New Experiences of Big Screens in Contemporary China

초록

This article explores various forms of big screens in China, in particular inShanghai. In order to examine both macro-level questions of political economy and tomicro-level questions of bodily-sensory experience, I deploy the term, ScreenSpace,which is inspired by the term, MediaSpace. Firstly, I discuss the ‘screengoing’experience in multiplexes and mega shopping malls. Secondly, I attempt to conveysomething of the rich interface between body and screen with particular focus on theanimated “painted scrolls” on display at China’s National Pavilion during theShanghai Expo. Thirdly, I examine the Jia Zhangke film I Wish I Knew, which wascommissioned by the Shanghai Expo’s state planners. This film is significant in theconnections it draws between historical and contemporary Shanghai, and itsincorporation of the Expo itself as a cinematic setting. Lastly, I examine howScreenSpace produced at local levels replicates this logic of fusion, by combiningmultiple media, and representations of past and present, into site-specific media ‘events.’

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