When State-Endorsed Cinema Meets Marvel
A Study of Wolf Warrior II’s Global Superhero Vernacular
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21974902 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lilian Kong (University of Chicago, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 252 |
| Publication date | 2023-12-13 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Arts (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2076-0752 • E-ISSN: 2076-0752 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/arts12060252 |
| OpenAlex | W4389669943 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
Chinese state-endorsed films have transformed in the past decade. These films make up the “new mainstream”, a genre defined by its ability to match strides with Hollywood commercial cinema. But, what exactly comprises Hollywood’s impact on official Chinese media? How does it manifest onscreen? Exploring the relationship between state-endorsed blockbusters and Hollywood, this article analyzes a pioneer of the “new mainstream”, Wolf Warrior II (2017). This film stands out as the inaugural collaboration between Chinese media conglomerates and Marvel Cinematic Universe directors. From this collaboration emerges the film’s protagonist, Leng Feng, an ex-soldier who saves civilians from rebel forces in Africa. As Leng enacts justice at home and abroad, however, affective portrayals of his feats foreground ambiguity over coherence and unresolvable impulses over a singular agendum. These melodramatic sites of contradiction, I argue, culminate in the film’s own “global superhero vernacular”. Such a vernacular aligns with transnationally circulating serial franchise logics, pushing the film’s connection with Marvel beyond local–global and state–market binaries. Ultimately, my analysis complicates the smooth thread that links together the superhuman individual, nationalist sovereign power, and international order, thereby re-evaluating state-endorsed cinema’s role within Chinese media cultures and social fields
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Film industry · Hollywood · Literature · Mainstream · Media studies · Movie theater · Political science · Sociology · Vernacular · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law · Socioeconomic Development in Asia
Melodrama Unbound
The Oxford Handbook of Global Modernisms
The Mass Production of the Senses
Fallen Women, Rising Stars, New Horizons
Black Panther in widescreen
Anime's Media Mix
Hollywood Made in China
The Chinese film market and the Wolf Warrior 2 phenomenon
China’s digital media industries and the challenge of overseas markets
Mainstream Culture Refocused
Man-as-Nation
Chinese Martial Arts Film and the Philosophy of Action
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |