Fantasy Films Research Articles

Factors influencing cross-cultural communication of Chinese fantasy films from the cultural discount perspective

Factors influencing cross-cultural communication of Chinese fantasy films from the cultural discount perspective

Ways of Seeing Polar Bears in Fantasy Films, Fiction and Folklore

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) has had many archetypal functions throughout time and across cultures and has been a key character within traditional tales and mythologies across the Arctic regions. Within Inuit and Greenlandic hunting cultures the polar bear is an important resource for food and clothing, but the bear has also held folkloric and spiritual significance. However, within the realm of anglophonic fantasy-horror films and fiction, the polar bear has frequently been portrayed as a figure of fear, recalling nineteenth century European explorers descriptions of encounters with bears in accounts of Arctic expeditions. A sample of negative representations of polar bears within fantasy-horror film, television, and fictional adaptations are explored and compared to traditional Inuit perspectives, revealing profoundly different perceptions of the natural world.

Semantics of Transition: Death and Resurrection of the Hero in Film Fantasy at the Turn of the 20th—21st Centuries

The article is devoted to the study of human metaphysical experience through cinema art. The material of the study is widely known fantasy films (“The Lord of the Rings”, “The Matrix”, “Harry Potter”, “The Chronicles of Narnia”, “Avatar”), in which the sacral space is realized as a magical fairy tale or a dream, and the hero acting in it is identified with the concept of “soul” or “consciousness”. The aim of the study is to semantically and cognitively analyze the visual image of transition through death, which is offered to the viewer by cinematography, and to model the director’s concepts included in it. The author’s concept of transition is based on the works of M. Eliade, A. van Gennep, C.G. Jung, M.P. Hall and is revealed as a multi-phase process of soul transformation in the conditions of spiritual or perceptual crisis. It is established that the transition scenario in the films considered includes an “entry point” into another world, a series of initiations and an “exit point”. In this context, death and resurrection are the climactic phase and have different symbolic connotations, their essence depending on the prototype that the hero imitates. As it has been revealed, the imitation of cyclical forces of nature (solar, agrarian deities) by contemporary directors is interpreted by them as a long stage of soul maturation, which is no longer opposed to, but naturally precedes the imitation of the “divine archetype” (in the Christian tradition, Christ the Saviour). The axis of transition from forced submission to the endless cycle of renewal to the evolutionary stage of spiritual maturity is the act of “awakening” expressed in the willingness to voluntarily sacrifice oneself out of love and compassion for others. Death and resurrection in this case manifest the metaphysical transformation of the soul aspect into the spiritual one. At the same time, in the process of studying the film material, a tendency of a transgressive nature was detected, namely the replacement of the concept “soul” by the concept “brain”. As a result of identifying the functions of the human brain with the functions of a computer in the mental space, there is a danger of substitution of the divine image by artificial intelligence, which can provoke the blocking of the channel “soul – spirit” and the involutionary turn from spirit to matter.

Exuberant and fantastical: How flythroughs are changing the way museums construct their identities and build relationships with their publics

Digital ‘flythroughs’ are increasingly being used by museums to promote themselves to their publics and to extend their spatial and experiential boundaries. These complex, multimodal artefacts use 3D animation, AI imagery, drone footage, sound, music and other modes to construct a parallel museum experience. Such an experience is markedly dissimilar from an ‘ordinary’ embodied relationship to architectural space, and instead constructs an experience of elevated velocity, height and glissade. These movement style choices construct a ‘non-naturalistic’ experience of moving through space that differs considerably from the embodied experience constructed by digital walkthroughs, augmented and virtual reality and ordinary corporeal movement through a museum. Instead, they offer a potential imaginary, a supernatural or ’extracorporeal’ embodiment of a kind typically associated with fantasy films, video games, amusement rides and dreams. This paper analyses 10 flythroughs from a variety of museums and locations through the lens of multimodal social semiotics. The systems of movement styles and visual validity are used to explore how meanings are made in the flythroughs and how they may be understood in terms of the ‘fantasy’ coding orientation. The implications for how museums construct their respective identities and relate to their publics are also unpacked.

