The impact of streaming on the film industry and soft power strategies in China, South Korea and Japan

The impact of streaming on the film industry and soft power strategies in China, South Korea and Japan


Paksiutov G.D.,

Institute of China and Contemporary Asian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, gpaksyutov@mail.ru


elibrary_id: 965340 | ORCID: 0000-0001-7153-4315 | RESEARCHER_ID: ABF-9928-2021

Article received: 2022.01.21. Accepted: 2022.08.19


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2023.02.04
EDN: ITXUKL


For citation:

Paksiutov G.D. The impact of streaming on the film industry and soft power strategies in China, South Korea and Japan. – Polis. Political Studies. 2023. No. 2. P. 41-53. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2023.02.04. EDN: ITXUKL



Abstract

The article aims to examine the impact of the globally popular streaming services (Netflix, etc.) on the film industry and the national soft power strategies in China, Japan and South Korea. The author highlights the specific characteristics and the reasons for the economic success of the streaming services business model. The investigation shows that China cooperates very cautiously with the US-based streaming services, forbids them the access to the national film market and does not promote the home-produced audiovisual contents through the global digital platforms, aiming to preserve the independent decision-making in the cultural industries. South Korean film industry cooperates with Netflix extensively – a tendency in line with the state-supported national strategy aimed to promote the creative goods through the digital media and the social networks. More recently, the Japanese animation industry also intensifies its cooperation with the US-based streaming service in attempt to diversify their revenue sources, which is a crucial task in light of the rapid ageing of the country’s population. However, such cooperation is connected with the risk of compromising the national cultural identity. We conclude the article by discussing the theoretical problems raised by the ongoing transformation of the film industry under the streaming services’ impact and stress that if we attempt to assess a country’s soft power strategy’s outcomes, it is necessary to uncover the specific goals of the strategy.

Keywords
soft power, film industry, streaming services, digitalization of culture, globalization, China, Japan, South Korea.


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Content No. 2, 2023

See also:


Round Table of the «Polis» Journal, Streltsov D.V., Chugrov S.V., Karelova L.B., Oznobishchev S.K.,
Russia and Japan. Part II. View from Russia. – Polis. Political Studies. 2014. No1

Inoguchi T.,
Political Science in Three Democracies, Disaffected (Japan), Third Wave (Korea) and Fledgeling (China). – Polis. Political Studies. 2004. No5

Liu Zaiqi,
«Soft Power» in China’s Development Strategy. – Polis. Political Studies. 2009. No4

Kostyrev A.G.,
The intelligent power, public diplomacy, and social networks as a factors of international politics. – Polis. Political Studies. 2013. No2

Chugrov S.V.,
Sof Attraction of Japan. – Polis. Political Studies. 2015. No6

 
 

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