The Adapted Films Of The Journey To The West(2000-2018): Narratology And Aesthetics

The adapted films of the novel Journey to the West ran through the history of the development of Chinese film history.In the past five years,there has been an upsurge of films and television creations with the theme of “Journey to the West”.This classic cultural property has been reproduced variously in modern film and television works.This article takes the representative films between the years 2000 to 2018 as a text,focusing on synchronic analysis instead of diachronic sorting,and exploring the characteristics of commercial production of the contemporary “Journey to the West” movie creations.Based on film narratology,this article sums up its theme content,role setting,narrative style and audiovisual style characteristics.At the same time,it attempts to explore the complex cultural significance and connotation behind these films from the perspective of film production,cultural studies and aesthetic representation.This article believes that the creative purposes of the Chinese movie Journey to the West in the new century has undergone major changes.In the past,the thinking that was faithful to the original book has faded away,and entertainment and commercialism have become the main aspirations of movie production.In the context of the shift of visual culture,the story of “Journey to the West” obtained a cultural continuation in a “visual” way.At the same time,due to the demand of “visuality”,many features of contemporary mass culture are presented in the movie.In terms of narrative,the film not only shows its pursuit of drama and entertainment,but also shows the weakening of narrative logic.In terms of aesthetics,it pays more attention to “sense of wonders” and perceptual logic,as well as features of fragmentation and collage.The appearance of this film sequence is the result of post-modern eradication and rebellious thoughts,merging commodity production demands in the context of globalization,and working together to produce film.This article proposes that practitioners should create films with an open mind,seek emotional bonds between national culture and popular psychology,and allow visual images and films to have richer spiritual content and charm.