Chinese Early Films And Hollywood

Based on historical documents,the author studies films of different types from the comparative perspective and tries to explore the relationship between early Chinese films and Hollywood movies with the aim to establish modern films of the nation.The influence of Hollywood movies on early Chinese films differed in different time periods.From 1913 to 1923,when Hollywood movies first came to China,spoofs and detective films were among the most popular,which inspired the Chinese to produce these types of films.The first Western films Chinese audience saw were spoofs.Under the influence of Keystone's slapstick comedy in America,a spoof boom appeared in Chinese film industry.The comic concept of funniness,funny scene of chasing,the funny appearance of comic characters,type of image,and the narrative plot in Keystone's films,had an obvious bearing on early Chinese spoofs.On the other hand,Chinese filmmakers felt obliged to produce "home-made films".They tried to develop a local style of spoofs by representing Chinese social life or funny folkloric stories in the style of Keystone's slapstick comedy.In spite of the absence of good productions,spoofs pushed forward the appearance and development of Early Chinese Film.Early detective films in China were also developed under the influence of their American counterparts.American detective films at that time featured "suspense,thrill,and superman action",to be specific,fantastic plot and structure,dangerous gears and fierce fighting and the combination of the above factors by "superman" actions to form a complete narrative.Early Chinese detective films inherited these features.In spite that there were few high-quality detective films,early Chinese film-makers began to develop their own ideas in script writing,the practice of films' documentary feature and the construction of the film consciousness and the formation of the film market when imitating and learning from American detective films.From 1923 to 1926,more romance,ethical films and social films were shot than spoofs and detective films.The "Romance heat" in this period resulted from the movement of personal liberation and free love in the May-fourth Period.Romance,under the influence of Hollywood movies,indicated the improvement of Chinese filmmakers' artistic taste.When learning from Hollywood movies,Chinese filmmakers began to recognize the aesthetic features of romance,that is,romance emphasized "emotion",depiction of personality and emotional performances.Depicting Chinese social life through misery,love and eroticism,early Chinese romance films made progress in the image representation of the emotion and personality of human beings.On the other hand,guided by the principle that "films in the utmost should be beautiful",filmmakers began to attach more importance to the artistic creation of images in direction,performance and photography.Also under the influence of Hollywood ethical films,Chinese ethical films endeavored to"educate the people".As the Hollywood films,early Chinese ethical films described the reality from three aspects:parental love,brotherhood,and love between spouses.They reflected the tone of morality and the purpose of education.This type of films emphasized "representing the story in an artistic way" and improved the narrative art of Chinese films,for early Chinese films usually lack theatricality.It paid more attention to transfer morality and ethics to the audience in an easy-to-understand and jubilant way.Early Chinese social films were also profoundly influenced by American films of social criticism in terms of subject matters,theme and image.As their American models,early Chinese social films revealed the social evil by exposing darkness in reality,reflected problems in real life by depicting love and marriage between men and women,and shown the difficult life from children's perspective.The structure of social films was characterized by literariness and far-reaching implication.They incarnated "life" and "meaning" through "plot" and invoked reflections in the audience by unhappy endings.These feature improved literary depth and modern consciousness of Chinese films.That social films "are no less than a true reflection of the modern society" strengthened the documentariness and authenticity of Chinese films in terms of directing,acting and videoing.In late 1920's,Chinese films encountered a dilemma.That was why costume films boomed from 1926 to 1928 and films of martial arts and gods and spirits boomed from 1928 to 1930.The boom of costume films in China was correlated with the translation and screening of American historical films.American historical films tried to depict historical facts authentically.But due to the harsh competition,Chinese costume films deviated from that practice.Instead they aimed to entertain the audience.Although these costume films had some strong points in depicting social life in the ancient time,most of the costume films could be categorized into the low-quality."The film of martial arts and gods and spirits" was developed from the earlier films of martial arts.Both the types revealed the life connotation of social reality and the chivalrous spirit of eliminating the bullies and helping the down-trodden.The element of martial arts,gods and spirits and love and sex were all influenced by American films.On the one hand,early Chinese films of martial arts and gods tended to inject more robbery,obscenity and whimsical stories and were harshly criticized.On the other hand,the spectacle in the image creation expanded Chinese films'artistic expression.There are three innovations in this dissertation.First,it reviews the relationship between early Chinese films and Hollywood movies in a systematic way,based on historical documents.Second,it analyzes the influence of Hollywood movies on the creation and development of early Chinese films from different aspects.Third,it explores the acceptance of Western films in China and the modernization of Chinese films.