It seems like it's time to talk about it.
ReelShort, written by Sir, puts the domestic boss on the shell of an American drama and harvests the overseas market, allowing us to see that the local flavor is the world.
Liu Cixin's "Three-Body Problem" copyright was sold overseas, and after it was launched on Netflix, it was the first hit in many regions, and the English version of the "Three-Body Problem" book landed at the top of Amazon's science fiction list.
Jia Ling posted a photo with Wu Yanzu.
It turned out that the copyright of "Hello, Li Huanying" was bought by Sony and was about to be adapted into the American version, and Jia Ling's trip was to go to Sony to guide the filming of "Li Huanying".
These three things don't seem to be related
But if you think about it, isn't it all:
Film and television go to sea.
No matter what form it takes, whether it's a skit or an adaptation.
There is a more straightforward one:
Domestic films have appeared on the big screen overseas.
"Fengshen", "Flying Life 2" and "Mr. Red Carpet" were released during the Chinese New Year to create an overseas version of the Spring Festival, and "Article 20", "Deep Sea" and "Hot and Hot" have also been released overseas since mid-to-late February.
It's time to talk about that topic as well.
Chinese people are always looking forward to this, and they are very sensitive, and it has been repeatedly mentioned today:
Cultural export . .
Maybe it doesn't need to be so serious.
It is:
What kind of story we want to tell the world.
How we want others to perceive us.
And how far we've come.
01
Good news comes frequently.
"Flying Life 2" won the box office championship of the 2024 Spring Festival Chinese film in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and it is said that the entrance and aisles of Canadian cinemas are crowded with people.
"The Gods" covered 140 theaters in France, screened nearly 500 times, and was released for only two days, temporarily ranking first in Europe at the single-day box office, breaking the record for the early release of Max Linder, one of the most famous independent cinemas in Paris since the epidemic.
"Deep Sea", which was also released in France, broke the record for the number of screenings of Chinese animated films in France, with more than 150,000 viewers, setting a new record for the highest number of Chinese films in France in the past three years.
In its first week of overseas release, "Article 20" topped the global weekend box office, while "Hot and Hot" made it to the North American box office, earning $840,000 on 200 screens.
Words such as "champion", "summit" and "record-breaking", soaring box office data and festive battle reports are superimposed, and it is easy to make people hallucinate:
A proper wave of Chinese cultural exports gave foreigners a little shock.
Was it shocked?
But a calm analysis is not as good as expected.
Data speaks.
On IMDb, 3,700 people gave "Fengshen" a 6.8 rating, 1,800 people gave "Deep Sea" a 6.8 rating, and 1,500 people gave "Hot and Hot" a 6.9 rating.
The number of people who rated "Flying Life 2" (7.2) and "Article 20" (6.9) were 510 and 399 respectively.
From this, you can see how many overseas fans the movie actually radiates.
In addition, the ambiguous question is, how many overseas audiences who enter the cinema to watch domestic films are Chinese and international students, and how many are real foreigners?
At present, except for "Fengshen", there are no clear official statistics for other domestic films going overseas.
Based on the relevant information from previous years, we can deduce the clues.
Whether it is the academic paper "2003-2017: Overseas Commercial Distribution of Chinese Films" in 2018, or the report of "China Film News" at the end of 2022, or the interview with China Film Group in the "Global Times" in October last year.
They all clearly pointed out that the main audience for domestic films going overseas is the local Chinese.
In such a situation, it may not be a real cultural export.
More like "screen output":
Move the domestic big screen to overseas Chinese, so that they can see domestic films.
The same is true in the lively domestic dramas going to sea.
"Langya Bang", the so-called "winning the Korean monthly ratings champion".
In fact, it won the champion of the month on a Korean station, Chunghwa TV, a TV station that specializes in paying local Chinese to watch.
This has become the domestic network's "Chinese TV dramas are driving South Korea's 'Han Wave'".
It is easy for culture to go to sea.
It's hard to keep it and play loudly.
02
What does it mean to be a successful and effective cultural export?
It's hard to say what the box office, hot searches, topicality, and clicks are.
Sir has a simple standard:
Has it formed a business card and left a memory in the hearts of foreign people?
At the beginning of March, an old foreign man swiped the screen.
Akira Toriyama, who passed away due to illness, his "Dragon Ball" and "Aralei" accompanied countless post-80s and post-90s generations through their childhood, and fans around the world held commemorative activities.
Even if you haven't watched Akira Toriyama's animation, you will go around and see traces of Akira Toriyama in Hong Kong films.
