Analysis on the Influencing Factors of Cultural Discount of Chinese Films in Transcultural Communication: A Communication Perspective ()
1. Introduction
The globalized development of the media industry has had a profound influence on the world and promoted communication and integration of world culture. During the process of globalization, the film, for example, plays an important role in transcultural communication (Sang, 2015). Transcultural communication is a communication process in which members of different cultural systems exchange information with each other and jointly construct meaning (Zhang, 2019). Relying on the intuitive characteristic of strong audio-visual presentation, the film has broken through the boundaries of languages and opened a window for people all over the world to mutually access different cultures. Nowadays, the communication of films among the countries has increasingly sped up, which signifies the exchange of different cultures has deepened as well. Many films around the world strive to adapt to the international context, actively exploring the patterns that are suitable for their development and striving to achieve successful transcultural communication of films (Xiang & Zhang, 2011), which is no exception for Chinese films that more or less involve feature Chinese culture, values and so on (Curtin & Gaither, 2005; Curtin & Gaither, 2007). Taking one of the Chinese Fifth Generation Directors, Zhang Yimou, as an example, some of his films presented distinctive Chinese spirits about filial piety, loyalty, love, faithfulness, restraint, implicitness, and tolerance. These Chinese cultural characteristics are not only embodied in film language, specific symbols, scenes, or details, but also reflected in the social relationship of characters and philosophical thoughts of film plots. Therefore, such elements or content may greatly generate a cultural discount in the transcultural communication process. Nonetheless, it can also help non-Chinese audiences understand traditional Chinese culture. In fact, although the development of the Chinese film industry is booming in recent years, the hidden problems of Chinese films with rich cultural connotation cannot be ignored (Wang, 2014).
Culture is regarded as an important “soft power” for a country comparable to the economy, politics, and military in the present world. The cultural value embodied by cultural elements makes some cultural products different from other general commodities; film works that have strong cultural expression and communication effects are no exception. The film, as a special art carrier for transcultural communication, can display and spread local culture, traditions, beliefs, etc., to the world. However, admittedly, the unique cultural elements assembled in film and television products can lead to a decline in the appeal of foreign audiences during transcultural communication (Yan, 2010). In fact, the cultural discount is a common phenomenon in the process of film transcultural dissemination and reception more or less (Geng, 2013; Hong & Chang, 2011; Wang, 2013). Hoskins, McFayen, and Finn (1997) also mentioned that the problem of content discounts arises when cultural products move from culture to culture and country to country. This deserves further and close scholarly and practical attention. Lee (2006: p. 262) once mentioned, “The media products most popular in one country are not necessarily the most popular in another country. Domestic success does not guarantee international success, or at least not to the same extent”. He indirectly pointed out the existence of cultural barriers within different cultures. In fact, the concept of cultural discounts opened up another window for scholars to look at the issue of localization and globalization of Chinese film works, which is from the domain of culture rather than merely from the aspects of the economy, technology, and institution. Therefore, it is important to improve Chinese films in the context of transcultural communication in the future, which will allow more people from different cultures to better understand Chinese culture, tradition, and even history. It is also beneficial to the profits of Chinese films in the international market to a certain degree.
2. Relevant Concepts of Cultural Discount
Raymond Williams (1985: p. 87) argued, “Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language”. Cultural products (such as film, television, literature, etc.), as a complicated aggregation and a medium of cultural trade and exchange, are no exception (Liao, 2018). The products produced by the cultural industry, to a certain extent, reflect the lifestyle of society through audio-visual, words, pictures, and other forms (Sinclair, 1992: pp. 3-4). The various terms and symbols contained in them are for people to think and communicate, which also reflect social differences, social cognition and value, etc. Given these, cultural discounts easily occur during cross-cultural communication for global television and films.
