Discovering the digital Stephen Chow: The transborder influence of Chow’s films on the Chinese Internet in the 2010s

Abstract

This study uncovers and analyzes the transborder influence of Stephen Chow’s films in China in the 2010s. This influence takes a form that is new and different from that of the first three fan cultures of Chow’s films. It operates through various online carnivalesque items co-created by Chinese netizens and cultural producers. I document this with an investigation of the online catchphrases, visual memes, and web novels inspired by Chow’s films. One can interpret this new wave of influence as the fourth fan culture of Chow’s films or as a merger between Hong Kong nonsensical culture with the Chinese online carnival. This study’s data come from primary sources including memes and web novels and secondary sources including relevant news reports, online commentaries, and Chinese-language scholarship.