Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 www.alls.aiac.org.au A Cultural Discourse Analysis to Chinese Martial Arts Movie in the Context of Glocalization: Taking Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero as Cases Junchen Zhang* Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, P.R. China Corresponding Author: Junchen Zhang, E-mail: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history This study is oriented to do Chinese cultural discourse analysis via examining two Chinese Received: January 14, 2019 Wu-Xia (martial arts) movies. Specifically, the study explores the construction of glocalization, Accepted: April 23, 2019 cultural hybridization and cultural discourse embedded in the two transnational Chinese martial Published: June 30, 2019 arts movies, i.e. Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Zhang Yimou’s Hero Volume: 10 Issue: 3 (2002). The film product is an audiovisual representation of a certain of national culture, Advance access: May 2019 ideology and society. Chinese martial arts film is this kind of cultural product that embodies Chinese sociocultural and philosophical values. The research aims to explore the connections between filmic discourse, culture and society. A combined analytical framework that integrates Conflicts of interest: None glocalization concept, cultural hybridization and cultural discourse approach is constructed. By Funding: None comparative analysis, the main finding of the study reveals that Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) presents a high degree of cultural globalization and hybridization, while Zhang Yimou’s Hero (2002) has relatively a low degree of cultural globalization and Key words: hybridization but embodies a high degree of Chinese locally authoritarian culture. This implies Cultural Discourse Analysis, that a successful filmic production with strong national features need to organically hybridize Chinese Film, global-local culture in proper when it enters globally cultural competition. On the one hand, Glocalization, it should have locally cultural identity; on the other, it should also show a kind of universally Cultural Ideology, cultural values accepted by other cultures. Cultural Hybridization, Discursive Construction, Cultural Communication INTRODUCTION martial arts film. However, different from Ang Lee’s great Globalization has permeated into different national cultures success of Crouching Tiger in Western world, Zhang’s Hero nowadays, meanwhile localization should not be neglect- did not achieve his expectation and the film was not as shin- ed in that it plays an integral part in the globalization pro- ing as Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger in global film market. Af- cess (Klein, 2004). In the context of cultural globalization, ter all, Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger gained much more praises transnational Chinese language films present a phenomenon than critics from the West, while Zhang’s Hero unavoidably of cultural hybridization. One of distinctive Chinese film got some sharp critics from oversea film commentators. One genres presenting cultural hybridization in globalized con- of critiques was that Zhang’s Hero was a kind of propaganda text is Chinese Wu-Xia (martial arts) film. The Chinese mar- beautifying Chinese authoritarianism and projecting the ambi- tial arts film is originally a very Chinese-style film genre and tious of China’s Party-State politics (Harrison, 2006). Indeed, it has been widely accepted in Chinese culture communities there are different interpretations for the two influential Chi- around the world over the past decades, such as Hong Kong, nese martial arts films in the beginning of 21st century, while, as Taiwan, Macao, Singapore, and Euro-American Chinese film products, their natures of integration of globalization and communities. localization might be more noteworthy. With the emergence of globalization, Chinese local film Since film is a kind of cultural products, filmmakers have genre incorporating with Western culture had gradually be- to consider the needs of audiences and specific cultural ac- come a trend in Chinese martial arts film since Ang Lee’s film ceptance in both international and domestic markets. Thus, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won Oscar Best Foreign a new term “glocalization” (Robertson, 1994) is coined to Language Film Award in 2001. Following Ang Lee, Zhang describe this kind of hybrid phenomenon of integrating Yimou, a top Chinese local film director, directed his first foray globalization and localization. The terminology, “glocal- Chinese martial arts blockbuster, Hero, and released it in 2002, ization”, which is a mixing-word by integrating two terms hoping to open the door of oversea market of Chinese-language i.e. “globalization” and “localization” into a single term, Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.10n.3p.32 A Cultural Discourse Analysis to Chinese Martial Arts Movie in the Context of Glocalization: Taking Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero as Cases 33 was initially developed by Robertson (1994) as a concept of glocalization could be a refinement of globalization. in sociology. More specifically, the term is originated from Furthermore, the concept of glocalization can be introduced a Japanese jargon, i.e. “dochakuka”, which is often used in to the fields of sociology and communication in order to fur- Japanese business world, referring to “global localization” ther investigate the global-local process of culture. In terms (Robertson, 1994: 36). of hybrid phenomenon in cultural globalization, Kraidy In cultural perspective, glocalization refers to “a new (2002) theorized it and proposed “an intercontextual theory cultural hybrid and change of norms and practices aimed as of hybridity” in which further argued cultural dynamic, hy- adjusting to local mindsets” (Kraidy, 2002). Cultural hybrid- bridization and hegemony in cultural globalization. Indeed, ization elements need to be examined carefully since they it seems hard to avoid cultural change or hybridization in play significant roles in transnational film products. Accord- globalized process when one national culture product enters ing to Wang and Yeh (2005), hybridization is one of import- another cultural market. Chinese transnational martial arts ant elements in the trend of cultural globalization. It does film as a popularly cultural product is inevitably involved in not simply fuse two or more different cultures into a single the process of cultural change and hybridization. one culture, instead the process of cultural fusion is quite Other researches that focus on Chinese transnational cin- complex. Specifically, this is related to add what kinds of ema have been touched upon the perspectives of globaliza- cultural elements, while remove what other kinds of cultural tion and localization as well as cultural hybridization (see elements. It is an organic process, not mechanic combine. Klein, 2004: Wang & Yeh, 2005; Lee, 2006; Shao & Pan, In Wang and Yeh’s (2005: 175) view, “hybridization is not 2006; Huang, 2006; Zhu, 2013). Klein (2004) examined how merely the mixing, blending and synthesizing of different the power of globalization impacts on Hollywood and East elements that ultimately forms a culturally faceless whole”. Asian film industry. She took contemporary Chinese martial It is a complex and dynamic process of cultural integration. arts films in America and East Asia as examples of cultur- In the process, different cultures usually tend to produce a al globalization to further investigate how did globalization new form together and establish new connections with each involve in cultural homogenization and heterogeneity. In other. terms of specific case study, Wang and Yeh (2005) took Dis- In this study, two iconic Chinese Wu-Xia (martial arts) ney’s film Mulan and Ang Lee’s film Crouching Tiger, Hid- movies, i.e. Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon den Dragon as examples to examine their globalization and (2000) and Zhang Yimou’s Hero (2002), are taken as two hybridization strategies. In their research, three strategies empirical cases to make a comparative study from the per- or features in hybridization of cultural products had been spectives of glocalization, cultural hybridization and cultur- discovered, i.e. “deculturalization”, “acculturalization” and al discourse analysis. More specifically, in the study, what “reculturalization” (Wang & Yeh, 2005: 177-182). Wu and the problems need to be concerned are what kinds of locally Chan (2007) also took Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chinese culture were hybridized with other modern cultur- Dragon as an example to argue that Chinese martial arts film al elements in the two Chinese martial arts films and how could be seen as a reversed cultural flow to against asym- did the two films present what kinds of global-local cultural metric Western hegemonically cultural flow that referred to forms. Here, the main research aim is to apply an integrated most of cultural products or ideologies were exported from perspective combined glocalization, cultural hybridization Euro-American developed counties to those developing and and cultural discourse to examine the two Chinese martial undeveloped countries. In their study, they comprehensive- arts films that have been released in oversea markets in or- ly explained how the local