Animation Cross-Cultural Communication: what does Chinese animation lack?

First aired in 2005, Avatar: The Last Airbender became a cultural phenomenon, garnering public recognition and praise, as well as winning Annie and Emmy awards.

The show is an epic journey of war, self-discovery, and redemption.Set in a war-torn world of elemental magic-divided into the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads, a young boy named Aang is destined to become the Avatar, a "Bender" and master of all four elements who can defeat the Fire Nation and restore harmony. With his friends Katara and Sokka, Aang must travel the world and learn to master all elements while evading the Firelord's agents.

[Source:https://www.rotoscopers.com/2020/05/01/avatar-the-last-airbender-coming-to-netflix-this-month/]

There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, and culture is a process of collision and fusion. In the background of globalization, countries are exporting their own culture and animation, as part of the cultural industry, plays an important role in cultural exchanges, especially among young people. How to make the cultural values carried by anime more widely accepted? It involves the semiotics in the transnational cultural communication of anime. Hao Yan conducted a research on this topic and published it at the journal of Probe-Media and Communication Studies.

In this study, a Chinese animation named "Big Fish and Begonia" was analyzed and compared with "Kung Fu Panda" from the United States and "Spirited Away" from Japan. The author thinks that in "Kung Fu Panda", ancient Chinese cultural symbols such as scenery, clothing, and food constitute a cultural environment acceptable to the Chinese. The personal heroic cultural symbols, together with American values, have promoted the success of this work. The miniature society of a person's true growth process in "Spirited Away" is the key to its success; however, although there are many Chinese traditional cultural symbols in "Big Fish and Begonia", the trivial storyline and the vague values lead to its failure in overseas markets.

In conclusion, the author argues that what China lacks is not the technology, but the excellent production. Therefore, the development of China's animation industry requires not only excellent creators but also public support.

Read the full paper at: http://probe.usp-pl.com/index.php/MCS/article/view/6-9