Study On The Narrative Time Of The Nostalgic Youth Film In Mainland China

As one of the most popular types of films, the youth film in mainland China has been researched by many scholars and experts in recent years. The nostalgic youth film has come into the nostalgic craze, which has been presented on screen in a way of memory and from multi-perspective. Therefore, this type of film is worthy to be discussed and interpreted. The content and form of nostalgic youth film could be discussed with “narrative time” as the breakthrough point, and then the nostalgic youth film could be thoroughly researched in-depth cultural layer.The author integrates the film theories of the narrative time based on the film theories of the narrative time by Genette, Rrostarr and Mardan. And the nostalgic youth film could be studied from three layer: the timing placement, the deformable time and the repeatable time. Because "Youth" is related with time, the analysis and research from the perspective of the "mainland nostalgia youth film" will produce a new chemical reaction. Also because "nostalgia" is related with time, the exploration of such works of "nostalgia" from the perspective of time will bring a new harvest.Based on the study on the narrative time of the nostalgic youth film in mainland, we found the following characteristics. The “flashback” skill is adopted to present recurrence beauty of film in form. The recurrence of two periods or even multiple periods indicates the obsession and longing for old time. In order to express the emotion and the beauty in form, it takes the slow motion in the process of running to extend time. The omission of certain special period in the film represents the hidden hardships and the self-reflection of all young groups during this period. On the one hand, the repeated time is a multi-angle demonstration of public’s recall for an event,which could restore the truth of the event. On the other hand, it displays that the individuals achieve self-transcendence by recalling an event repeatedly.The innate cultural identities are emphasized by a careful analysis on the narrative time of the nostalgic youth film in Mainland. The individuals, who exist in different time and space—the past and the present, examine and recall the past from the angle of the present to discover its historical and cultural value. The nostalgic youth film embodies such cultural characteristics as the binary opposition of time, the detachment between historic events and individual growth, self-transcendence in nostalgia, return of youth dominant culture. It is the result of the joint forces of the implementation of polices, such as national family planning, the increasing enrollment of college entrance examination, reforming and opening, and also of the intolerant historic characteristics and the formation of social culture of consumerism.