China's New Image: A Global Perspective And National Identity

With the wave of globalization sweeping the whole world as well as the increasing clasp of the Chinese and Pan-Asian movies, Chinese national movies, the media carrier of cultural image of China, are participating in global spread energetically, shooting as the speech right in the international movie market. The young directors from Mainland, Hongkong and Taiwan form the principal part of the creatives of the national movies in the new century. Their development and maturation is the key to construct national identification and to mold a cultural China in globalizing language situation. The present thesis concerns the relationship between the script and the cultural language condition of movies. It penetrates art style and cultural concept of the young directors'from Mainland, Hongkong and Taiwan respectively. Meanwhile, it tries to establish a more impersonal and rational research system so as to deepen the discussion on the director's art theory. Besides, the products of the young generation just offer the most suitable and immediate research models to perceive conflict and conformity of different cultures from different areas in the course of globalization. Therefore, this research task will be both theoretically and strategically significant to promote the artistic development of Mainland movies and drive the cooperation from the three areas as well as the interaction in the whole Asia.This thesis consists of five parts. Firstly, it generally surveys the young directors'group characteristics and their production. The Mainland youth have experienced switch from marginal trek to return to the mainstream. Those in HK have been expressing their art in the public movie industry which regards the commercial pursuit as its main purpose, while those in Taiwan have been struggling in the hardship of policy, economy and culture, trying to explore the direction of local films. The second part focuses on the youth movies directed by the youth. Nirvana during growth with the historical background is the spiritual core of Mainland movies. The directors inspect and analyze the young age on a macroscopical history background in a solemn and calm way. According to the HK directors, odd appearance and unruly soul is the double character of the youth. They reflect themselves in the commercial mainstream. The Taiwan youth, on the contrary, make use of cruelty and warmth to examine the conflict between social realization and human nature. In the third part, the author compares the cities that appear in the movies. As the witness of the modern urbanization of China, the young directors present lively images of small towns, citiesand even post-metropolises. By the TV in city images, the young directors calmly observe spiritual depression and anxiety of identity of groups and individuals in cities. The fourth part studies the types of the young directors'products. On one side, basing on the local cultural background and taste, they seek for proper patterns combining their own artistic conception and specialty. For example, the horrible movie is the common choice in the areas, but is expressed in multistyles. On the other side, the youth reform and recast the traditional styles in a way of ant-pattern and mixed-pattern to fit the international fashion and view, by which, they are endeavor to create new types of movie with full of national cultural spirits. The fifth part analyzes the significant relationship between language background and the features of the youth's movies. It reveals that image narration is remarkable in most of these movies and that Chinese culture impenetrates all through the films. Moreover, for the different area cultures, there exist homogeneous public cultural quality and cultural misunderstanding in the position of"others". At the same time, in the cultural spread, the youth from three areas are dealing with their matters with their concrete policy, that is, to be faced straight with the market and to carry on the nationalism. But still, there is possibility of undesirable warp and disability of their policies.