| Despite being considered as one of the oldest genres in American film history, the western is not an all-American genre, owning various cinematic heritages from other countries: Japan, Italy etc. Not only had its establishment been influenced by other cinematic traditions, the American western genre also participated in a very active role in interacting with even more cinematic traditions after its establishment, forming a cluster of different articulations and variations of the western expression. Beginning in the late 80s, contemporary Chinese Cinema seemed to be taking a special interest in exploring this transnational genre style, spawning an array of cinematic representations that not only fit into the established western genre grammar, but also developed their own unique cultural, social, cinematic sensitivities.;The following filmology consisted a list of Chinese westerns that had been produced within the past 20 years, among which there are works of Post Fifth Generation auteurship, works of relatively young film brats that have been heavily breeding on international cinemas. These films are also the fundamental texts that I am going to be looking at in this thesis: He Ping: Swordsmen in Double Flag Town (1989)/Warriors of Heaven and Earth (2003); Yang Shupeng: The Robbers (2009)/ An Inaccurate Memoir (2012); Jiang Wen: Let the Bullets Fly (2010); Gao Queshu: Wind Blast (2010).;I would see the migration/integration of the western to/with the Communist Chinese Cinema as an important cultural, social, political activity, as well as a unique and stylistic cinematic phenomenon that deserves serious scholarship. There were no historical origins of white Europeans fighting native Indians in the oriental world, nor eastern civilization conquering the wild west in the Communist history, yet the genre has been so well adapted into contemporary Chinese Cinema. What audience, market has the genre found in its transnational activity? What elements have perpetuated the genre into a different articulation? Historically, why does the activity taking place now? What inner patterns does the Chinese western follow in its 20 years course of progression? What similarities and differences does it have with its counterparts in other countries? These are the questions that been spurring my curiosity and intellectual engagement in exploring this phenomenon.;To solve these problems, I am going to explore the Communist Chinese film Industry, trying to pinpoint the local breeding environment (be it political, economic, or esthetical) that had necessitated such an activity. I will also discuss the special thematic and visual innovations of the integrated western as well as its own development pattern within the past 20 years. In solving these problems, we will have a better chance to form a complete, clearer understanding of the overall development of a long sustaining film genre and its future landscape. Through its integration and hybridization with the local Chinese Cinema, we are also provided a wonderful opportunity to explore the landscape of the contemporary Chinese Cinema, its history, its vitality and potential trajectory in the future. |
