Volume 4, Issue 3 - Thematic Issue: Games and Gaming in Chinese and Sinophone Cinema; Guest Editors: Li Guo, Douglas Eyman and Hongmei Sun

Relatively few scholarly works or research publications in English have taken up the question of the relationship between Chinese cinema and Chinese games, a topic that is ripe for exploration and the focus of this special issue. There are key related works that focus on transmedia storytelling and the cross-media development of Chinese intellectual properties (IPs), as well as rich literature on literature-to-film and literature-to-game adaptations. In this introduction, we’ll first review the extant literature on games, films, and interactivity in Chinese cinema and then provide a historical overview of the development of English-language scholarship on games and film interconnections. The introduction finishes with an overview of the works in this special issue and their contributions to this area of research.

This article proposes a phenomenological and critical analysis of the film, Madame Pirate: Becoming a Legend , written and directed by Morgan Ommer and Huang Dan-Chi (Taiwan: Serendipity Films 綺影映畫, 2022, VR360, 17 min), with the goal of encouraging more comparative analyses of narrative paradigms expressed through virtual reality. Particular attention will be paid to the sound aspect in Madame Pirate , which is foundational in establishing a sense of presence for the viewer. Following a discussion of theoretical framing for virtual reality production, the author presents an experiential report of her experience of Madame Pirate , focusing on how sound influences the sense of presence, directs the viewer’s gaze, and steers the narrative.

This article examines the Taiwanese video game Detention (Fanxiao 返校, 2017) and its namesake film and television series adaptations, each of which has achieved critical acclaim and commercial success. Despite the franchise’s preoccupation with the history of the White Terror, this article argues that the video game’s theme of “memory as remedy” – a crucial discourse in the quest for transitional justice in contemporary Taiwan – has been diluted rather than preserved in the process of transmedia adaptation and franchise-building. Through a close-playing of the game and close-readings of the film and TV series, I demonstrate that the transmedia development of Detention is not always unified and coordinated, but rather filled with contradictions and incongruities that lead to the displacement of historical trauma. These divergent narratives reveal how the White Terror remains contested terrain in contemporary Taiwan. Dominated by the managerial logic of media franchising, a confluence of social, political, and economic factors has made Detention a unique case for contemplating transmedia storytelling in the age of convergence culture.

By positioning the camera as a central non-human actant, this study invites a comparison between the cinematic space in An Elephant Sitting Still and game space in video games. It argues that the video game experience and research on game world-building provides a novel perspective to re-examine the conventional relationship between spectators and characters in films as resembling the interactivity between players and avatars in video games. This study shows how the film’s use of depth of field isolates its human protagonists from the antagonists, and then how the camera’s movement, namely close tracking shots, alters both the portrayal of antagonists and, more crucially, reshapes the protagonists into “figureless avatars.” Ultimately, the article explores the potential for convergence between film and video game aesthetics, proposing an alternate video game ideology to allow an expanded theoretical framework that transcends the social realism often applied in Chinese film studies.

Jade Dynasty (Zhuxian) emerged as one of the pioneering and most celebrated online novels of the early 2000s in China. First serialized online in mainland China around 2002 and later published as a book series in Taiwan between 2003 and 2007, JD has been expansively adapted across various media forms, including video games (from 2007 to the present), TV dramas (2016), films (2019), and animation series (starting from 2022). Scholars acknowledge it as a pioneer in the transmedia adaptation of Chinese online novels, highlighting its significant IP (intellectual property) impact. In the realm of transmedia storytelling, scholars have pointed out different production modes, including media convergence, media mix, and “affective modules” regulated by digital platforms. Referring to the emphasis on media connections made in the studies of media mix and the issue of intermediality indicated in IP, this paper investigates the digital media ecology manifested in the transmedia system of the Jade Dynasty . By examining the online fantasy novel in the early 2000s, the video game in the mid-2000s, and the animation series in the 2020s, this study argues that each stage represents significant turning points in the contemporary Chinese digital media industry.

This article discusses and explores acclaimed new media artist Huang Hsin-Chien’s virtual reality (VR) experience Bodyless (Shishenji, 2019). In this film, through the process of the body illusion or the body replacement program, a component specific to VR, viewers embody the soul of a political prisoner deceased during Taiwan’s martial law era. Bodyless juxtaposes Taiwan’s traditional spiritual traditions with references to the Ghost Festival (中元節) and includes a dystopic vision of the future that appears towards the end of the film. This article establishes, through a close reading of several key sequences of the film, the emergence of a techno-hauntological aesthetic. It creates a dialogue between Huang’s dream-like imagery and various interpretation of Bliss Cua Lim’s concepts of immiscible time and heterogeneous space. How does Bodyless visually enact, perform, and develop a techno-hauntological aesthetic? How does the artist explore philosophical concepts related to memory, time, and space by using VR?

