The Digital Turn in Storytelling and Creative Industries in China: A report

• Autores: Vicenzo Masi, Han Yan
• Localización: Storytelling and Education in the Digital Age Experiences and Criticisms / Matteo Stocchetti (ed. lit.), 2016, ISBN 978-3-631-67544-1
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro
• Resumen

  • In recent years, creative industries in China have had an important role both economically and socially, and the sectors of animation and video games have had the chance to develop significantly. Animation, as a form of storytelling, can have a strong educational power (Van Riper, 2011): this is the basis of the new industrial strategy adopted by China in the creative sector, as far as the animation field is concerned (Tan, 2006). Over a few years, the animation industry was able to achieve a great development with the creation of products mainly for broadcast on TV. Animation now represents around 220,000 minutes per year. For this reason, China became the number one producer of animation in the world in 2010. But to achieve this, the Chinese government had to encourage and try to structure the entire animation industry (Lu Bin, 2013). In the early 2000s, the animation industry in China increased the production of animation contents, thanks to the introduction of computers in industrial production, bringing about an increase in minutes and quality (Tan, 2006).

    This new technological condition was somehow facilitated by the government that pushed the major animation production studios to adapt to new technological standards and keep pace with other countries competing in this area (Qing, 2006). The digital turn in storytelling seems to have increased the capacity of the government to promote traditional values, rather than improving the chances of the independent authors and private studios to create new stories. The development of technology and the entry of computers in many Chinese homes also generated a change in the spread of animation products, as many users, especially students, began to watch online products made abroad. Moreover, it has created a new generation of authors, who, although few, have begun to create new stories and have a clear idea of how to use new technologies – even criticising, in some animations, the social situation of modern China. At that moment, there was still a predominance of foreign productions, mainly Japanese and American: almost the totality of the merchandise was in the hands of foreign companies (Lu Bin, 2014).The digital turn in storytelling has made propaganda productive: not a cost for the government but actually a profitable business to reach in few years.

    This article will relate the historical and technological development, government policies in favour of this industry and it will analyse the reasons of the theatrical feature animation films success, highlighting the most representative works produced over the past 15 years.