The Aesthetic Features Of Akira Kurosawa's Works And Their Inspiration For Modern Chinese Movies

Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), the most important Japanese film director, has been internationally acclaimed as a giant of filmmakers. In 1951, his film Rashomon introduced Japanese film to international audiences, which won both the Venice Film Festival's grand prize and an Academy Award for best foreign-language film. Films of his, like Seven Samurai and Yojimbo, have opened a new epoch in the history of Japanese film development while winning him a genuine success in this field. He not only promoted Japanese film into a new era, but also gained Asian films an unexpected concern. His films have influenced filmmakers in Asia and the west, notably Stephen Spielberg, Geogre Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. In 1999, Times pronounced Kurosawa as one of the" Asia's most influencial figures in the twentith century". Kurosawa was a director and a playwright, his works combine both world and national factors. Kurosawa's success is also important to the development of Chinese films. This dissertation will study the influence and inspiration of Akira Kurosawa's films on Chinese film industry.This dissertation will divide into five chapters:Chapter I is the preface. In this chapter, I will make a statement of the dissertation's topic, purposes. Then I will make a literature review and a general introduction of Akira Kurosawa's working background and main works. At last, I will focus on his influence on Chinese film industry.Chapter II is the analysis of characters in Akira Kurosawa's works. According to Truffaut "director is the real sole of a film", which means a director needs to have his favorite topic, strong personal style used to express his individual visual field. Akira is such a rare thing. "The Warrior's Camera" is the best description of Kurosawa's filmic epic. It took him more than sixty years to build a kingdom of warriors. In this chapter I will analyze different characters in Kurosawa's movies and study the creation progress along the way.Chapter III will analyze plots pattern and the methods of storytelling applied by Kurosawa. Movies are popularized way of entertainment and become more and more commercialized nowadays. Thus, keeping a solid idea and style is very difficult for directors. Kurosawa solved this problem by writing and producing. In this chapter, I will continuously touch upon on the content (stories) as well as the social and personal contexts within which storytelling took place. Then, I will analyze the philosophical themes of Kurosawa's work, and study the films represent these personal philosophies.Chapter IV will analyze the relationship between Akira Kurosawa's works and Japanese traditional culture. What makes Akira Kurosawa's works so interesting is his ability to draw diverse culture styles from a global horizon and incorporates with Japanese traditions; he absorbs advantages and spreads them to the most in his own creations. In this chapter I will study his effort on Japanese theater history and dramatic genres.Chapterâ…¤will study films globalization and try to find a way for Chinese films. At the end of last century, a great number of Asian directors become world known, such as Chinese director Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige. Most of them hold numerous of world prizes and suffer from surprising producing expense results in bad sales. It is very difficult for these directors to work out an international way. In this chapter, I will use Akira Kurosawa as an example to study his internationality, and the relationship between globalization, tradition and period.