Journal of Shanghai University (Social Science Edition)

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The Narrative and Ideology of Domestic Blockbusters

  

  • Online:2010-01-15 Published:2010-01-15

Abstract:

As a special kind of cultural, artistic product, the film can not avoid its ideological characteristics. The question only lies in how to convey ideology. When domestic blockbusters try to, by way of dazzling visual spectacle and superstar lineup, stimulate audience' s audiovisual sensory so as to achieve ideological objects, we may ignore a fact that image narrative is the most effective means of conveying ideology. For the effective conveyance of ideology, more is completed by way of effective narrative. From the level of creation, if the importance of film narrative is ignored, it is possible for the film to become an ideological mouthpiece, thus being reduced to an abstract, didactic tool. Either from "Hero" to "The Promise", or from "Curse of the Golden Flower" to "The Banquet", all these domestic blockbusters, behind the narrative form of omniscient narrative or authoritative narrative, display a cultural connotation of "imperial" narrative or "divine" narrative as far as the text is concerned. "Assembly" not only means the transformation of theme or genre in domestic blockbusters, that is, the transformation from costume swordsmen to modern warfare, but also, in a narrative sense, displays an attempt by directors to break authoritative narrative, instead of concerning, from the perspective of civilians, about the fate of individual characters, thus developing a mode of the Chinese war film defined by conventional discourses. Very often, in China' s films, film narrative is not a simple narrative related to the film text but a reflection of film text on sociocultural Pantext. The domestic blockbuster marked by "Assembly",through the efforts of the film narrative, plays an important role in changing the paradox relation between ticket sale and mouth word, and commerce and quality. It has become the key to actually do so for domestic blockbusters to construct a positive, interactive relation between the demand of mainstream ideology, the need of popular cultural psychology and the expression of creators' image or narrative.

Key words: Key words: domestic blockbuster; authoritative narrative; civilian narrative; ideology

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