Cheap laughs: The mass-production of low-budget Chinese comedies from Feng kuang de shi tou/Crazy Stone (Ning Hao, 2006) to Gao Xing (Agan, 2009)

Abstract

This article will focus on the burgeoning production of low-budget feature film comedies in Mainland China. A number of these productions have achieved considerable success at the local box office since 2006. The popularity of these swiftly-produced features is the result of rapid industrialization and the increasing emphasis on genre in the Mainland China market. It also suggests a worrying trend in terms of the mass-production of films for local audiences; these films are manufactured in a rough manner with little regard for aesthetic quality or tonal consistency, leading to concerns about malformed genre product. This article outlines the definition, origins and variations of the low-budget comedies produced in China. Based on data gathered through several large-scale industry studies of the local audience, it will show that a relationship exists between the cultural mind-set of young cinemagoers and the styles of low-budget comedy films. To chart the success of this genre, and its evolution from low-budget production to mid-budget production due to consistent box office returns, the article will examine two industrially significant examples: Crazy Stone and Gao Xing. The former arguably started the genre, leading to a host of imitators, of which the latter has been particularly well-attended, despite evidencing a decline in quality as satirical humour is replaced by vulgarity. In this respect, it will be argued that the Mainland China production cycle of the low-budget comedy is an example of 'ShanZhai' culture as this is a form of commercial film-making that is largely based on imitation.

Regional Filmmaking After Jia Zhangke

“…Most films made by independent filmmakers are not widely released, so the choice of using regional characteristics, including the language, is arguably not to catch the attention of the audience with a theatrical, exaggerative tone, or to please viewers from specific regions, as critics point out (Bai & Si, 2006;Berra & Yang, 2012). Instead, dialect in independent film is a device that serves to explore the potential of cinematic realism (C. Berry, 2010;Pickowicz, 2006).…”