Selling (un)real estate with “Shi(势)-nema”: manipulation, not persuasion, in China’s contemporary cinematic-cities

Abstract

Investigating what has been called the mise-en-scene of Capitalism's Second Coming in China, this essay explores how cinematic principles have become divorced from the medium of cinema and can be found operating within contemporary Chinese urban spaces in order to increase the efficacy of real estate showroom settings. Specifically, we explore the effects of affectively distributed networks of human, architectural and nonhuman 'actors' that appear to be arranged in such a way as to manipulate and impact the thoughts, feelings and actions of potential buyers. To best expose the effectiveness of these modern urban assemblages, we engineer an encounter between the Chinese concept of shi (势)described by sinologistphilosopher François Julien as the "inherent potentiality at work in configuration"and that of cinematicty, wherein the cinema and city are recognised as co-determining and mutually enabling site/sights.

Through the Magical Pink Walkway: A Behavior Setting’s Invitation to Embodied Sense-Makers

“…This paper has examined an intersection between ecological psychology and the enactive approach brought about by investigating embodied action as sense-making within the confines of a behavior setting. With a case study selected from a video corpus being built to study embodied interaction and urban environments in China (see Fleming and Harrison, 2018 , 2020 ; Harrison and Fleming, 2019 ), I first described a Pink Cosmetics pop-up store in a Hong Kong shopping mall with the definitions and criteria from behavior setting theory ( Barker, 1968 ). My findings revealed a highly structured environment embedded within the mall, where several behavior–milieu parts (Barker’s “synomorphs”) were interwoven with image-making technologies, including a photography stage, brightly lit mirrors, a printed holograph machine, and an animated video kiosk.…”

“…In addition to these findings, the study contributes a situated example of how novel forms of consumerism and screen culture are shaping today’s urban environments ( Fleming and Harrison, 2020 ), begging the question “of what kinds of worlds we are building, for whom, and under what constraints and possibilities” ( Di Paolo et al, 2018 , p. 10).…”

“…I have also conducted semi-structured interviews with this participant, as well as think-aloud paradigms and post-event recalls, which I have been able to draw on to support or nuance interpretations of her embodied interaction. While acknowledging the specificity of this corpus, it has also contributed a situated example ( Busch-Jensen and Schraube, 2019 ) for reflecting on contemporary subjectivities, lifestyles, and urban environments in China ( Fleming and Harrison, 2020 ).…”

“…Summarizing their views, the pose might have originated with a Chinese Internet celebrity, whose attractive or cute performance of the pose began circulating online, which led to the pose going viral. For a discussion of how gestures are embedded in global cultural and capitalist flows, as would be the case in the uptake of a celebrity pose, readers are pointed toward chapter 4 of Fleming and Harrison (2020) where they will find analyses of a K-Pop dance move appearing in the classroom of a British university campus in China.…”

Metaphoricity in the real estate showroom: Affordance spaces for sensorimotor shopping

“…As in other Chinese cities experiencing unprecedented urban growth, Ningbo's showrooms are located in front of the numerous building sites where new property is being developed around the city. The showrooms play a central role in both advertising the property and providing the location where the sale of property will take place (often by selling off plot through competitive bidding; see Fleming & Harrison, 2018). For metaphor scholars, the yet-to-be-built-ness of the apartments on sale and the discourse of advertising surrounding them should evoke an ideal situation to observe the conditions for potentially metaphoric behaviours.…”