The concept of “cultural discount” was first used by Seelmann-Eggebert to describe the necessity of protecting the languages and cultures of ethnic minorities. Specifically, it was utilized when referring to minority linguistic and cultural territories that have to invest relatively more in efforts to protect their cultural specificity and uniqueness (Herold, 2003). This notion has its genesis in the realm of “conventional” economics, where it signifies the factor of cultural differences that must be considered when determining the economic value of entertainment products. In 1988, Canadian scholars Colin Hoskins and Rolf Mirus first used the concept of “cultural discount”. In their study “Reasons for the US Dominance of the International Trade in Television Programmes”, this notion is utilized for the study of international film and television cultural trade. In the same year, they did further studies about the reasons, presentations, and strategies of cultural discounts. They clearly defined the conception: in the international cultural trade, “a particular cultural product” (such as TV programmes, films, videos, etc.) “rooted in one culture”, and thus “attractive in that environment” (domestic audiences who are familiar with this culture because they share common knowledge and way of life), and “will have a diminished appeal elsewhere as viewers find it difficult to identify with the style, values, beliefs, institutions and behavioural patterns of the material in question” (Hoskins & Mirus, 1988: pp. 500-501). They emphasized the loss of attractiveness or usefulness when cultural products are disseminated to audiences or consumers whose cultural experience is alien. It is possible that cultural products produced in a specific culture will reduce their value (such as attractiveness or popularity), partly because the cultural factors they contain cannot be fully recognized or understood by audiences in other countries and nations. As a result of the diminished appeal, fewer viewers will watch a foreign program than a domestic product of the same type and quality. This will also further influence the value (revenue potential) of the foreign broadcaster or distributor (McFadyen et al., 2003). The connotations around the concept of cultural discount mentioned above also received certain attention in the field of transcultural communications in films.
3. Encoding and Decoding Model
In Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding model, encoding refers to the information disseminator transforming the conveyed message, meaning, intention, or viewpoint, through verbal or non-verbal form, into a symbolic code or information form that has specific rules and is easy to understand and translate; and decoding refers to the process that the recipient of the information interprets the code, and/or recreates the conveyed ideology (Hall, 1973; Hall, 1993; Zhao, 2014). Based on Hall’s model, Benshoff (2015: p. 16) drew an abbreviated encoding and decoding model (Figure 1) that can offer a concise framework for the comprehension of film communication, which presents “how cultural artifacts (texts) circulate between producers and readers within larger contexts of culture and ideology”. From the beginning of production (encoding), it has been integrated into the meaning code of the media producers (encoders), while the reception of a film by the media readers/audiences (decoders) is the process of interpretation (decoding) (Mak, 2019; Wang, 2017).
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Figure 1. An abbreviated Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding model (Benshoff, 2015: p. 16).
The encoding and decoding model can be applied in the analysis of film studies (Mak, 2019; Wang, 2017; Yu, 2008), and it can especially help to comprehend related issues of film communication from film producers’ encoding, film audiences’ decoding, the film itself, and the entire process of film communication (Xie et al., 2022). Viewing that these four aspects are the core points of this model when it is applied to film communication, all of them played an important role in understanding the cultural discount phenomenon of film in transcultural communication. For the film itself, it has a rich connotation (Prysthon, 2016), and the meaning it conveys is polysemic. Here, the media text can be regarded as “meaningful discourse” (Hall, 1973: p. 3), which presented “the different areas of social life” as “mapped out into discursive domains” (Hall, 1980: p. 134). Various meaningful codes as a sort of information are presented to the public by screen and are endowed with deeper meaning in the process of communication and circulation.
4. The Influencing Factors of Cultural Discounts of Chinese Films
The influencing factors of cultural discount of films in different countries are various, but the basic causes are basically similar (Wang, 2014). For the transcultural communication of Chinese films, from the perspective of communication studies especially based on Stuart Hall’s “Encoding and Decoding” model (Hall, 1973; Hall, 1980), it found that the influencing factors of cultural discount can be analyzed by four aspects: 1) from the Chinese film producers and their production, 2) from the film itself as a complex cultural product—cultural discounts vary from different types of films, 3) from the process of the transcultural communication of the film, 4) from the non-Chinese film audiences as information receivers.
4.1. From the Chinese Film Producers and Their Production
In the beginning, from the Chinese film producers and their production, there are two main problems at present that caused the phenomenon of cultural discount of Chinese films.
