Western Game Studies

The Chinese ancient Dramas of Journey to the West originated in Song and Jin Dynasties and developed in Yuan and Ming Dynasties.Wu Chengen's novel Journey to the West is the watershed of The Dramas of Journey to the West(referred to the Dramas as follow),afterwards which ushered in the mature stage marked by the court plays,Zaju and legends in Ming and Qing Dynasty.This thesis mainly studies the existing drama works with the theme of journey to the west from the following six aspects:cultural background,development course,story adaptation,character evolution,stage art and spread and acceptance.The research ranges from Chinese Operas in Song and Yuan Dynasty,Zaju in Yuan Dynasty,Zaju,Legends and Court Dram in Ming and Qing dynasty.The first chapter introduces the cultural background of the Dramas,discusses the relationship between traditional Buddhist culture and the Dramas,between folk belief culture and the Dramas,as well as that between aesthetic culture of literati and the Dramas.The main idea,plot structure and role interpretation of the Dramas in Yuan,Ming and Qing Dynasty imply these cultural ideas.In addition,how these thoughts and cultures affect creation idea,plot conception,educative function and narrative mode of the Dramas.Based on the review of Zaju and operas in Song and Yuan Dynasty,play and script in Ming Dynasty,peak in Qing Dynasty regarding the Dramas,the second chapter describes the development overview of the Dramas,summarizes characteristics of the Dramas in each historical stage,and generalizes how this impact the generation of characters,plot cohesion and theme of this similar dram in the future;in addition,concludes the Dramas created by court,palace and civil society in Ming and Qing Dynasty from the perspective of author's participation,institutional rules and performance impact;and finally lists the flouring of operas and literati drama of the Dramas in Qing Dynasty.The third chapter presents story adaptation of the Dramas,conducts study on the Dramas which passes through Dynasties of Song,Yuan,Ming and Qing and is of different style,including those topics on Jiang Liuer,Emperor Taizong of Tang visiting the hell,and Hong Haier.This chapter does research on evolution of the same central character and similar storylines in different texts and operas,analyzes influence of different styles,and discusses the characteristics of their adaptation,cultural connotation and underlying reasons.The fourth chapter is about character image of the Dramas,focuses on the origin and evolution of Tang Monk and his three apprentices in drama separately from the perspective of historical origin,Buddhist literature and drama flow,and compares above-mentioned characters with those in the novel.Based on this,relationship between fiction and drama,characteristics of character evolution and the reasons behind it are explored.The fifth chapter is on stage art of the Dramas,takes a case study of Shengpingbaofa,in which role classification and the role of opera script on acting movements,intrigue application,dance and martial arts in the stage are probed.Then this chapter makes a statistical study of stage setting,stage sound,costume,crown,mask and prop in the Dramas,and points out similarities and differences between the role change,use of opera script,and stage art in Ming and Qing Dynasty and other Dramas.The sixth chapter involves spread and acceptance of the Dramas.Bibliographies in Yuan,Ming and Qing dynasties,court score and novel description had records of the Dramas text,music score and performance respectively.In addition to text dissemination,there were also the spread of stage for the Dramas in court,royal palace and folk temples of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.With regard to text dissemination,reasons for spread and the meaning it plays during the spread of novels are analyzed.As for spread of the Dramas in Ming and Qing dynasties and imperial palaces,this chapter mainly describes actors,the time of entry into Shengping institution,role,performance time,location,repertory,rewards and outcomes.In terms of The Dramas in temple,performance purpose and shape,demands of actor and audience and performance time are exploited.