Turtle school qigong helped Tang Bohu to embrace the beauty.
Super Saya hairstyle, Wu Junru has been played, and Zhang Weijian has also been dressed.
In April, another foreign old man's movie was about to be released, and everyone rushed to cheer: I could finally watch it.
Hayao Miyazaki's "Sealed Works", "What Life Do You Want to Live" (and the re-screening of "Howl's Moving Castle").
and the new sequel to the childhood IP "Digimon 02" hidden in the corner, although I know that a new person will appear, I can't help but contribute movie tickets to the old faces who flash by.
And they are just a few pearls in the childhood memories of the post-80s and 90s, and if you count them carefully, there are a lot of them.
Anime and two-dimensional have become a well-known business card of Japanese pop culture to Chinese audiences (and even world audiences).
South Korea has also distributed business cards to the world audience, and even has a proprietary term recognized at home and abroad, "Hallyu".
K-pop idol culture has set off a "fan culture" among young people.
Korean idol dramas, there is always a "love brain" that hits you.
Korean films take the route of bold, daring, exciting, and large-scale.
Even Thai film and television dramas have left an impressive cultural business card on Chinese audiences, "screaming chicken", or making others "screaming chicken".
Domestic film and television also have such cultural business cards.
Let's not talk about the kung fu business cards of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li and others, nor the Chinese movie business cards of Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Ang Lee's generation.
Let's just say a piece of news that Sir saw during the Spring Festival, #台湾过年马拉松式连播甄嬛传#.
If you talk about other film and television dramas, they all go out to "make money".
And "The Legend of Zhen Huan" is a real fire.
"The Legend of Zhen Huan" is a meaningful cultural symbol in Taiwanese entertainment.
Before the broadcast of "The Legend of Zhen Huan", the Taiwan puppets had unlimited scenery on both sides of the strait; after the broadcast of "The Legend of Zhen Huan", mainland costume dramas entered the field of vision of Taiwanese audiences and actors.
Taiwanese puppet actors such as Mingdao and Chen Qiaoen have gone to the mainland to make films, resulting in the outflow of Taiwanese entertainment talents, and mainland costume dramas continue to be exported, and in 2015, "The Legend of Wu Meiniang" became Taiwan's annual ratings champion.
It is no exaggeration to say that "The Legend of Zhen Huan" allowed Taiwan Entertainment to see the unique development potential of mainland film and television for the first time: a costume drama intertwined with power and love.
And the investment and production volume of mainland TV dramas are unimaginable for Taiwanese film and television dramas.
This cross-strait exchange is also like the epitome of domestic film and television going to sea:
It's always the costume collection that knocks on the other door.
Just like Netflix's earliest domestic drama broadcast in the form of a fee, it is "The Legend of Zhen Huan".
An important direction for domestic film and television dramas to go overseas is Southeast Asia.
And Southeast Asian audiences' favorite Chinese dramas are also ancient puppets.
△ The top three most popular Chinese dramas on the Thai video platform MONOMAX
In 2019, the cool drama mode of "Yanxi Raiders" became popular all over the world, ranking first on the hot search list of Google TV dramas, and what followed was the most restrictive ancient order.
Costume dramas have not had time to grow, explore, and develop, and they have already aged prematurely, and can only be reduced to the cloak of sweet pet sadomasochism in the logic of modern couples, lacking the cultural connotation of the Chinese grand view of history and fate.
△ "Golden Branches", "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "Step by Step"
However, behind the success and effectiveness of cultural business cards, the concerted efforts of the upstream, midstream and downstream of culture-exporting countries are needed.
Upstream, is an effective policy support.
The starting point of the rise of Korean cinema was precisely after the second revision of the Film Promotion Act at the turn of the millennium.
An important article in this revision has laid the main tone of "Korean Films Dare to Shoot":
The censorship system was abolished and the grading system was replaced.
1. "For All": Movies that can be watched by audiences of all ages.
2. "Suitable for audiences over 12 years old": Movies that cannot be watched by audiences under 12 years old.
3. "Suitable for audiences over 15 years old": Movies that cannot be watched by audiences under 15 years old.
4. "Suitable for audiences over 18 years old": Movies that cannot be watched by audiences under the age of 18 (hereinafter referred to as "minors").
5. "Restricted screening": Films that require certain restrictions for screening, advertising, and publicity.
- The second revision of the Korean Film Promotion Act in 2000
Midstream is a masterpiece produced by the local film and television industry.
Hong Kong film and television's "everything is over-the-top and crazy" is that everyone who enters the creation is dedicated and dedicated.
