Chinese Journal of Literary Criticism

No.4, 2019

Hyper-Identity: Information Technology Imagination of Chinese Science Fiction Films

(Abstract)

Huang Mingfen

“Identity” is the core category that reflects the sense of belonging of social members. Its nature is undergoing a transformation from stability, simplicity, homomorphism to mobility, mixing and heterogeneity in the post-modern context. With the opportunity of the fifth information revolution, Chinese science fiction movies have launched a bold imagination about “hyperidentities.” Hyperidentity is characterized by exploiting the potential of information technology, which includes three main ideas: first, to strengthen mobility and transcend traditional body, role and memory in the view of hyper-personality; second, to enhance hybridity and conceive super-conventional identity camouflage, transformation and recognition in the view of super-technology; and third, to explore the otherness in the view of hyper-space-time, shaping the images of time travelers, space travelers and aliens.