Imagining an Alternative Future: Children’s Bodies in Wonder Boy (1988), Magic Watch (1990), and Mad Rabbit (1997)

Since China launched its reform and opening-up campaign, the country experienced significant economic growth and infrastructure expansion, which helped spur the release of numerous science fiction works. Among these works, Zhang Zhilu’s three children’s sf films presented an alternative future for Chinese children and teenagers. This essay contends that while these films portray children as integral to infrastructure and the construction of a market economy network, they opt for natural and playful growth driven by a longing for freedom and emotional connection, and by doing so they circumvent the predetermined and goal-oriented trajectory of social development.