Transnational filmmaker, fanboy-auteur: screening Nolan’s Inception in China

Herring, L

Abstract

Since the release of Batman Begins (2005) in China, Christopher Nolan’s films have performed increasingly well in the Chinese film market. As the world’s fastest growing film market, China has become the primary export destination for Hollywood films. Alongside the rapid development of the Chinese film exhibition industry, Chinese audiences have multiplied and diversified and gaining access to this lucrative market has become imperative for Hollywood films. Hollywood has always been globally-minded and applying transnational filmmaking techniques is one of the ways that Hollywood films seek to ensure their products play internationally. This chapter focuses on Inception (2010) as an example of transnational cinema in the Chinese film market and in doing so explores the reasons for Nolan’s success in China. In exploring the director’s success in China this chapter examines how his role as a fanboy-auteur has helped to ingratiate him with Chinese audiences.

Citation

Herring, L. (2022). Transnational filmmaker, fanboy-auteur: screening Nolan’s Inception in China. In C. Parkinson, & I. Labrouillere (Eds.), A Critical Companion to Christopher Nolan. Lexington Books

• Publication Date: Dec 15, 2022
• Deposit Date: Oct 11, 2022
• Series Title: Critical Companions to Contemporary Directors
• Book Title: A Critical Companion to Christopher Nolan
• ISBN: 9781793652515
• Publisher URL: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793652515/A-Critical-Companion-to-Christopher-Nolan