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Movie magazine and star system

Along with the development of the Chinese film industry in the 1920s came the birth of the Chinese movie magazine. The first was published in Shanghai in 1921, and approximately 300 film journals, magazines, and newspapers were to follow before the founding of the PRC in 1949 and the closing of the last privately owned "fanzine" in 1951.

In addition to Shanghai--the "Hollywood of the East" and the fan magazine capital of the Chinese film world--Chinese-language movie magazines were published in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, as well as Singapore, Jakarta, and Bangkok. These include weeklies and monthlies, magazines devoted to Hollywood gossip and those that focused exclusively on Chinese films. Many magazines lasted only one or two issues before folding; others went on for over 10 years and hundreds of issues.

The cover designs range from sophisticated Art Deco drawings by some of Shanghai’s most acclaimed artists, to glamorous star photos of the top Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hollywood celebrities, including Butterfly Wu, Ruan Lingyu, Elizabeth Taylor, and Ingrid Bergman. So the history of movie magazine in China is also the story of a star system that comes with cinema, influenced by Hollywood but also with its own trends.

  1. History, and typology of the movie publications; type and content. Role of the film critic
  2. The variety of the visual; Hollywood/ Eastern culture: syncretism or cultural flow
  3. The movie magazines: Hollywood and the star system

1. History, and typology of the movie publications; type and content. Role of the film critic

(This part was written in collaboration with Paul Fonoroff, Hong Kong)

History

I. The apparition of the movie magazines from 1921 to 1931

The rise of the Shanghai film studios is accompanied by the first studio magazines, leading in turn to the first flowering of the Chinese star system and its attendant publicity machine. The homegrown product finds a formidable rival in Hollywood star appeal, which finds its expression in foreign-oriented fanzines. The nation's first movie palaces, meanwhile, enter the publishing sphere by printing their own weekly and monthly glossies. This era comes to a close with the Japanese invasion of January 1932, roughly coinciding with the first Chinese talkies.

II. The development of a private market (1932-1941)

A flowering of Shanghai movie magazines, including the hugely successful Movietone ( 電聲 Diansheng) and the first attempt by Chin Chin Screen ( 青青電影 Qingqing Dianying) to establish a foothold in the magazine market [after it's initial failure, it went on to become the leading movie publication of the entire Republican era]. Studio magazines include publications by China's largest film companies, Star (Mingxing) and UPS (Lianhua), along with independently published pictorials, left-wing movie journals, and Hollywood-oriented fanzines.

During the "Orphan Island" Shanghai 1938-1941, when the "International Settlement" concession areas of the city not occupied by Japan played host to an extremely flourishing Chinese film industry and every type of movie publication, from daily entertainment newspapers to studio magazines, Hollywood-oriented fanzines, etc. There is also a widespread Chinese language movie press outside Shanghai, including Manchuria, Beijing, Singapore, and Hong Kong. This era ends with the Japanese occupation of the International Settlements in December 1941

III. The end of an era 1942-1951 In Occupied Shanghai 1942-1945

The Japanese consolidate all Shanghai studios into one mega-studio. Wartime conditions lead to paper shortages and a decrease in the number and quality of movie magazines. Hollywood stars and films become taboo, replaced by Japanese imports. In the hinterlands unoccupied by Japan, fledgling movie publications emerge in such strongholds as Kunming and Chongqing.

IV. AfterVictory and Liberation (1946-1951)

Golden Age of Shanghai Cinema, 1946-1949. The ashes of war lead to one of the greatest eras in Chinese cinema, accompanied by the re-emergence of a flourishing movie magazine trade. Hollywood-oriented publications make a strong comeback, but it is to prove short-lived with the Communist victory in 1949.

Early Years of the People's Republic, 1949-1951. The first government-operated movie magazines are established, with a de-emphasis of stars and a new philosophy of cinema as political propaganda. The demise of Hollywood and rise of Soviet imports is chronicled. The PRC's first major "criticism campaign" in the cultural sphere leads to the closure of China's last independently operated film magazine. Meanwhile, the old Shanghai tradition lives on in movie publications in Hong Kong and the Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora in Jakarta, Singapore, Bangkok, etc.

Typology

A. Film Studio magazines

Film studio published magazines dedicated to promote their production.

B. Hollywood fanzine

Many magazines were dedicated to Hollywood film culture. Hollywood stars, films, products were advertised in these fanzines.

C.  Movie theater booklet

Another type of publication was the movie theater booklets, where one would find information about the films screened as well as about the companies. Some of these booklets were bilingual, with Chinese and English.

D. Newspaper supplement

In the late 1920’s and 1930’s most of the daily newspapers, such as Shenbao in Shanghai or Chenbao in Beijing had a movie supplement. Film critics, news about the film industry, gossips could be find in these publications.

E. Independently published pictorials

Two of the most famous pictorials were Diansheng and Qingqing dianying. Diansheng started in 1932 and ran until 1941. Qingqing dianying was the longest published private film magazine of Republican China: it ran from 1934 down to the early days of Communist China in 1951. F. Entertainment magazines like Liangyou, Linglong also had some pages or supplements dedicated to cinema.

Content

The content varies depending on the publication, from information from the industry, movie announcement and movie critics, gossips on the stars, debates on the national cinema, its aesthetics, politics in relation with movie, news from other countries; the publication can be illustrated or not, in color or not. Advertisement is also important: either for the movies or for products salable to moviegoers. In the 1930’s there is a division in some of the movie magazine between the ones written by journalists considered to be leftist and the one considered as rightist. The movie magazines are a pool of writers that eventually became also screenwriters. There is a close link, especially in the 1930’s between the journalist and the film industry.

2. The variety of the visual: Hollywood/ Eastern culture: a syncretism or cultural flow

There is a rich variety of visual styles in the movie magazine covers and pictures. In the 1920’s, Art Deco drawing and photo are numerous, while in the 1930’s one will find more often photos from the films or from the movie stars. Caricatures from famous cartoonist associated with the entertainment world like the Wan brothers can also be seen. The magazine covers, in their visual style, the use of both English and Chinese show how cinema was seen as a site of syncretism. It worked in both directions: an adaptation of the Western medium that was film into the Chinese culture (like the Chaplin covers) or, on the contrary, the transformation of the Chinese traditional culture into a modern, cosmopolitan entertainment.

3. Hollywood and the star system

Hollywood was the main model in source of inspiration for the Chinese movie world up to 1950. It was an economical model as well as a technical or aesthetical model. The moviegoers would develop an interest in the Hollywood stars, an interest that movie magazines would contribute to develop: Hollywood stars were at an early stage often shown in the covers. Parallel to Hollywood star system, the Chinese film companies developed their own star system, mixing the Hollywood glamour and economical strategies with the moral and cultural rules of Chinese society. If the first movie stars like Yang Naimei or Xuan Jinglin, were exceptional women, in the 1930’s, there was a tendency to present the female actress as a professional woman serving China: the star system in the 1930’s developed together with a strong nationalism. However, in the presentation of its movie stars, in the commoditization of their beauty and body, the film companies were never far from their Hollywood model. The two tendencies – commoditization/nationalization- would compete throughout the 1930’s and 1940’s until the very beginnings of Communist China: at that time, the female actress had to become a National Symbol.

Reference

On Internet : http://memoire.digilib.sh.cn/SHNH/book/book_introduction.jsp?bookId=12605



Last update Thursday 3 June 2010 by G. Foliot