Cinema, Realism, and The World According to Jia Zhangke

In this article, I argue that while processes of globalization and digitization have complicated our idea of what constitutes “cinema” and “the world,” the idea of World Cinema is not new, but is instead foundational to the advent of film itself. More specifically, I examine Jia Zhangke’s The World (2004, China/Japan/France) as a prototypical “World Cinema” text, in order to help juxtapose the experience of film (and the sense of Bazinian realism and authenticity often attributed to it), with the phenomenon of World Exhibitions. Although I do examine the text itself in some detail, my goal is not merely to provide yet another reading of The World (of which there are many), but to articulate something more broadly about the experience of film, the panoramic discourse of World Cinema (especially via international film festivals), and the supposedly disruptive effects of digital technologies.