Questions on Chinese cinema and 'Hero'

1. Popular National Cinema & Globalization: China – Study Group Tasks
These are the tasks you should work through during this week’s study group.
We will not refer directly to all of these questions in the seminar. Instead, you should view
this as an opportunity to apply what you have learnt so far, from the lecture and the
reading.
What you talk about in the study group should hopefully feed into our discussion during the
seminar, so you may want to note down some of the points you have raised.
Task 1: On your own
Read and highlight/annotate the attached article from the Wall Street Journal.
Task 2: In small groups
Referring to this week’s reading and the article you have just read, discuss the following
questions:
1. What changes have occurred in the Chinese film industry since the 1990s?
a. At the level of production? (e.g. types of films made, personnel etc)
b. At the level of distribution? (e.g. What kinds of films are distributed in China? By
whom?)
c. At the level of exhibition? (e.g. How and where are films consumed? What kinds
of films are successful at the box office?)
2. How are these changes connected to more general social, cultural and economic shifts in
China?
3. How has the American film industry responded to the growing importance of
international markets?
a. What strategies are being used to attract an international audience?
b. How has this affected the kinds of films being made by Hollywood?
4. Why do you think the blockbuster has become the dominant form of ‘transnational’
cinema?
5. What do the examples given in the reading tell us about the nature of power relations
within the global cinema market?
a. How is cinema connected to wider economic and political issues?