The politics of viewing ecocinema in China: reflections on audience studies and transnational ecocinema

Citation

Kaapa P (2012) The politics of viewing ecocinema in China: reflections on audience studies and transnational ecocinema. Interactions: Studies in Communications and Culture, 2 (2), pp. 145-162. https://doi.org/10.1386/iscc.2.2.145_1

Abstract
Media and communications scholars frequently publish work on audience interpretations of ecological media. These range from the ways the media frames ecological issues to the socio-political role the media plays in influencing popular opinion on environmental issues. Film criticism is not that much different from other media analyses in its focus on ideological bias and the hypothetical impact of the texts. Considering the emphasis ecocinema scholars place on the socio-political role of cinema, it is surprising that audiences are still a largely neglected focus of study in the field. This article investigates some potential avenues academic studies of audiences of ecocinema may take. We focus on the ways audiences use ecocinema to generate diverse meanings as we switch from spectator studies to studies of audiences, where we not only explore the ways audience perspectives correlate or challenge the hypothetical perspectives suggested by media critics/academics, but also focus on the plurality of reading positions and the challenges they provide for making sense of the uses of ecocinema. The challenge to homogenized or theorized reading publics is made more explicit once we take into account the major role cultural specificity plays in audience responses. It is here that transnational considerations help us diversify the range of analysis and offer new perspectives on the socio-political implications of ecocinema. To these ends, I focus on the ways individuals from China (Chinese university students and graduates in the white-collar industries, both groups who identify themselves as part of China's new emerging middle class) encounter and negotiate the transnational dimensions of ecocinema both with domestically produced films and imported productions.

Keywords
China; Hollywood; audience studies; class politics; ecocinema; globalization; reception; transnational

Journal
Interactions: Studies in Communications and Culture: Volume 2, Issue 2