At the beginning of the year, "Flowers" was broadcast, and Wong Kar-wai became the "big devil of rectifying domestic entertainment".
Xin Zhilei killed 4 times just after the finale, Dong Yong shot 30 in one shot, and the old man You Benchang lost a lot of weight than before he joined the crew.
But this is a common thing for Hong Kong actors.
Tony Leung filmed "In the Mood for Love" and ate 26 bowls of wontons for one scene, and Jacky Cheung performed an expression more than 60 times, and finally only got a sentence "Forget it".
Even Lin Qingxia and Maggie Cheung have to experience beating in a down-to-earth manner.
This has also created a situation in which Hong Kong films dominate in cultural exports.
In "Please Answer 1988", the opening scene is for everyone to watch "The True Colors of Heroes 2" together.
Deshan's two best friends are called "Maggie Cheung" and "Wang Zuxian".
And today?
It is Korean films that have come to the world stage, and they can confidently say that it is a good local work that has been seen by the world.
Yes, in the past two years, there has been no shortage of domestic films and television hits and masterpieces.
It's just that at the moment when crazy dramas are rampant and the market is short, do we still have the confidence to believe that domestic masterpieces are not short-lived, but endless and endless?
And the downstream of cultural going overseas also needs to allow "offended" audiences who embrace the real real world.
In the Korean film "Joint Security Area", there is a detail.
The North Korean soldier played by "Uncle Cake" Song Kang-ho is enjoying a chocolate chip cake made in South Korea.
South Korean soldier Lee so-hyuk (played by Lee Byung-hun) saw it and asked him:
Maybe you want to defect from North Korea?
When Song Kanghao heard this, he immediately spit out the chocolate cake that he hadn't swallowed yet.
But after a while, the gluttonous worm "defeated" the national righteousness, and he stuffed the saliva-stained chocolate cake in his mouth again:
Our republic
In the future, the best sweets on the Korean Peninsula will be produced
And before that
I'm going to eat chocolate chip cookies like this
On the surface.
This is a satire on the fragile self-esteem of North Koreans, who are still stubborn despite the lack of materials.
In fact.
Director Park Chan-wook doesn't stand at anyone.
"My film is actually trying to knock on the excessive nationalist tendencies of Koreans. ”
Here's what's intriguing:
When cultural export meets nationalism, is it good or bad?
03
In "The Three-Body Problem", Liu Cixin proposed an ultimate law for the operation of the entire cosmic sociology, the law of the dark forest.
Different civilizations attack each other, live and die, spare no effort to eliminate others, and defend everything they do to defend themselves.
But the cultural export that works today is the exact opposite of this theory that many people believe.
Those cultures with the most spreading power are often not showing their own strength, but satisfying each other.
For example, K-pop and Korean girl groups.
Do you see it to receive Korean culture?
Anyway, for a layman like Sir, all I care about is pleasing to the eye.
Speaking of Akira Toriyama, who passed away not long ago, is his manga spreading the core values of Japanese culture?
In "Dragon Ball", Monkey King, Tianjin rice, and dumplings are all Chinese elements.
Fans around the world can't tell what "pure Japanese culture" is, they are just attracted by the wonderful manga.
So, the term "cultural export" gives us a misleading one:
It seems that it is necessary to promote orthodox culture and pure thought.
Otherwise, it is not considered a successful output.
Sir remembered one thing.
At the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Zhang Yimou conquered the world audience with a grand visual feast and conveyed the unique charm of China:
Movable type printing, Chinese painting, Kunqu opera culture......
It is undeniable that Zhang Yimou successfully completed his mission.
But then one thing made him reflect.
After the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, there was also the "London 8 Minutes" – an early appearance for London, the host city of the next 2012 Olympic Games
On that stage.
Beckham is on the scene, with London's red double-decker buses, with African-American and Indian-descendant communities, with pop music.
Let Zhang Yimou sigh:
Why don't people have a traditional thing?
There are no British historical symbols we know best: Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Shakespeare, the Knights of the Round Table, Newton under the apple tree, the first industrial revolution......
It turns out that the modern, mixed, and not "high" culture can also represent London.
They don't mind exporting such a culture to the world.
And today, we are asking for output on one side.
But he always believes that "purity" is more important than output.
One of the most Chinese Hollywood IPs, Kung Fu + Panda, was widely popular in both China and the United States when it was released in 2008.
Many today are lamenting:
"Pity our Chinese culture...... It's been consumed by entertainment again......"
