Hero is Back- The rising of Chinese audiences: The demonstration of SHI in popularizing a Chinese animation

Abstract

This article studies how Chinese audiences' participation contributes to a new all-time animation box-office champ, "Monkey King: Hero is Back," and how such participation may contribute to facilitating a richer and more varied cultural life in China in the future. This made-in-China animation film snatched the throne from DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 2" by breaking the latter's 4-year record (617 million RMB) after announcing its box-office sale had exceeded 800 million RMB on 4 August. The significance of the animation is approved by a seminar held by the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, naming it "the milestone of domestic animation film production" on 4 August. The legend of the animation is an exemplification of the enthusiasm of Chinese audiences, who identify themselves not only as fans but also followers and cheerleaders of the film. They selfaddressed themselves as zi lai shui (literally means tap-water, 自来水), figuratively means the Internet mercenaries willing to advertise the film on social media at their own expense. Drawing on the literature of power and influence, fans of "Monkey King: Hero is Back" will be interviewed and their online activities and comments will be analyzed to find out (1) how the scattered audience members built a united identification online and (2) how such spontaneous but also well-organized Internet aggregation turns into SHI (overwhelming with numerical strength, social capital, and influence) and further empowers the Chinese audiences in an era in which social media prosper in China.

Heroism as Narrative Strategy: Children’s Animation and Modernity in Chinese TV

“…Chinese animations have long been given an important function to construct current social value in China in the past sixty years. It is evident that the development of animation is largely influenced by the policy and social changes in the country (Wu 2009;Jiang and Huang 2017) and these changes in animation have made the storytelling changed accordingly.…”

“…Thus, audiences are no longer satisfied with old-fashioned domestic animation and desire a hero to meet their expectations (Jiang and Huang 2017). In addition, require a higher quality of content production of animated shows for their kids.…”

“…Over the past sixty years, Chinese animations have been given the important function of embodying current social value in China. The development of animation is largely influenced by the country's policies and social changes (Jiang and Huang 2017;Wu 2009), and the storytelling in animations has changed accordingly. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Shanghai Animation Film Studio produced most of the animated shows in China.…”

“…With the development of technologies, Chinese audiences are enjoying the conveniences that are brought about by high-speed Internet, allowing them to watch different online animations and participate in animation franchising. Thus, audiences are no longer satisfied with old-fashioned domestic animation and desire a hero to meet their expectations (Jiang and Huang 2017). In addition, consumers require higher quality content production of animated shows for their kids.…”

Crowdfunding as a Catalyst for Contemporary Chinese Animation

“…The first content, which appeared on Bilibili two weeks before the release of the film, was a music video (Monkey King’s theme music), which not only got four million visitors, but also received the attention of the generations marked by an era of Chinese animation series, that is, young people born in the 1980s and 1990s. This public subsequently became one of the communicative pillars of the film after actively promoting it on the social networks and ‘achieved a profound shared influence and a unique form of power’ (Jiang and Huang, 2017: 135).…”