From Cinema to Algorithms: China’s Visual Narratives and India’s Strategic Communication in the Indo-Pacific

Abstract

This article reflects on the evolving dynamics between visual culture, digital platforms, and competition in geopolitical narratives in the Indo Pacific. It proposes that rather than remaining in a cinematically oriented mode of concentrated spectacle, China's strategic visuality has transitioned into a media ecology of interconnectedness characterized by blockbuster films, state-media communication, short form video and platform-based recommendation systems that all interact with each other to ensure the visibility of the narrative. Through the two films, Wolf Warrior II and Operation Red Sea, the article explores the construction of Chinese national power in contemporary Chinese action films, namely as embodied heroism, maritime mobility, technological competence, and as the competent provider of security beyond its borders. It then explores how these components of this visual grammar might be replicated and repurposed in platforms and how there is a difference between content going viral and being demonstrably algorithmically amplified. The article then explores India's strategic visual communication in four aspects: civilizational narratives, Project Mausam, Indo Pacific diplomacy, and maritime humanitarianism and digital platform governance. The article does not view China and India as morally opposed communicative systems, but as competing models of strategic visuality: one a Chinese cinematic-to-platform model, which focuses on modernization, technological competence and protecting state capacity; the other an Indian civilizational-network model, which emphasises historical connectedness, pluralism, partnership, and resident maritime legitimacy. Finally, drawing on the notion of computational mise-en-scène, the article looks at how platform architectures come into play in shaping political meanings especially in relation to the traditional audiovisual decisions.