Firstly, some Chinese films display Chinese culture vaguely and implicitly, which makes it difficult for international audiences to grasp the essence or comprehend the spirit. Chinese cultural tradition tends to be implicit and reserved, which becomes a double-edged sword in international communication. This characteristic highlights Chineseness, which has a great impact on the overseas dissemination of Chinese cultural products. For example, it can be discovered that some Chinese films have implicit Chinese dialogues or monologues, images, or details, which sometimes need the non-Chinese audiences’ imagination and/or a certain cultural, social, and historical basis. Because of the Confucian doctrine of the golden mean, some Orientals, including some Chinese directors, express their emotions in a more restrained manner in some circumstances, without too much publicity (e.g., in the presentation of humour). In some films, the emotions of some characters, for example, are also presented in a restrained and introverted way. Although it is a unique trait, it possibly seems mysterious or elusive to some non-Chinese audiences. This point concerns the processing of Chinese culture presentation in Chinese films by Chinese directors in their production. For example, in the historical war film The Battle at Lake Changjin (Chen, Xu, & Lin, 2021), the significance and heroic spirit of the Chinese people’s heroic resistance against the US military invasion in the Battle of Changjin Lake are expressed through a series of Chinese dialogues and monologues. Some content and emotions with strong Chinese expressions embedded inside can not fully be understood by many international audiences who have limited knowledge of the Chinese language and insufficient understanding of Chinese cultural connotations (Zhu, 2023), thus resulting in cultural discount of such Chinese films in transcultural communication.
Secondly, some Chinese films are less about the presentation of Chinese culture and present an international style, which may cause cultural conflicts or embarrassing situations, especially when the filmmakers do not handle the integration of different cultures on the screen well. Under the impact of global economic integration and strong Western culture, the imitation even copy phenomenon exists in the Chinese film and television industry. This, in some cases, may induce Chinese domestic culture to be misunderstood by overseas audiences. This point relates to the process of Chinese directors integrating Chinese elements and Western elements when they produced Chinese films. For instance, Switch (Sun, 2013), which claimed to be a top visual feast comparable to Hollywood blockbusters, was a failed attempt, mainly due to the fact that it failed to properly integrate Chinese characteristics with Western characteristics (e.g., a chaotic hybrid of Chinese, British and Japanese elements in illogical narration, stacking and abusing of Hollywood-style special effects, etc.), which caused the cultural discount when it was disseminated abroad.
Viewing these, it is necessary for Chinese film producers to properly convey cultural elements or ingeniously present cultural specificity (Hong & Chang, 2011) when producing films based on an international vision, thereby improving the phenomenon of cultural discount and achieving certain effects of transcultural communication and international influence.
4.2. From the Film Itself as a Complex Cultural Product—Cultural Discounts Vary from Different Types of Films
The phenomenon of cultural discount is also germane to the genres of films (Hong & Chang, 2011; Hoskins & Mirus, 1988). Because of the different types of films, the cultural content emphasized is also different in the films (Lee, 2006). Therefore, it will produce different degrees of cultural discounts. If some genres are more culturally sensitive, they may be less understood in a foreign context and more likely to suffer from the effect of cultural discount. Lee mentioned that some genres encountered greater cultural discounts than other genres. Those genres imply particular cultural history and political situation of the host country, such as comedy (national tastes in humour differ), historical drama, and so on. Because of their rich cultural elements, together with language subtleties, which are lost in translation, it is not easy to understand audiences from different cultures, and the culture was significantly discounted. Taking comedy as an example, the humour elements it reflects are rooted in the difference in cultural background and cultural interpretation. Chinese humour tends to be implicit and restrained, which is different from Western humour, which tends to be unrestrained (for example, American humour which is represented by Hollywood). Therefore, Chinese comedy may not receive a high degree of reception by international audiences. Whereas other genres that could be appreciated through common sense, like science fiction films, action films, and romantic films, were not. In view of their intuitive audio-visual effects, they cross cultural barriers (including language); hence, their cultural discount is smaller (McFadyen et al., 2003). This point is highly associated with the factor of cultural differences in different countries.
