Institutional Intertextuality: Cross-Media Adaptation as Cultural Governance in Chinese Cinema and Theater

Background and Aims: China's cross-media adaptations between cinema and stage drama have formed a distinctive cultural production mode shaped by policy, market, and technology. This study aims to explore how these adaptations reflect a dynamic mechanism of "institutional intertextuality" and reshape aesthetic production within the framework of cultural governance. Materials and Methods: The research investigates 32 adaptation cases (18 stage-to-film, 14 film-to-stage) from 2013 to 2023 using a literature review, textual analysis, and comparative case study. Result: (1) Policy-driven adaptations embed national ideological goals into narrative and visual forms through tools like the National Art Fund. (2) Market-oriented strategies, such as the “theater-screen closed-loop model,” enhance IP commercial value and cultural reach. (3) Technological localization facilitates the aesthetic reconstruction of traditional elements via VR, 4K, and AI. Representative cases include Mr. Donkey’s shift from theatrical metafiction to cinematic realism, and Myth of Love’s activation of regional identity through Shanghainese dialect. Conclusion: Chinese cross-media adaptation illustrates a triadic model—policy regulation, market recursion, and technological aestheticization—that departs from Western paradigms. These findings contribute a non-Western perspective to global media studies and provide actionable insights for policy design and creative innovation in cultural industries.