The Influence of CG Technology on The Aesthetics of Chinese Magic Films Take The Candle in The Tomb Film Series for Example

This study aims to investigate the impact of computer-generated imagery (CG) on the aesthetic context and innovation of oriental gods and creatures in Chinese magical film footage. This study focuses on the analysis and research of CG technology in Chinese magical film lens images, as well as the aesthetic habits and aesthetic psychology of contemporary audiences towards oriental gods and creatures. This research employs a qualitative research approach because it is appropriate for examining the cultural background and aesthetic habits of Chinese magical film lens images created using CG technology, as well as the aesthetic emotions that the film evokes in its audience. This study specifically examines the aesthetic expression and breakthrough innovation of oriental gods and monsters in the CG screen effects of the film series Candle In The Tomb, as well as the operation process of Chinese magical film CG technology and its expression based on and the generative context and breakthrough innovation of oriental gods' aesthetic style. This study will provide a theory of the CG technology used to guide the visual aesthetics of Chinese fantasy films. It will benefit creators of Chinese magic films, researchers, academicians, students, and those interested in the subject's study and preservation.

Echoes of Colonialism and Identity Crisis: A Postcolonial Analysis of Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away

Spirited Away, a Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki in 2001 brings to the audience a story of a young girl, Chihiro who along with her parents enter into the world of spirits. The film narrates a story of disruptive identity, language, and belonging of the protagonist, Chihiro and echoes themes of cultural displacement and colonization. This paper will analyze the film and the journey of the individuals into a colonized space, where conventional identities are suppressed within a dominated cultural landscape. This paper will delve into an argument where the film will be analyzed from the perspective of postcolonialism, where Chihiro’s experiences in the spirit world reflect the tussle of the colonized people dealing with distorted identities, language, and complicated notion of belonging. Chihiro’s arrival into the spirit world corresponds with the encounter of the colonized individual with the culture of the colonizer, where the transformation of her parents into pigs paralleled with the dehumanization and compromise of identity of the colonized. Chihiro’s renaming as Sen, language as a tool of control, and disturbing their sense of belonging highlights the colonial imposition on humans in the world of the spirits. The bathhouse in the film is symbolic of the colonized space where the identities, languages of the colonized are constructed and contested. The paper will also try to analyze how the protagonist takes up the journey towards self-discovery and reclaims her identity, culture, and autonomy in the midst of oppression.

Arctic cinema: from horror through dramas and thrillers To Actiоn movies and fiction (Part II)

The article examines Arctic thrillers, action films and fantasy films. Presented kaleidoscope of horror, drama, thriller, science fiction and action films, with all its plot differences, is united by almost a single location, the Arctic north. Against his background, all maginable and unimaginable events occur. It enhances or weakens the role of what is happening with its whiteness, making the viewer’s screen even whiter. This is an artistic space in which characters are placed and actions, are performed. The silence of the Arctic is its action. The films reviewed are extremely different, responding to the spirit of the time when they were filmed. Their placement about genres is conditional since they all have a cinematic hybridity. Each tape combines all kinds of genres under consideration. We tried to correlate a number of films with temporary political-social processes.

Representasi Artistik Kebudayaan Indonesia dalam Film Animasi “Raya And The Last Dragon”

Raya and The Last Dragon is one of the first animated fantasy films produced by Disney that elevates and displays the cultural identities of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos and Singapore. This animated film depicts a fantasy world called Kumadera country which is divided into five regions namely Heart, Fang, Spine, Talon and Tail. The five regions seem to describe the diverse Indonesian nation "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" which means the unity and oneness of the Indonesian nation. This animated film is packed with artistic elements of Indonesian culture including Wayang kulit, batik, keris, pencak silat, gamelan, gadang houses, food, and people's behavior. This animated film applies the artistic design of several visual elements such as location sets, decorations, props, costumes and all work units that represent Indonesian culture. This research method uses descriptive qualitative using artistic theory and Roland Barthes semiotic cultural approach. The results of this study were analyzed using artistic theory and contextual understanding of signs and meanings from Roland Barthes' semiotic theory which divides the meaning systems of denotation, connotation and myths that implement Indonesian culture.

