A Cultural Study Of “Petty Bourgeoisie” In Wong Kar-wai’s Films

Wong Kar Wai is a famous Chinese film director of Hong Kong.With many classic works he became a master among world.On June 15,2017,Wong Kar Wai won the "Lumiere prize",which known as the Nobel prize of the film and became the first Asian director to win the prize.Wong Kar Wai has been famous for his unique images and descriptions of exquisite feelings.His movie has become an important part of "petty bourgeois" culture.Wong Kar Wai thinks that China is gaining more and more "petty bourgeoisie" elements."Petty bourgeoisie" refers to romantic and nostalgic mood and taste of the exquisite life style,which as an important phenomenon of Chinese contemporary aesthetic culture.It also represent to the people who care more about unique aesthetic and self-identity.White-collar workers and intellectuals are main parts in the urban community.This article attempts to take "petty bourgeoisie" culture as the breakthrough point to extract the image of "petty bourgeoisie" in Wong Kar Wai’s movie and study the way of image construction from the perspective of film semiotics.Then,it will analyze the origin and value of Wong Kar Wai’s movie and "petty bourgeoisie" culture.The article will be divided into four parts.First,it will discuss the connection between "petty bourgeoisie" culture and Wong Kar Wai’s movie: on the one hand,it will elaborate the definition and evolution of "petty bourgeoisie";on the other hand,the causes of Wong Kar Wai’s movie "petty bourgeoisie" culture will be figured out.Secondly,the "petty bourgeoisie" image in Wong Kar Wai’s film can be abstracted as "marginal man".In addition,it will analyze characteristics.Thirdly,based on the visual angle of the film semiotics,the construction of the "petty bourgeoisie" image of Wong Kar Wai’s film is analyzed with the symbols of visual,line and plot.Finally,from the perspective of society,art and commerce,the paper will conclude that Wong Kar Wai’s "petty bourgeoisie" culture has the value of reflecting the inner feelings of the urban "petty bourgeoisie",enhancing the aesthetic taste of the audience,leading the development of China art cinema line and so on.