About

"This project explores Chinese online cinephilia through the indigenous concept of pinglun. This term encompasses various film commentaries, including professional critiques, casual reviews, video essays, TikTok-style supercuts, and podcast discussions. The underpinning idea is grounded in cinephilia’s “horizontal terrain” (Vidal 2017; Shambu 2020). This concept opposes the elitist, hierarchical view of cinephilia and instead emphasises how the Internet enables non-professionals to engage in film critique. The “horizontal terrain” also emphasises participation from global audiences, which contrasts with a prior centralisation in Parisian and Hollywood cultural institutions.

However, this openness is complicated by Chinese digital culture and the nature of Chinese politics, whereby the Internet becomes a space in which various stakeholders (governments, corporations, and the public) construct networks and deploy power to achieve political and commercial ends (Schneider 2018). Additionally, Chinese grassroots cinephiles engage with a geo-politically lateral flow in the Global South, specifically with India and Africa (Rai 2023; Xiang and Wang 2022), thus complicating Western-centric theories of cinephilia. This makes China’s digital cinephile culture worthy of investigation. Hence, I ask: how does digital cinephilia in China challenge traditional notions of cinephilia and reshape cultural hierarchies?

By analysing pinglun, this project aims to showcase the diversity of digital cinephilia and Chinese cinephiles’ activity in re-interpreting and re-purposing cinematic production (often underpinned by Western discourses). I will build on, but simultaneously challenge, existing cinephilia scholarship from two interconnected directions. The first involves shifting from the Western context to Global South regions where contemporary cinephile culture is often shaped by pirated content. The second involves widening the scope of cinephile groups – from people with professional knowledge and a privileged love of cinema to fans, activist communities, and the general public. I will adopt media archaeology, critical discourse analysis (CDA), online and offline ethnography, and semi-structured interviews."