, almost all Filipino dramas will use similar bridges. The difference is that the show introduces more family ethics conflicts and murder suspense plots, which also makes the audience of "Brothers" more "sticky" year-on-year. From the perspective of movie experience, the characters in "Brothers" are usually obvious in appearance, the protagonist is sunny and optimistic, jealous and hateful, while the "big villain" is dark and cunning, vicious and unkind. In Filipino dramas, religious beliefs, the realpolitik system, or reflective critiques of the injustices of modern society are all weakened, and more of the oppression of the rich, the corruption of bureaucratic power, and the recklessness of human life, which Africans seem to have long been accustomed to.
Compared with the market performance of domestic translation producers "Daughter-in-law" and "Thirty", the Philippine translation drama "Brothers" has become the annual ratings "hit" of StarTimes. However, the plot of subverting the three views is still inevitable from the complaints of media practitioners. "Maybe the more low-level dog blood plot we don't watch, the more Africans like it, the more dog blood has a selling point," said Shi Xiaofei (pseudonym), marketing manager of StarTimes Rwanda. In the face of the extreme differentiation between word-of-mouth and income, domestic film and television researchers have put forward two mainstream explanations: (1) The level of economic and cultural development of Africans is low, so the ability to appreciate film and television dramas is insufficient; (2) As a result of the segmentation of the global cultural market, European and American dramas have "occupied" the markets of mature countries, while other dramas such as Philippine dramas can only flow into the primary cultural market dominated by low-income groups. This view implies that Africans are actually helpless to choose Filipino dramas. However, the above-mentioned discriminatory views are clearly untenable.
Through field visits, it was found that compared with domestic audiences, African people have been influenced by the long-term influence of diversified film and television drama culture, and have a more inclusive attitude towards the film and television dramas introduced from various countries. For African audiences, whether it is a well-made American drama, an Indo-Pakistani drama with religious mythological overtones, or a Filipino drama that has been repeatedly criticized by the Chinese people, there is no so-called high or low. In their perception, Filipino dramas are chosen according to their own preferences, rather than "bargains" who are forced to choose. A Rwandan girl who is keen to watch film and television dramas from all over the world has a high ability to appreciate movies and television, she told us, "I think the American drama is too bloody and violent, it is all fighting and killing; I have also watched Chinese TV dramas, and the background of Xian Xia dramas is particularly beautiful and gorgeous; The clothes of the actors in the Indo-Pakistani drama are beautiful, and the background music is particularly good... Relatively speaking, I prefer Filipino dramas (because) the heroine is cool and beats the people who have hurt her step by step through her courage and hard work. ”
The coexistence of diverse film and television cultures in Africa can be described as "mixed" for domestic translation and production. Whether it is "Daughter-in-law", which has gained word-of-mouth reputation with the short-term support of the state, or "Thirty" and the Philippine drama "Brothers" under the leadership of the business model, they are all useful attempts of contemporary film and television media people. It is worth noting that the high-quality route chosen by the excellent film and television works "going out" has "unintentionally" made the audiences of the two countries identify with each other at the level of values such as filial piety and familyism while shaping the national image. In a sense, the reason why the Philippine drama "Brothers" has become a "blockbuster" is on the one hand due to the fact that StarTimes has continued the boutique route of national cultural exports, and also because the company has multilingual translation capabilities and professional market teams; On the other hand, Philippine film and television suppliers have increased the length of episodes and adjusted the plot design in a timely manner according to the feedback from overseas primary markets, which has successfully shaped the current movie-watching habits of African people. The experience of promoting Philippine drama shows that the long-standing gap between the domestic single-sided cultural production model and Africa's multicultural needs is the structural reason for the bottleneck of domestic dramas "going to sea" in Africa.
4. Reproduction and Outlook
A Rwandan brother bowed slightly and gave a hand-hugging salute, as if that seemed to him to be the case with the daily greetings of the Chinese. He half-jokingly imitates Bruce Lee's classic martial arts movements, telling his admiration for Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Zhen Zidan. When asked what he liked about Chinese movies, he used Chinese that he was not fluent enough to name movies such as "Plan A" and "Huang Feihong".
Stills from "Huang Feihong"
For many years, the influence of domestic kung fu films has spread all over Africa, and even many African people once thought that Chinese martial arts. It is precisely under the impetus of China's film and television forces that Chinese martial arts, dances, national songs, embroidery, etc. have landed, successfully setting off a "China fever" in Africa. In recent years, in order to highlight China's image as a modern economic power, sitcoms embodying metropolitan life have been heavily invested in the African market. The well-developed public transportation in domestic film and television dramas, the skyscrapers symbolizing modernity, and the actors wearing designer costumes highlight China's economic development achievements in the past four decades of reform and opening up, while also leaving a new stereotype for African people that Chinese are very rich. The new view of film and television culture is in an imperceptible way to the labor practices of Chinese businessmen who are engaged in transnational investment and infrastructure construction in Africa. The potential consequences of traditional and modern film and television discourse expression are unknown. However, there are still some questions worth pondering: as the capillaries of civilizational communication, how should the power of film and television be used? In today's anti-globalization momentum, what will the cross-border spread of film and television culture mean to the world economic structure?
Notes and references:
[1] StarTimes Group has more than 630 TV channels, including popular channels in Africa, well-known domestic and international channels, and StarTimes self-operated channels. In addition, StarTimes has successfully registered and established companies in more than 30 African countries such as Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania and carried out digital TV and Internet video operations, developing more than 40 million digital TV and Internet video users.
[2] Because Brazil was once a Portuguese colony, Brazilian drama was heavily influenced by Portuguese culture. Mozambique, which also belongs to the Portuguese colony, has a great recognition of drama in Mozambique.
Yan Chengsheng, 2013, A Preliminary Study on the Localization Strategy of Television External Communication: Taking "The Beautiful Age of Daughter-in-Law" in Africa as an Example, External Communication, No. 10.
Fu Shaowu and Cai Qinghui, 2014, The Inspiration of the TV Series "The Beautiful Age of the Daughter-in-Law" in Africa: On the Strategy and Path of Chinese TV Dramas Going Overseas, Contemporary TV, No. 2.
Shen Tongyang, 2021, "Other" Gaze and Empathy Strategy in the Cross-cultural Communication of Domestic Film and Television Dramas: Taking the TV Series "Thirty Only" as an Example, Science and Technology Communication, No. 5.
Department of International Cooperation of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, 2016, Film and Television Build a Bridge of Friendship, China and Africa Work Together to Seek Win-win Results - China-Africa Film and Television Exchange Achieves Fruitful Results, China Radio and Television Journal, No. 3.
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