Dematerialization and Digital Ink-Painting Aesthetics in Contemporary Chinese Animation: Redefining the ‘National Style’ in Deep Sea (2023)

This research scrutinizes the implications of the ‘national style’ in Chinese ink-painting animation, with a focus on the digital era transformation, utilizing Deep Sea (2023) as a case study. The authors employ a visual and critical analysis of the film’s innovative three-dimensional (3D) ‘particle-ink technology’, invented by director Tian Xiaopeng, which digitizes traditional elements like water and ink. They find that this shift from physical to digital media has resulted in a unique aesthetic experience and altered the reception of this animation style. The film’s blend of Chinese and Disney/Pixar styles presents a nuanced interplay between tradition and innovation, Chinese and global, reconfiguring the ‘national style’ paradigm. However, the shift has elicited tension between modern reinterpretations and inherited artistic practices. The authors argue the importance of balancing this tension in Chinese animation to avoid limiting the ink-painting form’s potential evolution and to facilitate a diverse, globally evolving narrative of Chinese national identity.