On Image Representation Of Hero Figures And National Identity

From the Beginning of the Great Revival in 2011 to Operation Red Sea in 2018,it’s arguable to say that the new mainstream movies have found the channel of mainstream culture expression in the new era by using the elements of genre film and the visual wonders brought by the development of film technology.This is a positive attempt to combine domestic theme movie with commercial film production mode.New mainstream movies explore how to tell Chinese stories,whose cultural core lies in patriotism and national ethos,in an appropriate way in the context of globalization through audiovisual symbols and editing narrative.To erect cultural self-confidence in the new era,one needs to trace back the evolution of heroic images of Chinese mainstream movies in varying periods while look ahead how to effectively express deep and complex patriotism in the heroic narrative films amid globalization.The study on heroic image and national identity within new mainstream movies is centered on creation and appreciation of films.Seen from the positive direction,it’s the creation(coding)and dissemination(cinemas)of the new mainstream movies;seen from the opposite way,it’s the audience’s view and interpretation on the new mainstream movies(through cinema and internet,this is an individual initiative mode).To make film cultural spirit serves the national rights on the ideology level,we need to maintain the whole social normative mechanism on the one hand,while to reflect the individual’s identification with its social identity and national spirit on the other hand."Telling Chinese Stories Well" is one of the core propositions of Chinese movies in the context of the new era.The new mainstream movies,represented by Operation Mekong,Wolf Warriors series and Operation Red Sea,participated in the narrative system of China’s rising discourse and its value,and completed the production of Chinese stories with mythological temperament in the context of the "new era " It achieved the communication of individual and national will through the integration of "hero" appeal and national spirit in the new era.Chapter I defines and explains the new mainstream.This chapter analyses how the new mainstream movies construct the meaning between the national mainstream values,national spirit and image symbols through the evolution of the new mainstream movies,creation and audio-visual narrative characteristics,ie.,the process of the representation of the new mainstream movies.Chapter II focuses on the evolution of "heroic image" in the new mainstream movies.With patriotism and national spirit being the cultural core of new mainstream movies,this chapter probes into the issue that how to rewrite hero figure that are embodying patriotism and national ethos.This includes how Chinese directors shape recognized and accepted "superheroes" to tell Chinese stories under the impact of Hollywood’s business narrative context.To some extent,the heroic image after rewriting reflects the result of the dialogue between the creation and acceptance of the new mainstream films,that is,the representation result of the new mainstream films.Chapter III analyses the recognition of heroic images in new mainstream films.The new mainstream movies are the visual presentation of the "Chinese Dream" in the new era.Establishing cultural self-confidence and building national cultural soft power in the new era requires individual and national identity.The characteristics of the mainstream cultural construction in the new mainstream movies beyond the type paradigm are not only the artistic expression and cultural imagination of the film creators,but also the correspondence between the film creators and the audiences over the China’s "big country imagination” at present.Chapter IV is the reflection of the new mainstream films in the era of film globalization.The phenomenon that the movie Wolf WarriorsII and Operation Red Sea made a hit in domestic market while suffered a cold acceptance abroad,reflects that amid current film globalization,the new mainstream films need to explore how to reach an effective dialogue mechanism with universal values over the theme of human survival and development while drawing lessons from the Hollywood paradigm.Therefore,the current aesthetic attempts on audio-visual expression of new mainstream movies within the dimension of mainstream values,and the analysis on commercialization path are of particular importance.