Transcultural Taste: Cultural, Genre, and Plot Negotiations in Chinese Film Ratings on Douban (2005 and 2024)

• In Event: Sociology of Culture Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): 1. Digital Publics & Algorithmic Culture(s)

Abstract

Although the cultural proximity theory offers an important lens on audiences’ transnational cultural taste, its traditional one-dimensional framework cannot fully account for the complexity of global media consumption. Addressing the lack of systematic evidence on how multiple layers of proximity shape transcultural taste, this study investigates how global media flows influence Chinese audiences’ film taste over time. Using a dataset of 35,989 films rated on Douban between 2005 and 2024, we compare audiences’ evaluations across cultural regions, genres, plots, and time. Results show that Chinese audiences consistently rate foreign films higher than domestic ones, displaying strong preferences for East Asian fantasy/sci-fi/adventure films and European romance films. In addition, Chinese audiences display a distinct preference for sad endings in Chinese romance films, while such a preference does not manifest for foreign romance films. These culturally rooted genre and plot tastes also shift over time, reflecting evolving social expectations and imaginaries. Our findings suggest a three-layer dynamic framework of “cultural negotiation” encompassing
cultural, genre, and plot proximity and revisit proximity theories with more nuances in the context of Chinese film reception.

Authors

• Xingyue DAI, City University of Hong Kong

• Fen Jennifer Lin, City University of Hong Kong