A Study Of The Spatial Narrative Of Mainland Police Films Since The New Century(2000-2021)

As an important part of China’s genre film market,police films have always been a popular genre for the audience.Compared with the police films before the new century,the mainland police films after the new century pay more attention to the diversification of characters.Their narrative perspective has changed from the grand narrative to a realistic view of individuals,which gradually formed a narrative style unique to China’s mainland.With the introduction of the “spatial turn theory”,space has gradually emerged from under the cover of time.Since film is an art form that relies mainly on images for narrative,it is of crucial importance to study the various spaces that make up the images.Nowadays,although many academic works focus on space in films,few scholars have studied mainland police films in the 21 st century from the perspective of spatial narrative theory.This thesis,therefore,intends to investigate the representative films of mainland police films after the new century,and explores the functions of different spaces within the overall genre.This thesis has discussed the development history of mainland police films in China.By sorting out the different creative aspects and the different development characteristics of mainland police films before and after the new century,it can be concluded that mainland police films achieved a leapfrog from simple political propaganda to cultural,political,and economic pluralism,thus completing the transformation of marketization and forming a distinctive creative style.Firstly,the geographical space is directly perceived by the audience,so the choice of it by the creator often determines the overall tone of the film narrative.Both the public space,where crimes are frequent,and the family space,which is broken and scattered,add a sense of obscurity and gloom to mainland police films,with despair,fear,and crime becoming the overall tone of this kind of film.The representative bars,dance halls,abandoned factories,and high-rise buildings have also lost their original meaning and become the imaginary symbols of mainland police films.In addition to the depiction of public space,the private space of the home also becomes a medium for the creator to peek into social reality and problems.The breakup of the family makes people deviant,and the tempting public space intensifies the deviant behavior,thus creating evil in police films.Secondly,the social space,as a spatial structure formed by various interrelationships between people,naturally becomes a medium for the creator to express the mirror image of the real society.In the entire socialized narrative space,the status quo of marginalized groups such as outcasts,bystanders,wanderers,and women also implies the creator’s critique of social inequality and reflection of real social problems.thirdly,as a spatial dimension formed by the further extension of geographical space and social space,the spiritual space penetrates into ideological activities of the characters.When the audience watch the spiritual space externalized by the characters’ thoughts on the screen,they can also have spiritual resonance with the characters,and then make their own value judgment.Similarly,the spiritual space exists not only in the inner activities of the characters,but also in the metaphorical space of the creator.The creator conveys to the audience the underlying themes that the film wants to express by the setting of shots,scenes,situations and props,through which the creator explores the natural human nature and discovers the more universal values that exist in human life.The setting of the film space is not just a simple reproduction of geographical architecture,but more of a cultural elaboration based on it.Therefore,the attributes of consumer culture,post-modern culture,and urban culture in the spatial narrative of mainland police films show the deeper cultural meaning and connotation,and the new cultural expectation of the creators for mainland police films.Consequently,based on the representative mainland police films after the new century,this thesis has made a detailed study of the triple spaces in mainland police films from the perspective of spatial narrative theory to explore the cultural values hidden behind these spaces.