Chinese Soft Power and Media Discussion and Updates

Bellum_Romanum

Brigadier
Registered Member
And Japan actually did go out of its way to appeal to the world. One of the first succesful overseas anime was an adaptation of Heidi. Plus at this point, mentioning how so many Japanese anime and video game characters are either White or racially ambiguous is beating a dead horse.

Its only after this attraction was built that Americans learned to love Japanese culture and portrayed Japanese culture itself with media like Shogun and Ghost of Tsushima more authentically than Japan ever has.
Are you serious? We're just going to dismiss the legendary director of the Samurai Seven - Akira Kurosawa.

We shouldn't be dismissive of Japanese cultural efforts in promoting their own Heritage globally just because their live action film industry has been largely overshadowed by the much recognized and better known medium that is Japanese Anime.
 

TPenglake

Junior Member
Registered Member
Are you serious? We're just going to dismiss the legendary director of the Samurai Seven - Akira Kurosawa.

We shouldn't be dismissive of Japanese cultural efforts in promoting their own Heritage globally just because their live action film industry has been largely overshadowed by the much recognized and better known medium that is Japanese Anime.
Kurosawa is only really famous amongst film buffs and serious Japanophiles. I'm not talking about his skills as a filmmaker, I'm talking of popularity and cultural promotion. In that respect, you can't deny Shogun and even The Last Samurai played way bigger rolls in making Japan a sexy tourist destination for Westerners than Seven Samurai.

One can even argue that HK Kung Fu cinema had a bigger cultural impact in the US than Japanese Samurai films of the 50s-60s did.
 

4Tran

Junior Member
Registered Member
Chinese media isn't going to get more popular in other countries because they start catering to Western audiences. Chinese media companies simply aren't good at that and their efforts are just going to look pathetic. Just look at all the Hollywood productions that were aimed directly at Chinese audiences - they all missed their mark badly because they didn't know what they were doing.

It's better to simply continue doing what these are good at. Plenty of Chinese media has gained popularity in Southeast Asia and other places without having to compromise. Sure, a lot of it is because these places have a lot of Chinese diaspora, but if the quality wasn't there, then they wouldn't have gotten popular. My take is that if the quality is there, the material will be able to find new audiences. And if the quality isn't there then it doesn't deserve to.

Also, I'd note that Chinese media gaining popularity overseas doesn't have to mean popularity in the West specifically. Sure, this might be the ideal goal, but China faces a lot more obstacles to this than other countries do, and it's possibly more valuable to be successful in other regions. For example, China gaining soft power in Southeast Asia or the Middle East might be more meaningful than doing so in Europe.
 
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