When a beautiful daughter-in-law meets Africa: Translating Chinese films and television programmes for the African market

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haina Jin

There has been a long-standing cooperative relationship between the Chinese film industry and African film industries since the 1950s. In recent years, more and more Chinese film and television studios have sought to sell their products abroad, which has meant investing in translation. In order to project the image of a modern China with a rich cultural heritage, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) launched the ‘Sino-Africa Film and Television Cooperation Project’ to promote the translation and dissemination of Chinese films and television products in Africa. As a result, two models for this translation process have emerged: one government sponsored and one commercial. This article will use the translation of Chinese film and television programmes for Tanzania as a case study to analyse how each model is institutionally organized, their target audiences and approaches to distribution and the content of the resulting translations.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-221
Author(s):  
Stanley Rosen

Abstract China’s use of film to project soft power has been unsuccessful. However, the generation of soft power through its film industry is not China’s highest priority. The pursuit of soft power, including through film, is much more directed toward the domestic audience in China, reflecting the greater importance of political and social stability, along with ensuring the patriotism of youth. Moreover, given the origins of the soft power concept and the methodologies used to evaluate countries on a soft power scale, countries that are not liberal democracies will never be able to score high on any soft power ranking. Using empirical data such as box office figures, and Chinese and Western media sources, it will be shown that the lack of success of Chinese films in overseas markets stems in part from structural reasons beyond China’s control, but also in part because of decisions made by Chinese state officials and the filmmakers themselves.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-113
Author(s):  
Helena Casas-Tost ◽  
Sandra Bustins

Pivot translations are very often used in film festivals, but have been granted little consideration from an academic viewpoint. This article analyses the role of pivot languages in audiovisual translation within the framework of Asian film festivals held in Catalonia. There are three aims of this paper: (i) to examine to what extent pivot translations are part of the translation process in films screened in such festivals, (ii) to determine the justifications for their use, and (iii) to analyse the effects of their use from a qualitative perspective. In order to do so, the answers from a questionnaire distributed among the most relevant agents in Asian film festivals in Catalonia will be analysed. Additionally, the Chinese film Old Stone by Johnny Ma that has been translated into and subtitled in Catalan through English as its pivot language, will be presented as a case study. Lay abstract The use of a third language or pivot translation is widespread in film festivals, although very few studies focus on this practice, which usually remains unnoticed by the average spectator. This article seeks to examine just how common this phenomenon is in film festivals and to analyse its impact with a case study, taking the Chinese film Old Stone by Johnny Ma and its translation into Catalan as an example. More precisely, the article aims to answer two questions regarding the use of pivot languages in audiovisual translation. Firstly, to what extent and for what exact purpose are pivot translations currently being used in Asian film festivals in Catalonia? Secondly, how does using a pivot language, in our case English, affect quality?


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiying Peng

This China–US case study describes the negotiation between Chinese consumer demand and the growing Chinese market for cinema, the Chinese film industry’s aspiration for international success and domestic development, the Chinese government’s soft power ambitions and the largest and most successful film industry in the world – Hollywood. This article gives a brief look at the Sino-US film coproduction history, examines the root reason for the phenomena of ‘fake’ coproduction and analyses the challenges that hurdle the deep cooperation (‘real’ coproduction) process.


Inner Asia ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-234
Author(s):  
Robert Barnett

AbstractA film, a television series, four plays and an opera have been produced in China since 1997 dramatising the invasion of Tibet by the British in 1903 04. These works were part of an official effort to enhance patriotic spirit among Chinese and Tibetan people through historical example, as well as an attempt to represent Tibetans as participants in a broader Chinese resistance to Western aggression and humiliation. They coincided with an official call for film-makers to make propaganda more appealing and a decisive turn in Chinese cinema towards commercialised films and Hollywood-style narrative. The paper contextualises these dramatisations and their ideological features within the history of Tibetan representations in Chinese film and television dramas, and discusses foreign critiques of the most influential of the dramatisations of the Younghusband expedition, Feng Xiaonings 1997 film Honghegu (Red River Valley). It notes difficulties with criticisms about the lack of accuracy in these Chinese films, discusses several ways in which they match the historical record, and compares them with the little-known television series Jiangzi 1904.


Author(s):  
Sarah Atkinson

From Film Practice to Data Process critically examines the practices of independent digital feature filmmaking in contemporary Britain. The business of conventional feature filmmaking is like no other, in that it assembles a huge company of people from a range of disciplines on a temporary basis, all to engage in the collaborative endeavour of producing a unique, one-off piece of work. The book explicitly interrogates what is happening at the frontiers of contemporary ‘digital film’ production at a key transitional moment in 2012, when both the film industry and film-production practices were situated between the two distinct medium polarities of film and digital. With an in-depth case study of Sally Potter’s 2012 film Ginger & Rosa, drawing upon interviews with international film industry practitioners, From Film Practice to Data Process is an examination of film production in its totality, in a moment of profound change.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-94
Author(s):  
Marcin Ptasznik

Approaches to marketing actions in culture are exhibiting rising significance in the modern dynamically changing environment. This paper is focused on the identification of possible applications of marketing in the sphere of culture, with particular reference to the film industry, field of operations of the New Horizons Association. The author’s research was based on a literature study, participant observation, and an online questionnaire, enabling creation of a case study on the New Horizons Association. Empiri-cal research allowed for exploration of the perception of marketing actions of this organization, as well as identifying possible directions for its development. Changes in the needs of modern consumers are related to ongoing virtualization and globalization of culture, and allow for academic discussion about the future of innovative cultural institutions and audio-visual ventures, including within the context of the current global coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089124322110003
Author(s):  
Laura K. NelsoN ◽  
Kathrin Zippel

Implicit bias is one of the most successful cases in recent memory of an academic concept being translated into practice. Its use in the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program—which seeks to promote gender equality in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) careers through institutional transformation—has raised fundamental questions about organizational change. How do advocates translate theories into practice? What makes some concepts more tractable than others? What happens to theories through this translation process? We explore these questions using the ADVANCE program as a case study. Using an inductive, theory-building approach and combination of computational and qualitative methods, we investigate how the concept of implicit bias was translated into practice through the ADVANCE program and identify five key features that made implicit bias useful as a change framework in the academic STEM setting. We find that the concept of implicit bias works programmatically because it is (1) demonstrable, (2) relatable, (3) versatile, (4) actionable, and (5) impartial. While enabling the concept’s diffusion, these characteristics also limit its scope. We reflect on implications for gender theories of organizational change and for practitioners.


SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402098330
Author(s):  
Chi-Wei Su ◽  
Lu Liu ◽  
Kai-Hua Wang

This article investigates bubbles in the Chinese film industry to reveal the industry’s boom and bust process that influences employment, citizen’s livelihoods, and even economic growth. We adopt the film stock index to reflect the industry’s trajectory and employ the generalized and backward sup augmented Dickey–Fuller tests to detect bubble periods. Empirical results indicate that there are three positive bubbles in 2007, 2013, and 2015, indicating that the film market continues to expand after temporary frustrations. Meanwhile, one negative bubble is found in 2019, which demonstrates that the bubble’s negative impacts persist and the film industry is still having problems such as declining industrial output. Economic growth, film quality, and industrial policies are common factors for all bubbles. The global financial crisis, capital in- and outflows, internet giants’ entry and sky-high remuneration are reasons for certain bubble behaviors. Hence, market practitioners should actively recognize bubbles and observe their evolution, which will favor industrial stabilization. A perfect legal system, moderate industrial policies, a competitive market environment, and other measures are needed to confront the opportunities and challenges.


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