Cinema and Soft Power: Configuring the National and Transnational in Geo-politics

The apparent shift in power relations between the developed and developing world, along with the increasing emphasis that national and transnational organisations place on the role of ‘soft power’ in global foreign policy, has profound implications for global film culture. Focusing primarily on the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), this innovative collection examines the diverse and often competing ways the group as a whole engages with film as a medium of artistic expression, and as a ‘soft power’ resource. The contributors explore the wider implications for world cinema of its members’ differing and dynamic positions in the global media landscape, and the book includes a comparative analysis by examining the post-imperial soft power of the UK at the time of Brexit. List of Figures, Charts and Tables Notes on Contributors Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction: The Soft Power of Film 1 Soft Power and Cinema: A Methodological Reflection and Some Chinese Inflections 2 Building BRICS: Soft Power and Audio-visual Relations in Transnational Context 3 The Global Animation Market: Opportunities for Developing Countries 4 (Masha and) the Bear Diplomacy: Soft Power as World-building and Russian Non-governmental Agency 5 The Limits of Hollywood as an Instrument of Chinese Public Diplomacy and Soft Power 6 The Second World War, Soviet Sports and Furious Space Walks: Soft Power and Nation Branding in the Putin 2.0 Era 7 Popular Geo-politics, Strategic Narratives and Soft Power in Viking (2016) and Guardians (2017) 8 The South African Soft Power Narrative, Cinema and Participatory Video 9 New Myths for an Old Nation: Bollywood, Soft Power and Hindu Nationalism 10 Soft Power and National Cinema: James Bond, ‘GREAT’ Britain and Brexit Index The apparent shift in power relations between the developed and developing world, along with the increasing emphasis that national and transnational organisations place on the role of ?soft power? in global foreign policy, has profound implications for global film culture. Focusing primarily on the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), this innovative collection examines the diverse and often competing ways the group as a whole engages with film as a medium of artistic expression, and as a ?soft power? resource.0The contributors explore the wider implications for world cinema of its members? differing and dynamic positions in the global media landscape, and the book includes a comparative analysis by examining the post-imperial soft power of the UK at the time of Brexit The apparent shift in power relations between the developed and developing world, along with the increasing emphasis that national and transnational organisations place on the role of soft power in global foreign policy, has profound implications for global film culture. Focusing primarily on the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), this innovative collection examines the diverse and often competing ways the group engages with film as a medium of artistic expression, and as a soft power resource. The contributors explore the wider implications for world cinema of BRICS members’ differing and dynamic positions in the global media landscape, and the book includes a comparative analysis by examining the post-imperial soft power of the UK at the time of Brexit. Explores the relationship between soft power and film in relation to national and transnational cinemas.