The Real Other in Fantasy
Intercultural communication begins with the mutual knowledge of self and other, and imagination and fiction arise when we know nothing about the other. As an important medium of dominant ideology, film is an important window to reflect and disseminate the societies and cultures of different countries. Through combing the images of Chinese people in well-known films from the first Academy Awards in 1927 to the present, this project explores the flow of Chinese images on the world's silver screen and reflects on the subtle relationship between fact and fiction, manifestation and concealment, and the self and the other.
China can be heaven or hell. For the West to know China, to pay attention to China, to study China, what is important is not to try to confirm or describe the existence of this country and the state of existence, but what is the significance of the existence of such a country for Europe. Therefore, Sinology, the study of comparative horizons with a strong condescending attitude, is destined to be strongly Western- Centred.
In the design process, I extracted the facial features and clothing characteristics of Chinese men and women in the Oscar film respectively, and fused them to generate images with comprehensive characteristics.
Screens have multiple layers of meaning in China, they can symbolise power as well as cover. Therefore, for this project, I used the form of the screen for production. In addition, I replaced the ordinary screen material with blinds and fixed the generated images onto the blinds by collage and beading, etc. Through the secondary collage, the original images will become further blurred and difficult to recognise.
China can be heaven or hell. For the West to know China, to pay attention to China, to study China, what is important is not to try to confirm or describe the existence of this country and the state of existence, but what is the significance of the existence of such a country for Europe. Therefore, Sinology, the study of comparative horizons with a strong condescending attitude, is destined to be strongly Western-centred.
