Journal Articles
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item 'Falling leaves return to their roots'? The reception of Chinese blockbusters by Chinese university students in New Zealand(Taylor and Francis Group, 2023-09-11) Huffer I; Gong YThis article examines the extent to which the films Wolf Warrior 2 (战狼2) (Wu 2017) and The Wandering Earth (流浪地球) (Guo 2019) might help to cultivate pride in the dream of a revitalised China among Chinese university students in New Zealand. A combination of state oversight, private capital and market forces have led to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) increased production of blockbuster films that promote the ‘Chinese Dream’. These films receive regular theatrical release within New Zealand but our understanding of how PRC university students in New Zealand respond to these films remains limited. Understanding this response is vital given the state’s view of these students as ‘civil ambassadors’ and ‘a diaspora in the making’. Using focus group data, the article shows how the reception of these films is complicated by the pluralised context of these films’ production and consumption, with the engagement of some participants pivoting upon issues of genre more than ethno-national identification. Nevertheless, for some of the participants these films do help to affirm their identities as Chinese and generate pride in a rejuvenated China via the complex ways in which these films connect to their lives.Item Distribution Revolution? The circulation of film and cultural capital(Department of Theatre Film and Television Studies University of Wales, 2019-05) Huffer IOnline methods of film distribution, both legal and illegal, have been positioned as a disruptive force, altering the dynamics of the film industry and patterns of viewing behaviour. Consideration of the relationship between these new methods and power relations between the socio-demographic groups using them has been somewhat limited though. This article focuses centrally upon these power relations via an examination of the relationship between patterns of film consumption in New Zealand and the circulation of cultural capital. Using quantitative analysis of survey data, the article considers the extent to which Bourdieusian social/cultural hierarchies can be mapped onto the use of particular methods of film consumption and the viewing of particular types of film (by genre and nationality). It also considers what these patterns reveal about the circulation of more pluralised notions of cultural capital, and whether the power of particular groups may reside in their omnivorousness. The article ultimately finds that the potential contribution of online methods of film distribution to the disruption of social/cultural hierarchies is fairly minimal. This is due to the extent to which their use is, in part, structured by these hierarchies and the unequal distribution of economic and cultural capital.
