From Netflix to iQiyi: As the World Turns, Serial Dramas in Virtual Circulation

Ying Zhu, City University of New York and Hong Kong Baptist University

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Abstract

This talk discusses the interplay between serial dramas and streaming services in China and the US, the two leading countries in content-production and circulation in the era of non-linear, non-synchronized, and subscription-based online consumption characterized by “binge” in an instantaneous and globalized streaming ecosystem. It examines the rise of miniseries as one of the dominant programming for online streaming. Professor Ying Zhu examines the extent to which the new consumption model affects the standing of miniseries in the cultural hierarchy. She will further examine how transnational streaming services such as Netflix negotiate with local barriers for global entrance and expansion. The transnational circulation of Netflix show 'House of Cards' in the era of border-crossing virtual streaming will be singled out for analysis.

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From Netflix to iQiyi: As the World Turns, Serial Dramas in Virtual Circulation

About the speaker

Ying Zhu is a professor of cinema and media studies at the City University of New York and Hong Kong Baptist University, and a visiting fellow in the Orient Institute at the University of Oxford and a visiting professor in the Film Studies Program at the Columbia University. The founding editor of Global Storytelling: Journal of Digital and Moving Images , her research areas encompass Chinese cinema and media, Sino-Hollywood relations, and TV drama and online streaming. She has published ten books, including Soft Power with Chinese Characteristics: China’s Campaign for Hearts and Minds (2019) and Two Billion Eyes: The Story of China Central Television (2013). Her first research monograph, Chinese Cinema During the Era of Reform: The Ingenuity of the System (2003) pioneered the industry analysis of Chinese film studios. Her second research monograph, Television in Post-Reform China: Serial Drama, Confucian Leadership and the Global Television Market (2008), together with two edited books— TV China (2009) and TV Drama in China (2008)—pioneered the subfield of Chinese TV drama studies. Her works have been translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, Italian, and Spanish.

Zhu is the recipient of a US National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, an American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, and a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship. She reviews manuscripts for major publications and evaluates grant proposals for research foundations in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, the U.K., Sweden, and the U.S. Her writings have appeared in major academic journals as well as established media outlets such as The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times , and The Wall Street Journal , etc. Her new book, Hollywood in China: Behind the Scenes of the World's Largest Movie Market is forthcoming.

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This webinar will take place online via Zoom. Click here to register .

Contact email: sci@soas.ac.uk