The first Hollywood film "The Joy Luck Club" with an all-Asian cast is adapted from the autobiographical novel of Chinese Tan Enmei.
She uses her own experience and family feelings to show the alternation between the old and the new, the cultural conflict, and the understanding between the first and second generations of Chinese immigrants, but she is ridiculed:
"If you don't understand Chinese culture, don't shoot randomly. ”
"Kneeling to make a movie. ”
Even as soon as there is a stir, the picks and complaints based on the national cultural position will dance in the wind.
After Liu Yuling announced the start of filming of "Meisheng Chinese", the unanimous reaction of netizens was:
"Just don't destroy myths. ”
"Whoever cares, it's all for ABC. ”
Even domestic IP going overseas has become a sensitive muscle of national sentiment.
"The World" was officially announced to be bought by Disney+, and the most popular voice on the Internet was not congratulations, but accused Disney of being unkind and wanting to see China dilapidated and old:
After the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" was broadcast, its encounter in the domestic public opinion field formed a closed loop with the law of the dark forest in the book:
Some viewers stop and look at it for the purpose of judging whether the concepts, perspectives and cultural traditions of others are in accordance with our own rules.
Finally, cut to the core:
"The United States stole the story of the Chinese. ”
"Netflix just doesn't understand Chinese culture. ”
Cultural going overseas has become another scrutiny, provocation and quarrel.
But the author Liu Cixin will wonder in the interview:
Is this really just a Chinese story? I want to tell a story about all of humanity.
△ Liu Cixin was interviewed by The Guardian
Perhaps many people insist that the Netflix version of "The Three-Body Problem" has deviated from the original work in their hearts after it was changed, sexually transformed, "politically correct", and replaced with American values.
This can only be regarded as an American drama.
It has nothing to do with Chinese culture.
But the question is, what kind of culture has spread to other countries and can (need) to remain completely pure?
The Japanese sushi you eat on the street may not be authentic, KFC will also introduce Chinese dishes such as snail noodles, and does the Thailand that frequently appears in domestic films fully reflect the real Thailand?
And there are ironic.
Last year's Halloween, young people used humor and self-deprecation to stage a big cosplay on the streets.
There are fake Xiang Tai, there are "this Ying" who has both god and form, and there are cos Party B and three children
There is neither the jack-o-lantern, the most typical symbol of Halloween, nor trick or treat.
It's all about a spontaneous carnival of young people in the name of Halloween.
But the result?
Opposition voices have always said:
This is a "cultural invasion".
This is the most laughable inequality:
Unorthodox Halloween is still Halloween.
But unorthodox Chinese culture is no longer Chinese culture.
Halloween, appropriated by the Chinese, is still an invasion.
But the Chinese IP that has been adapted by Hollywood is not an export at all.
As long as culture spreads, there will be translation, deviation, and integration.
People who pursue "purity" excessively are in fact refusing to communicate.
And a culture can radiate to the whole world, not necessarily because of its own uniqueness, but because of its universality
Let's just say that in recent years, Korean movies that have impressed the old Hollywood
In 2020, "Parasite" won the Oscar for Best Picture.
Do you see nothing but Korean society in it?
What "Parasite" wants to show is not that "there is a country like this", but that under the structural problems of society, people can only live as parasites.
This is a social development dilemma that concerns all mankind.
The popular "Squid Game" also exposed South Korea's economic downturn, class division, social injustice and other problems.
But these problems are also pain points for global audiences.
Did you find out?
The story that can really go to the eyes of foreign audiences and explode all over the world is definitely not only about telling the story of a certain nation or a certain country.
It is to dig out the common divisor of human culture in a certain nation and a certain country, so as to hit the hearts of more audiences of different cultures.
Perhaps we can also go back and relive what Chen Chong, who was criticized for "hurting national feelings", said at the Oscars.
In 1988, "The Last Emperor" swept nine Oscars, and Zunlong and Chen Chong appeared on the Oscar podium together.
This is an unprecedented highlight moment for Chinese actors in Hollywood, a vanity fair.
Zunlong and Chen Chong say a word to me, depicting a future utopia: I don't think "The Last Emperor" should be classified as a "Chinese film".
Because the production company is American, the director is Italian, the producer is British, and the soundtrack is written by a Japanese, a Chinese and an American rock singer.
So, it's the world.
The world is still that big.
The road to the world is still so far.
Where our culture can go, in fact, it also depends on where our hearts can be open.
The picture in this article comes from the Internet
Editorial Assistant: Unruly Eight Treasures