This article examines Reset (逆时营救, 2017), a Chinese science fiction film that diverges from the genre’s typical patriotic themes. Reset offers a compelling case study for exploring technoscience’s impact – as a tool of corporate biopower and neocolonialism – on human corporeality, subjectivity, and female agency. The film’s protagonist, Xia Tian, transforms from a career-focused scientist to time-traveling cyborgs, ultimately reverting to a traditional maternal role. Analyzing this trajectory through Foucault’s biopower, Haraway’s cyborg feminism, and contemporary theories on reproductive futurism and sacrificial motherhood, the study unveils Reset’s function as an allegorical lens. It magnifies the effects of global corporate biopower on human subjectivity, particularly female agency amid apocalyptic upheavals. Xia Tian’s journey illustrates the complexities professional women face in balancing career and family, reflecting broader societal issues and mirroring Chinese cultural imperatives that simultaneously valorize motherhood and women’s workforce participation. Reset performs a double movement: introducing alternative forms of womanhood via cyborg iterations while framing these as incompatible with the envisaged societal future. This paradox highlights the film’s ambiguous stance, critiquing neocolonial capitalism’s manipulation of human bodies while exhibiting a conservative approach to gender roles.

This paper explores the complex portrayal of gender and identity in Cheng Wai-ho’s 2021 science fiction mystery, The Soul . Set in a near-future grappling with RNA-based memory transfer and gender reassignment, the film intertwines technological advancements with social issues like tongqi , marriage trafficking, and transgender representation. Utilizing theories by Prosser, Stryker, and Salamon, the analysis examines how the film depicts transgender characters Wang Shicong and Prosecutor Liang, focusing on their experiences within a system of power dynamics and the exploitation of vulnerable groups. By contrasting the mainland and uncut Netflix versions, the paper delves into the boundaries of Chinese censorship regarding LGBTQ+ themes. This study argues that while The Soul challenges heteronormativity and reveals the complexities of intersectional identities, it also offers opportunities for further critique of its limitations in representation. The film’s contribution to Chinese cinema lies in advancing conversations on gender and sexuality while highlighting the need for social reform.

Over the last century, despite the orientation toward superficial entertainment, Hong Kong films have, at different dimensions, been deeply connected with the mainstream Chinese culture. In terms of value orientation, and since the very beginning of their formation, Hong Kong films have upheld Confucian culture and Lingnan culture as their spiritual core, seeking the cultural pursuit of “guiding people to be good and to seek an upward-oriented ethics” while focusing on the presentation of daily civilian life. Some representative Hong Kong filmmakers, deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture, have pursued classical images that, for overseas Chinese audiences, stimulate nostalgic thoughts for their motherland. The creative use of traditional Chinese opera elements and folk music also highlights another link between Hong Kong films and Chinese culture. These valuable experiences, inherited from traditional Chinese culture, constitute a unique aesthetic paradigm in Hong Kong films.

The goal of transforming China into a country with leading cinematic strength has long been proposed, yet the criteria for defining a country with leading cinematic strength have remained unclear. Drawing from the current global film industry structure and evaluation systems for strength in other fields, the evaluation system of global cinematic strength should encompass the two primary indicators of domestic and international influence, six secondary indicators, such as industry base and scale, and twenty tertiary indicators, such as the number of cinemas and screens and film production. Under this evaluation system, only the United States currently qualifies as a country with leading cinematic strength, while China and India show a potential for development. China should enhance support for young filmmakers, increase overseas promotion, and position itself as a key target market for films from developing countries to facilitate its transformation from a major film country to a country with leading cinematic strength.

In this interview, director Jia Zhangke shares the background and thought process behind his latest documentary Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue (Yizhi Youdao Haishui Bianlan, 2021). Through the lens of rural literature, the film narrates 70 years of China’s social changes since 1949, featuring four writers – Jia Pingwa, Yu Hua, Liang Hong, and Duan Huifang, the daughter of Ma Feng – as the storytellers. The film explores the evolving relationship between urban and rural China and individual life experiences across different historical periods. Jia Zhangke emphasizes that the hometown is not only the starting point of creation but also a spiritual destination. He discusses the cultural value of dialects and traditional opera, highlighting that cinema should convey core Chinese stories through local narratives to preserve societal memory.