Fictional Reality Environments in Child’s Learning: Evaluating Screen Institution in <i>Harry Potter: The Sorcerer’s Stone and My Kids and I</i>

The Nigerian youth’s restiveness and licentious acts have come under the purview of the public interest in recent times. Consequently, the rise of ritual killings and other social vices amongst the younger generation in the country questions the teaching model and learning environments designed to impart knowledge to Nigerian children. The objective of this study is to evaluate the aptitudes of fantastical and realistic film environments in child’s learning and nurturing. The study, through the adoption of the content analysis approach of qualitative research method, evaluated the impact of the fantasy genre and fictional reality film environments on children and thus analysed. Harry Potter: The Sorcerer’s Stone (A British Fantasy Film) and My Kids and I (A Nigerian Fictional Reality Film). The study utilised Skolnick Weisberg's theory of Mise-en-place: Setting the Stage and Nkemakonam Aniukwu’s Screen Institution Postulation, in examining the influence of fantastical and fictional reality film environments in child’s learning. The study discovered that some films produced in the Nollywood film industry have the capacity of thwarting the child’s mind and this could lead to misconceptions of certain principles and standards of the society and subsequently change his behaviour towards other members of the public. Parents should also play a vital role in monitoring and curtailing what the children are watching on their screen interface.

Magic and Spells in <em>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</em> (1997-2003)

Magic and Spells in <em>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</em> (1997-2003)

AN OVERLOOKED POTENTIAL OF A FANTASY FILM TO HONE CRITICAL GENDER LITERACY

This study attempts to explore the potentiality of a fantasy film, i.e., Maleficent, to be used as a tool to sharpen language learners’ critical literacy toward the issue of gender construction. The purpose of the study is to unravel the genre of fantasy film as a space to deconstruct the way gender is represented. This study borrows the framework of postcolonial feminism in deconstructing and reconstructing the portrayal of the main female protagonist. As the study also discusses the insights of using film as a tool to facilitate language learning, the data is also gained from the teacher-student written and verbal reflection. The reflection data is then analyzed using narrative analysis proposed by (Creswell, 2012). The study gives insights into how fantasy films can be used for language teaching. The analysis of Maleficent as a powerful tool to sharpen language learners’ critical gender literacy.

Leveraging folklore and fantasy to promote small destinations: the case of Visit Wales

ABSTRACT This paper analyses how folklore can be harnessed by destination management organizations (DMOs) and related agencies through story-telling, screen tourism and product development. It presents a two-stage study, which explores policy suggestions proposed at a United Kingdom Parliamentary Committee Inquiry into Wales’s international marketing. An online survey was conducted with international students, as representative of tourists open to less familiar destinations and well-represented amongst fantasy fans, to test the appeal of a differentiation strategy for Wales incorporating folklore. Having established the market potential of folklore, a co-design workshop was held with 36 tourism and creative sector stakeholders to discuss the challenges of leveraging legends and fantasy film locations to attract international visitors. The paper discusses the tourism policy and practice opportunities of adopting this strategy for the folklore-rich but resource-constrained small destination of Wales. It concludes with insights, which have relevance for similar national DMOs and related agencies.

Material Culture as an Index of Modernity in Spain’s Silent Film Era

Abstract This essay examines the display of technological objects, consumer goods, and other materials within the earliest Spanish realist cinema, as well as the manipulation of things in pioneering fantasy films, to reveal how Spanish filmmakers projected the modernity of Spain and thereby addressed foreign objectification of their nation as exotic or different. Through an analysis of several actualities, point-of-view rail films, and factory films produced in Barcelona between 1900 and 1930, as well some key Segundo de Chomón trick films shot in the city, this article shows how this early Barcelona film culture deployed material forms to mark the agency and cosmopolitanism of turn-of-the-century Spain and to contest the “cabinet of curiosities vision” that French actuality filmmakers in particular had once imposed on the nation.

Myth, Imagination and Digital Imaging: On the Aesthetic Expression of Nationality in Chinese Fantasy Films

Chinese fantasy movies have been based on Chinese myths and legends or ancient novels about monsters since the beginning, and have mixed martial arts, kung fu, traditional opera and other folk-art forms in the form of expression. As China's digital film technology production system matures, the boundaries between national films and transnational films in Chinese fantasy films are becoming increasingly blurred. This article mainly analyzes how Chinese magic movies, driven by technology, use local cultural elements to generate images and aesthetic conceptions with national characteristics. It proposes that magic movies should create a visual style with oriental aesthetic attributes, build cultural confidence, and enhance China through image dissemination. cultural influence.

