Metafiction, intertextuality, and consumerism in transmedia resemiotization: a postmodern analysis of a comic book adaptation of the Chinese classic Journey to the West.

This article examines the postmodern textual transformations in Tsai Chih Chung’s comic book adaptation of the classic Chinese novel *Journey to the West*, focusing on metafiction, intertextuality, and consumer culture. It argues that the adaptation functions as a form of transmedia resemiotization, using comics-specific semiotic resources to subvert the original narrative’s authority and classical status while reflecting contemporary Chinese postmodern culture shaped by consumerism and cultural hybridity. The comic playfully engages with traditional Chinese culture, Western and Japanese references, and market ideologies, simultaneously critiquing and participating in consumer capitalism. This study highlights how such adaptations contribute to the ongoing reinterpretation and cultural updating of Chinese classics within the dynamics of modern popular culture and postmodern norms.