For example, the comedy Lost in Thailand (Xu, 2012) set a box office record in China, but it was not well received overseas, such as in North America, Malaysia, Thailand, etc. (Yan, 2013). This is mainly because it has a strong regional character. For example, it used many humourous language expressions or interesting phases that were popular in China at that time, such as “Shen Ma (神马)” [means “What (什么)”], etc. Therefore, it received good comedy effects when it was released in China. However, when it is “going out”, some non-Chinese audiences cannot (fully) understand its meaning. The humourous elements (language, actions, etc.) contained in comedy are firmly rooted in the local culture. This humourous connotation based on local cultural background and cultural tradition may not cause the same or similar effect in another culture, which is the main reason that makes this type of highly local film difficult to understand or accepted by audiences with a certain cultural distance, thus forming the phenomenon of cultural discount. It also reflects the proverb “comedy does not move out of the home” or “comedy does not go out” (that is, it is difficult for comedy films to satisfy the tastes of audiences in multiple markets at the same time) (Ruan & Tang, 2015). However, the science fiction film The Wandering Earth (Guo, 2019) has achieved success both in China (earning 4.6 billion yuan at the box office) and overseas (for example, earning more than 5.8 million US dollars in North America). Its success lies in its emphasis on visual communication (such as exquisite screen design, magnificent special effects production, etc.) and its grasp of universal issues or values of global humanity (such as ecological protection, climate issues, etc.), conveying Chinese values and understanding of the common future of mankind, and showing China’s way of solving problems (Wang, 2020). Relying on a strong audio-visual feast with low cultural restrictions, such science fiction films can relatively better receive acceptance and approbation by international audiences from various cultures.
4.3. From the Process of the Transcultural Communication of the Film
In the process of transcultural communication, the film will encounter cultural discounts because of unavoidable reasons such as language involving translation.
Language is an important part of a film and the main tool for audiences to understand the theme of the film. However, the language, with its broad and profound culture, really led to a certain degree of a gap for different audiences from different languages. Language becomes one of the major obstacles to transcultural exchange and international cultural trade, and it is also an important element in the formation of cultural discounts for film and television works (McFadyen et al., 2003). Before a film is released in other countries, the publisher will add subtitles to it, which is basically a reintegration of the film language. The translation of the film lines is not only a transformation of the meaning of the language itself, but also a communication and collision between the cultures in which the two different languages are located. After the translation, the meaning of the original connotation inevitably changed during the communication, which directly influenced the comprehension of the audience and then became a booster for cultural discounts. Inconsistent meanings sometimes may appear in subtitles, which leads to the situation that non-Chinese audiences are unable to correctly understand or misunderstand the information conveyed in the film. In fact, the translated words cannot always exactly convey the meaning of the original language. Even if the translators can match the original language, sometimes it is difficult for them to resonate with the film creators in thought (Zhang, 2019). This also belongs to the barrier between languages, which makes it hard for cultural discounts caused by language to be completely eliminated. Therefore, the factor of language involving translation also becomes one of the factors that influence cultural discount of the transcultural communication of not only Chinese films but also any country’s films.
In view of these, there are three strategies that Chinese films can consider using to mitigate such issues.
1) Viewing that Chinese films contain rich cultural elements, such as certain slang, idioms, or culturally specific humour, the translators can cooperate with translators or relevant scholars or practitioners in the target country to find similar expressions in the target language, which are close to the cultural habits of the target audience and appropriately retain the original elements to show its uniqueness. Related translators can also add cultural annotations or explanations when necessary, combining literal translation with indirect translation or free translation, concisely and accurately conveying the meanings, enhancing the readability of subtitles, and thus helping the target audience understand the characteristics or language habits of the Chinese culture.
2) In some Chinese, there may be some sensitive content, such as political topics, insults, and so on, which can easily cause cultural misunderstandings among the international audience. Hence, related translators can make appropriate adjustments and processing according to the acceptance of the target culture, avoid overly direct expressions, and not lose the emotion of the original context.
3) Since the cultural backgrounds and languages of film audiences are different, and the ability to understand culture and language varies greatly among individuals, there may be different feelings and understandings of different audiences towards the same content. If conditions permit, related translators can consider making targeted adjustments to the target audience’s cultural background, language level, and viewing habits to continuously improve the quality of translation.
4.4. From the Non-Chinese Film Audiences as Information
Receivers
According to Zan’s viewpoints (Zan, 2006), the necessary condition for effective information dissemination is that the intersection of the knowledge system between the information sender and the information receiver is not empty. In other words, the higher the degree of overlap of the knowledge system between the sender and receiver of information, the higher the accuracy of information communication between them, and the more likely it is to effectively disseminate information. However, in reality, the information is often unable to be completely and accurately disseminated. Therefore, cultural discounts arise from this. The essence of cultural discounts is the rough exchange of information between the sender of the information (or the information producer) and the receiver of the information (or the information consumer) due to the difference in knowledge cultural structure. At this time, the latter will receive the information that they can understand while ignoring those parts that are not fully understood and ambiguous (Zan, 2017).