Lighting up the Stars: Myth archetypes Reimagined for the Times

Monkey King and Nezha have long been the most widely used myth archetypes in Chinese film and television, and their rich rewriting was seen in animated and fantasy films in the past. In July 2022, the feature film Lighting up the Stars also completes a period reimagining of the two myth archetypes. The film's protagonists, Mo Sanmei and Wu Xiaowen, correspond to the characters of Monkey King and Nezha respectively. In the interplay of sorrow and joy, they call on the audience to think of he meaning of life and ponder the value of life, conveying a strong sense of human warmth.

"Fantastic Realia: Some Lexical Correspondences (Russian-Romanian)"

The traditional folkloric substratum of different cultures and the mythological one are still very noticeable nowadays, and the modern person cannot disregard them, as they are intensely reinterpreted, reimagined, and promoted in a vast array of fantasy books, fantasy films, etc. The protagonists of fantasy culture are the imaginary, supernatural, magical, demonic beings, the totemic animals, the fantastic objects, etc. In relevant literature they are defined as mythemes. Moreover, another present-day function was assigned to folkloric, mythological elements (the mythemes) through their animated metamorphosis into the realm of video games, already being annotated, listed online. The present paper aims to emphasise the role of realia-mythemes in traditional and current culture on one hand, and on the other hand to present a series of means of conveying, mainly in Romanian, the fantasy (i.e., folkloric, mythological) realia-words with Russian cultural characteristics (cf. Ба́ба-Яга́ [Ro Baba-Iaga], [En BabaYaga/Jaga]; Богаты́рь [Ro bogatîri], [En bogatyr]; Васили́са Премудрая [Ro Vasilisa Premudraia], [En Vasilisa Premudraya]; Жар-пти́цa [Ro jar-ptița], [En zhar-ptitsa]; Русáлка [Ro rusalca], [En rusalka], etc.). The transfer of realia elements constitutes a complex process that has been drawing the attention of researchers for a long time, especially since there is no “sole” translation solution, and the “ideal” rendering of these units is performed by considering certain intra- and extralinguistic, intra- and extra-translational aspects.

SYMBIOSIS OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN ONCOLOGY

SYMBIOSIS OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN ONCOLOGY

Traditional ethical concepts in Chinese fantasy films

Traditional ethical concepts in Chinese fantasy films

Materializing the digital landscape: the cinema–ecology complex and Chinese fantasy media

AbstractContemporary cinema and media studies are marked by a materialist turn that highlights material elements, such as objects, non-human agencies, the environment and places on and off screen, as well as the materiality of media productions and consumption. This article expands on the important scholarship of “materialist” media studies as well as existing ecocinema scholarship by stressing the materiality of digital landscapes in contemporary Chinese fantasy (or qihuan and xuanhuan) film and television works that have gained significant popularity in China and Hong Kong. Specifically, this article examines the animist landscape in film and television adaptions of Eternal Love, a fantasy romance television serial that loosely draws on Daoist mythology. Focusing on the material aspects of digital landscapes of Chinese fantasy cinema, the article develops the notion of the “cinema–ecology complex” to address the materiality of digital landscapes, the cinematic footprint of digitally enhanced landscapes through location shooting and the consumption of landscapes as scenic spots, including daka practices, in film studio cities and related film-induced tourism. Ultimately, this article calls for a textual–infrastructural approach in cinema and media studies, which tends to reorient to the infrastructural aspects of media production, distribution and consumption.

An old mind in a young body: womanhood between oppression and expression in Miss Granny

ABSTRACT In a neoliberal society that sanctifies youth, the devaluation that accompanies old age among women joins hands with gendered power relations to produce intersectional oppression. Accordingly, the available possibilities for challenging this intersection in fantasy films carry a particular interest from a feminist perspective. This qualitative study examines the intersection of gender and age through the analysis of Dong-hyuk’s comic fantasy Miss Granny, which depicts the dramatic changes in the life of its heroine, who magically transforms from a woman in her seventies into a young woman in her twenties. The focal point of the study lies in the question of how aspects of oppression and expression are articulated at the distinct time periods and chronological age in which the film’s heroine is depicted. The findings suggest that the film undermines the existing social structures by placing an old woman at its center, allowing the audience to get to know and like her. The miraculous alternation between old and young demonstrates that women in the neoliberal present may have more opportunities to express themselves; however, their struggle for agency continues, as the values of hyper-individualism clash with relational values, preventing them from actualizing themselves as complete human beings.