The series of films about the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea are showing the strong national confidence of the Chinese people.

The strong rise of domestic films is a major feature of the Chinese film market in 2020. Not to mention the distant past, the National Day tribute film "My Hometown and Me" sold 2.2 billion in just 16 days.

Perhaps the positive feedback from the market took effect. While "My Hometown and I" has not yet been taken off the screen, three films commemorating the 70th anniversary of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, "Defending the Homeland - A Light and Shadow Documentary of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea", "The Loveliest People" and the highly anticipated "The Battle at Lake Changjin" have all been advanced to the release date and will be released nationwide on the 23rd.

Admittedly, this special market performance is related to the weakness of Hollywood films amid the raging epidemic in North America, but if we look at it from a broader perspective, the strong rise of domestic films actually reflects our people’s increasingly strong sense of identity and pride in their nation, culture, and system.

Chinese Films and Cultural Confidence

If we look at it over a longer period of time, the relationship between Chinese films and Chinese audiences has actually come full circle today.

In the 1950s and 1960s, when the People's Republic of China was founded, the whole nation was immersed in a festive atmosphere. The film industry timely launched numerous red films such as "Tunnel Warfare", "Land Mine Warfare" and "Railway Guerrillas". Their high artistic level has won wide acclaim from the audience to this day. According to incomplete statistics, as of 2012, the number of viewers of "Tunnel Warfare" was close to 3 billion, setting a record for the highest number of viewers in the history of global films.

However, as the times progressed, the development of Chinese films failed to keep up with the rapidly rising aesthetic standards of Chinese audiences, and the two gradually drifted further and further apart. Taking the box office data of mainland movies in 2007 as an example, seven of the top ten movies were from Hollywood, and only three were domestic films.

The reason for this problem was that the focus of the Chinese film industry shifted northward at the time and the overall poor quality of the films. But in addition to this, it was also closely related to the massive infiltration of Western culture at the time and its occupation of the high ground in consciousness.

From the perspective of the entire social environment, since the first half of reform and opening up was in the exploratory stage, the public lacked a clear understanding of the world and the future. Some unscrupulous public intellectuals took advantage of information asymmetry and wantonly sold universal values, individualism and other Western culture. Coupled with the rise of new media, the speed of information dissemination has accelerated unprecedentedly. For a long time, public intellectuals have transformed from "translators and guides" to "the conscience of society", although we all know later that many public intellectuals are supported by funds from various Western foundations and their speeches have specific purposes. Therefore, it is not surprising that Hollywood movies that cater to this culture are strongly sought after in China.

However, just when Hollywood thought it had taken over the Chinese film industry, the market was quietly changing. According to the data, in recent years, domestic films have changed their once weak trend and started to seize the market.

Data from the mainland movie box office rankings show that 14 of the top 20 movies are Chinese movies, and the biggest feature of these Chinese movies is that they were all released after 2015. Most of the remaining 6 Hollywood movies are sequels.

Domestic films are beginning to be recognized by the market again, partly because of the abilities of the creators themselves and the improvement of the overall capabilities of the Chinese film industry. However, the fact that only sequels of Hollywood films can survive in the Chinese market tells us that things may not be as simple as they seem.

Starting from the background of the times, by cross-comparing the market performance of domestic films and Hollywood films, we can find that the deepest reason for the strong rise of domestic films is actually due to the fact that after my country entered the new era, with the continuous improvement of living standards, the broad masses of people not only have a deep sense of identity with Chinese national culture, but also have a high sense of pride. As a cultural product, movies have the function of carrying the overall values ​​of a nation. When the country is strong, people will naturally be more willing to believe in the great changes of the times they have personally experienced. In fact, the same is true for Hollywood movies. Every blockbuster is preaching Western values.

In fact, from the perspective of consumers, no matter how good the quality of Hollywood films is, if the culture is not in place, watching them is just watching stories from another world. In contrast, the domestic films we have seen in recent years are all closely related to our country, nation, and life.

For example, the seven sections of "My Motherland and I" cover many historical time nodes after the founding of New China. Every contemporary Chinese can feel the vicissitudes of life conveyed by the pictures in the film and have a deep resonance and empathy. Imagine if Americans made a movie "Me and My America", would you feel the same way?

Therefore, although from the perspective of the short-term market environment, there is a certain degree of accidentality in the fact that Chinese films have surpassed Hollywood films, but at the level of audience perception, Chinese films have long gained cultural recognition that Hollywood films do not have. This recognition determines that it is inevitable that Chinese films will surpass Hollywood films in the domestic market.

Cultural output is the inevitable continuation of cultural confidence

Although at present, with the strong support of local culture, Chinese films have already gained a certain advantage in the confrontation with Hollywood, whether from the perspective of capital or market, Chinese films should not stop there, but should follow the example of Hollywood movies and Korean idol groups to export their own culture to the world.

From the perspective of capital, once a film can be exported globally, its commercial returns will grow exponentially. Take Avatar, which has topped the global box office charts for many years, for example. Two-thirds of its total box office revenue came from markets outside North America.

From a market perspective, movies have also assumed the role of product pioneers to some extent. Some industry experts even believe that "movies are disguised advertisements." For example, although Disney produces many films every year, it mainly relies on "peripheral" businesses to make money. The Q2 2019 financial report shows that Disney's theme parks, experiences, and consumer products revenue was US$6.17 billion, accounting for 41.7% of total revenue.

Although at this stage, Chinese films do not have the confidence to compete head-on with Hollywood films in overseas markets, it is gratifying that after completing their rise domestically, relying on strong cultural, technological and talent support, Chinese films have also embarked on the road of going overseas.

For example, after the science fiction film "The Wandering Earth", which deeply reflects the Chinese people's rural sentiment, achieved a box office of 4.6 billion in the Chinese market, it was picked up by Netflix, translated into 28 languages, and broadcast to audiences in 190 countries and regions around the world.

In terms of the North American film market, after years of development, the threshold for audiences to watch movies has become higher and higher, and the transformation of content formats has become more and more urgent. According to a report released by 7 Park Data, a US data research company, in mid-2020, the revenue of "Mulan" developed by Disney reached US$261 million, which also indirectly shows that Chinese national culture has a market overseas.

Now, China has taken the title of the world's largest box office market. Riding on the east wind of cultural confidence, Chinese films are likely to continue to achieve cultural output on the basis of completing the local content revolution, breaking Hollywood's monopoly on cultural values ​​for many years in one fell swoop.

Come on, Chinese movies.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.