The encoding of information content or meaning undertaken by media producers would be decoded differently by different audiences in different social locations, mainly because of the difference in the audience’s culture, ideology, values, etc. (Bao, 2015; Dickinson & Linne, 1998; Wang, 2017; Zhao, 2014). This situation is more obvious in a transcultural context. Even though some meanings can be accepted, cultural connotations may be compromised to a certain degree (Bao, 2015). From non-Chinese film audiences as information receivers, some audiences from different countries have different cultural acceptance. When audiences who are not very familiar with the Chinese culture appreciate such Chinese cultural products, sometimes they do not necessarily understand deep connotations, especially in certain content involving cultural, social, historical, or political aspects. Due to differences in cultural context (including values and so on), sometimes, for example, it is not very easy for non-Chinese audiences, especially those located far from China, to comprehend the local Chinese paragraphs or folk adages. They may form multiple interpretations of such culture, particularly for vast and profound Chinese culture and long Chinese history. It is likely for them to fall into a sort of dilemma that they do not understand, misunderstand, or deviate from the cultural connotation that the film attempts to convey. This also affects the transcultural communication effect of Chinese films to a certain extent.
For example, some audiences in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia have a relatively close “cultural distance” (Lee, 2009: p. 256) and are close to the Chinese cultural circle. They have a certain understanding of some Chinese stories or Chinese culture, and then they are relatively more familiar with or feel close to these elements and are more likely to resonate with them. However, many European and American audiences with a relatively far “cultural distance” (Lee, 2009: p. 256) are relatively unfamiliar with some elements with strong Chinese characteristics, and some of them find it difficult to understand these elements. For such audiences with a large cultural and language span, they are relatively unfamiliar with the content. Although they may still be attracted by the film, they will relatively resonate less with the content with certain strong cultural features. For instance, the Chinese words, idioms, or dialects in the lines of “Ne Zha 2” (Yang, 2025) that involve ancient Chinese mythology, such as “急急如律令” that was translated by “quickly quickly biu biu biu” (a phrase used in the official document or a kind of spell originated from Chinese Taoist culture, meaning “immediately execute orders, just like the law cannot be disobeyed”, “swift and uplift”, or “be quick to obey orders presto”); a large number of ancient poems in the historical animated film Chang An (Xie & Zou, 2023); many traditional folk lingoes, folk legends and myths in the folk song lyrics in the musical film Third Sister Liu (Su, 1960); lots of ancient literary terms from Chinese classical masterpieces in the silent film Spiders (Dan, 1927).
It can be found that “in a similar cultural setting, the flow of products” tends to be “easier because of shared cultural experience”; “the opposite” tends to be “true when the cultural context is different due to incompatible values or tastes, hence a discount of the values of products from overseas” (Hong & Chang, 2011: p. 56). In exposure to cultural works, the audience from which culture will interpret the media content within the boundaries of their local culture (Hong & Chang, 2011). They tend to digest media content that is consistent with their national, cultural, ethnic, and racial characteristics (Crane, 2002). Therefore, it is also necessary to consider or rethink the factors of audiences themselves as information receivers when discussing the factors that influence the cultural discount of transcultural communication in films.
5. Conclusion
As an important content of the cultural industry, the film carries the mission of improving the national cultural soft power. The transcultural communication of Chinese films has attracted much attention as the process of globalization intensifies. Therefore, the proper international dissemination of Chinese films has practical significance in enhancing the international influence and competitiveness of Chinese culture. It is necessary for researchers and practitioners to explore and/or practice from a comprehensive point of view, in order to alleviate the phenomenon of cultural discounts as much as possible and properly promote the Chinese culture and Chinese image to the world. Certainly, this is not equal to only focusing on the overseas market of Chinese films, and it also admits that the demands and thoughts of the Chinese audience are also very important and need to be paid more attention to in the future.
To some extent, based on communication model, especially encoding and decoding model, this study can provide an academic reference for both academic scholars and practitioners in relevant fields. Meanwhile, it is undeniable that the analysis of this topic from the perspective of communication is limited, which cannot capture all the factors of cultural difference that are likely to determine the size of the cultural discount. In reality, the factors that influence the cultural discount of Chinese films in transcultural communication are more than these and much more complicated, and they need to be examined in a broader context.
Acknowledgements
The authors of this research express many thanks to the editors and reviewers of Chinese Studies for their patient review and valuable advice.