A Study On The Chinese Anti-Spy Genre Film In The "Seventeen Years"(1949-1966)

This dissertation aims to study the genre features of the Chinese anti-spy film in the "Seventeen Years" Period, during which two major components interact each other:one is the theme of the film and the other is the film art. From the perspective of the theme, the spy caught by the police is plotted in the story, which has been greatly restricted by the international politics and cultural climate (the restriction between east and west camps during the Cold War. Meanwhile, the theme of the film has also been restricted by the political struggle between the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party. Shaped under such restrictions and featured by stable narration and representation form, the genre of the anti-spy film fulfills its ultimate goal of the consolidation of the national mainstream ideology. Consequently,"integration" has been shown as a particular political and cultural trend in anti-spy films during the "Seventeen Years" Period. Moreover, creative artistic means, such as the plot design, character portrayal and space display have all been developed through binary opposition framework in narration. However, in spite of its "integration" in theme and ideology, the anti-spy film does not disconnect its relations with western films and previous Chinese films before1949in the process of the production. Guided by the principle of "integration" in the film theme (mainstream ideology), the anti-spy film during that period combines with various kinds of elements, such as Chinese cultural tradition, folklore aesthetics and film artistic conventions in both east and west world, which presents a cultural look of "complexity"In addition, the context of the Chinese anti-spy film (the political background of the Cold War), the film administrative system and production model after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the narration of the anti-spy film, characteristics of the suspense techniques, character creation (e.g. reconnaissance hero and female spy), and artistic resources of the anti-spy film are to be discussed in the dissertation. Under the discussion, the dissertation arrives to the conclusion:the anti-spy film is a stereotyped narrative system, consisting of many basic elements, such as the theme, the style, and etc. It is a narration with both genre and ideological features. Besides, it is, on the one hand, a comparatively stable and open narrative system; on the other hand, it exercises a dynamic interaction with national mainstream ideology (state power) and the community acceptance.The production of the anti-spy film is a typical illustration to show the "complexity under integration" feature of the literary and artistic production during the "Seventeen Years" Period and gives us a new insight towards these works.