Abstract
Weihua Wu’s Chinese Animation, Creative Industries, and Digital Culture analyses how the Chinese animation industry has transformed from its inception up to the present. Wu addresses two basic questions: (1) what kinds of structural transformations have occurred in Chinese animation and related areas, in the context of a globalized neoliberal society?; and (2) how do ongoing sociocultural transitions affect animation as a form of visual expression, and is it possible to develop a new, interdisciplinary cultural mechanism for studying animation, especially in the relationship between mainstream and subcultural expression and that between new media study and film theory (p. 6)? Taking an inter-disciplinary approach and using a wide range of literature from film studies, media studies, cultural studies, literature, and ethnography, Wu successfully maps out a dynamic picture of Chinese animation by locating it in the changing sociocultural context of socialism, capitalism, globalization, and digitalization.
The book includes an introduction, five chapters, and a conclusion. Each chapter discusses the development of Chinese animation along with associated sociocultural phenomena. Chapter 2 traces the historical background of Chinese animation at the emergence of the minzu (national) style discourse, which aimed to foster Chinese identity through adapting traditional art and literature to films in the 1950s and 1960s. Wu argues that meishu (literally fine art) films and the creators in the state-owned Shanghai Animation Studio (the Chinese School) played a key role in constructing a nationalist identity by conceptualizing the state’s cultural policies and transposing traditional visual culture into animation aesthetics.
Chapter 3 examines the rise and fall of the meishu films between 1976 and 1989. Wu first looks at the revival of meishu films after the Cultural Revolution, and the ways in which meishu films constituted the Chinese cultural identity through unique aesthetics and themes, and gained much attention from both local and international spectators. Wu also discusses the severe impact of the market economy and globalization on the state-owned animation production industry since the 1980s. The industry struggled to cope with the expansion of the national television network and competition with overseas animation from Japan and the United States. Chapter 4 examines Chinese animation production after 1989. Wu discusses the impact of computer-generated graphic animation and earlier experimental works in the 1990s, and examines the structural and aesthetic reform in the industry from an elite national aesthetic promoted by the state-owned studio production sector to less aesthetic, marketization-based television series.
The last two chapters look at the emerging forms of animation and their creators – Web-based Flash animators, online creators, and independent film-makers – and their impact on the animation industry. Wu argues that we must understand these new animation practices as part of the minjian (‘unofficial’, literally ‘among the people’) discourse along with the spread of digital image technology and the Internet. Chapter 5 offers a critical reflection of Flash animation production since the late 1990s, and traces its characteristics and trends. Wu argues that Flash in China has a symbolic meaning closely linked with a burgeoning youth subculture in cyberspace, and Flash animators are the most attractive visual narrators of China’s iGeneration. Chapter 6 analyses how independent animation has emerged, developed, and become diverse since 2000. Wu addresses its sociocultural significance as a form of resistance against mainstream state-controlled production and its styles. Yet he also points out that Chinese independent animation has been negotiating the aesthetic boundaries between mainstream and subcultural forms and seeking to open a new space, rather than uniformly rejecting mainstream styles.
Wu’s book is an impressive study of the animation industry and digital culture in China, documenting and analysing the wide range of animation works and primarily and secondarily sourced cultural and ethnographic texts. The book not only shows the author’s enthusiasm and respect for the animated works and their creators but also his insightful critique on processes of transformation in China’s cultural industry. I would, however, like to make a brief point about this admirable work. Though the last two chapters focus on Chinese independent animation and its creators as a new alternative force against mainstream institutionalized animation, I wonder whether mainstream animators are also seeking aesthetic alternatives beyond conventions, rather than simply being repetitive. For example, many leading Japanese animators used to make television series (Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Rintaro, Mamoru Oshii, Hideaki Anno, and Masaaki Yuasa, just to name a few). They have challenged conventions, and experimented with alternative aesthetics and narratives in their works, and have enriched anime’s aesthetics.
In short, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in China’s animation industry and digital culture as well as cultural studies and Chinese studies. It convincingly shows the importance of visual culture as a facilitator of sociocultural changes, and it provides a guide to how we can study visual culture.