This study conducts a multicultural comparative analysis of the musical film industries in the United States (Hollywood) and China. Focusing primarily on the musical film genre, it explores how this form has emerged and developed within each country...
This study conducts a multicultural comparative analysis of the musical film industries in the United States (Hollywood) and China. Focusing primarily on the musical film genre, it explores how this form has emerged and developed within each country’s distinct political-economic systems, cultural traditions, and social ideologies, while identifying the underlying principles and unique modes of expression that characterize their respective approaches.
The analysis begins by establishing a clear definition of the musical film as a cinematic art form in which song, dance, and narrative are seamlessly integrated. It then examines the genre’s historical evolution from three key perspectives: its origins in early twentieth-century short song-and-dance films and rapid expansion following the arrival of sound cinema; the division of musicals into stage-to-screen adaptations, original film musicals, and conventional dramas retrofitted with musical numbers; and the recurring conventions through which song and dance either directly propel the plot, advance the storyline, or deepen and intensify thematic expression.
Grounded in this theoretical framework, the study traces the historical development of musical films in both countries in chronological order, drawing on carefully organized historical sources.
Hollywood’s trajectory spans the initial sound-film experiments of the 1930s, the Golden Age of widespread popularity, post-war formal innovation, and the multicultural fusion of the twenty-first century. Throughout this evolution, the profound influence of Broadway theatrical traditions and a highly commercial, big-budget production model remain evident.
In contrast, Chinese musical cinema originated with early attempts to adapt traditional operas to the screen, entered a “singing film” (歌唱片) phase in which the genre primarily served propaganda and ideological purposes, began incorporating and localizing Western musicals after the Reform and Opening-up period, and, in the twenty-first century, achieved distinctive forms of fusion and original creation bolstered by proactive state cultural policies.
At the levels of ideology and cultural codes, the study further compares how the two traditions treat recurring themes such as dreamlike ideal worlds, the tension between individual and collective, and the interplay of tradition and modernity. In doing so, it illuminates the specific challenges China has encountered in forging a distinctive musical film identity and suggests potential paths forward.
The comparative analysis reveals that, despite the shared core principle of using song to drive narrative, differences in policy environments, industrial structures, and audience expectations have given rise to markedly different narrative concerns and aesthetic styles in each country.
Finally, close readings are conducted of three American musicals—Chicago, La La Land, and tick, tick… BOOM!—and three Chinese counterparts—Perhaps Love (如果·愛), Happiness (高興), and Eternal Wave (永不消逝的電波). Through detailed examination of spatial symbolism, narrative structure, visual style, and the integration of song and dance, the study elucidates genre conventions, ideological dimensions, modes of cultural transmission, and the intercultural resonances that emerge between the two traditions.
The originality of this research lies in its transcendence of earlier studies limited to a single national cinema or genre by effectively connecting broad historical trajectories with concrete textual analysis; in its proposal of a new tripartite analytical model—genre elements, cultural codes, and narrative style—that offers a reusable framework for future Chinese cinema scholarship; and in its heightened attention to audience reception and the operation of cultural imagination across national boundaries, thereby deepening the field of musical film studies and grounding it more firmly in contemporary realities.