Playing to the World's Biggest Audience: The Globalization of Chinese Film and TV » (1st Edition)

Michael Curtin is Professor of Communication Arts and Director of Global Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is also the author of Media Capital: The Cultural Geography of Globalization and Redeeming the Wasteland: Television Documentary and Cold War Politics.

"Professor Curtin has woven solid research and interesting tales into a compelling analysis of cultural geography that will make an important contribution to the literature of international communication."—Chin-Chuan Lee, City University of Hong Kong

"
In this timely and fascinating examination of the screen industries of 'Global China', Michael Curtin draws on in-depth interviews with key industry players to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the extraordinary rise of film and television industries across Chinese-speaking Asia.
In so doing he provides a compelling account of how these media industries represent a powerful alternative path of media globalization to that of the West. This will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the dynamics and complexities of globalized media production. But more than this, his deployment of the concept of 'media capital' and his stress on the particularities of culture, creativity and location offer important political-economic and institutional underpinnings for a more rigorous approach to understanding wider patterns of cultural globalization."—John Tomlinson, author of Globalization and Culture

"This is one of the best books I've encountered. Curtin's scholarship is superior and his approach is highly innovative. Playing to World's Largest Audience is a pioneering work in understanding globalization and Chinese media. It will have major impact in numerous fields."—Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh, author of Taiwan Film Directors and East Asian Screen
Industries

Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction: Media Capital in Chinese Film and Television     1
The Pan-Chinese Studio System and Capitalist Paternalism     29
Independent Studios and the Golden Age of Hong Kong Cinema     47
Hyperproduction Erodes Overseas Circulation     68
Hollywood Takes Charge in Taiwan     85
The Globalization of Hong Kong Television     109
Strange Bedfellows in Cross-Strait Drama Production     133
Market Niches and Expanding Aspirations in Taiwan     151
Singapore: From State Paternalism to Regional Media Hub     176
Reterritorializing Star TV in the PRC     192
Global Satellites Pursuing Local Audiences and Panregional Efficiencies     211
The Promise of Broadband and the Problem of Content     229
From Movies to Multimedia: Connecting Infrastructure and Content     245
Conclusion: Structural Adjustment and the Future of Chinese Media     269
Industry Interviews     291
Notes     295
Bibliography     313
Index     325