Ramification of Cultural Export in Cultural Dynamic: The Voice of the Hong Kong Local Audience in Cross-Border Production of China Relocated Movie

• In Event: Screen Borders: Transnational Studies of Television and Film

Abstract

As closer China-Hong Kong co-production in the cultural industry takes place, local cultural products tend to be stripped of their local characteristics to cater to the China market when more businesses become China-based. Local cultural resources such as technique, professionals, creativity and intellectual properties (IP) are thus assimilated, dominated and inherited by China's cultural industry. Through analyzing three Hong Kong movies in the ‘McDull’ series and conducting focus group interviews with Hong Kong’s home audience, this paper examines the contemporary cultural conflict shown by Hong Kong audience’s reaction to China’s cultural embezzlement on Hong Kong’s cultural products. Based on Roger’s idea of Cultural Appropriation (2006), this paper proposes that apart from cultural factors, economic and political factors would also contribute to cultural appropriation in a Neo-Liberal society. It also explores home audience’s reaction as they witness cultural assimilation in movies- finding local values lost in these cultural products.

Authors

• Boris Lok Fai Pun

• Ka Fai Cheung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong