On the “Imagination Consumption” of Film in the Internet Age

Abstract

Abstract The discussion regarding artistic imagination, and the artist’s subjective imagination, has long been an important issue for Chinese and foreign art theories. In the Internet Age, film imagination and “imagination consumption” show new features such as the fantasy of surreality, virtual reality, simulacra, and the aesthetics of “post-conditional theatre”. Films in the Internet age enrich the theory of film industrial aesthetics with fruitful practices. The article concludes with four types of film styles relevant to the “imagination consumption”: first, films which include modes of surreality, the aesthetic of conditional theatre and allegory; second, films from the mysterious fantasy and magic genres; third, films from the science fiction genre; and fourth, films from the film-game convergence genre. This article further notes the connection between such films, the dependence upon simulacra by today’s youth audience, and their demand for “imagination consumption”, suggesting the approach of the age of “imagination consumption”.