For a long time i've been getting more and more disinterested and disappointed with the state of the Western film industry. There's just barely anything there anymore that appeals to me. So i've been watching more Chinese movies and TV series over the past year and i've noticed something. Looking past the differences in style or technical aspects where they may lag behind, there's just something about the way that they are written and acted that is just so refreshing to me. I see people often call it cheesy but what it actually is is a real optimism and genuineness about them. A sort of emotional earnestness that they are not ashamed of. They are not cynical and irony poisoned and pessimistic in the way that so much content coming out of the Western entertainment industry is nowadays. When you first start getting into it it feels really alien. It doesn't translate well to where the Western cultural Zeitgeist is currently at, which is a very dark place to be honest. But the more i see the more i appreciate it.
And it really shows the difference between the mood in their society where, despite difficulties, things keep improving all the time, and our own societies where clearly things are getting worse and worse every year. So our media of course also reflects that with darker themes, pessimistic about human nature, full of violent treacherous sociopaths and ubermenschen, post-apocalyptic scenarios with no vision of how a better society could look but instead more of the same broken, dysfunctional, egotistical, inhumane system that we have now, consumerist distraction, and empty social critique that describes but never actually offers any solution, because we have internalized that "there is no alternative". The only "solutions" offered are individualistic and idealistic, of the singular powerful savior or the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" type, or of the "all we need are the right words to say that will convince people to stop being bad".
Anyway, these were just some thoughts that were going through my head last evening as i was watching some stuff. This isn't a rigorous analysis, i don't have a comparative case study to present and i'm not a film critic, it's just how i feel.
Hello Cfgaussian, I appreciate your analysis on practically everything. Thanks for sharing this.
I don't think you need to go into further detail since you already identify the crux of the problem very well. The West lives by the motto: "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism".
Of course, this is part of the cultural war waged by burgers against the people. Keep us demoralized. Muh Fallout but no Lenin, sorry. I'm a big fan of the Fallout series, but I came to recognize the very same problems you tell about in your post.
In other words, post-apocalyptic America looks like post-industrial Detroit than anything else. A couple of good memes float on this theme.
Now, going back on topic: how about sharing the Chinese media you've watching? This way we can see for ourselves π
I guess everyone's heard of the blockbuster movies that have been coming out of China that have been the most popular recently, so i don't need to mention those.
As for TV series, i tend to just look for whatever is highest rated on the various C-drama websites, though for now i avoid the historical costume dramas because they're a bit too formulaic for my taste (but if anyone has a good recommendation of one that is really exceptional i would of course be open).
So i generally go for ones with more "modern" setting, either set in the 20th century dealing with interesting periods in China's recent history such as "Minning Town" (set during the 1990s) or "This Thriving Land" (set in the 1930s), as well as police procedurals set in the modern day like "Sword Rose" or "In the Name of the People". I guess that's a good place to start to get a feel for what Chinese TV is like.
I'm still just barely beginning myself to get an idea of what's available because China produces a lot of movies and TV, but they are not that easy to find outside of China, especially with subtitles.
Always with this answer, goddamn you people! I have yet to hear of any Chinese media ever except "ne zha 2" and, like, 3 games lmao. Pls mention the big, impossible to miss moviesβ€οΈπ
List of Chinese films of 2025
Top China Blockbusters - movies produced in Mainland China/HK/Macau/Taiwan that have surpassed $100 million in gross revenue
Hell yeah, thank you!
Yeah, subtitles are obviously a must. Thanks! π
A lot of the pirate streams have subtitles.
Check here: https://rentry.org/megathread-movies-and-tv#east-south-asian-drama