Form "Misunderstanding" To Innovation

Around Brecht's Alienation Effects, there is a misunderstanding among Chinese scholars, including a view that Brecht misunderstood the Alienation Effects of the Peking Opera, and another view that Brecht made the misunderstanding for his epic theatre intentionally. However, no matter what kind of point of view, I have not seen a systematic analysis of domestic scholars, explaining, what Brecht misunderstood in the Peking Opera, why he misunderstood it intentionally, what the relationship is between the Peking Opera and the epic theatre of Brecht. Because of limited knowledge on the Peking Opera, the foreign scholars are unable to analyze the problem deeply, and it's also unnecessary for them to discuss this issue. Proceeding from the theory of the Reception Aesthetics, this paper attempts to prove that Brecht made his own innovation and completed the epic theater through his actually existing "misunderstanding" of the Peking Opera.As the theoretical support of the work, the author presents the Reception Aesthetics and applies the theoretical views of the two most famous representatives of the school, so Jaus and Iser, as the "horizon of expectations", the "appeal structure of the texts" etc., to make analysis in the paper. According to the Reception Aesthetics, before reading, the readers are affected by the surrounding series of background factors, and form their own horizon of expectations; in the reading process in the face of the many unfixed points in the text, the readers read from their own expectations, adjust their point of view constantly, and draw their own interpretation of literary and artistic works for the conclusion. From the perspective of the Reception Aesthetics, the process, in which each the readers are to accept the artistic work, can be called the recreation process. The Reception Aesthetics is not only acceptable for the analysis of literary works, but also for the analysis of artistic works.The author starts from the historical-social and socio-cultural background infomaation, to observe, how these factors impact on Brecht, and also to analyze Brecht's cause for formation of a new form of theater, that is different from the old Aristotelian Theatre. Combined with the theoretical view, that the "horizon of expectations", the author comes to the realization that Brecht aimed to create a non-Aristotelian Theatre, which was to eliminate the sensitivity and trigger reflection. This expectation horizon affected his reception of the Peking Opera deeply later in his life.Since Brecht began with his way to the epic theater and the alienation effects, he made many experiments. For various reasons his theory on the epic theater and the alienation were not complete. In 1935, Brecht met in Moscow the renowned Peking Opera actor Mei Lanfang and looked at the Peking Opera performance, which illuminated his way to the epic theater well. Here the author attempts, through the reception aesthetics, to analyze the appeal structure in the Peking Opera for Brecht and to explain, how he has "misunderstood" the authenticity of the Beijing Opera.For Brecht, many unfixed points and the negativity in the Peking Opera affect Brecht's understanding and reception of the Peking Opera. Firstly, the author describes the unfixed points in the Peking Opera for Brecht, so the virtual property of the Peking Opera and its stylization, that lead to the alienation of the Peking Opera. It should be noted however, that the mark of the alienation in the Peking Opera can not be found. But Brecht has read the alienation effect from the Peking Opera. Secondly, the negativity of the Peking opera is in the "Xieyi principle" which brought Brecht very different social criteria and new aesthetic forms. Therefore, Brecht had to modify his point of view in the reception of the Beijing Opera, so that he could complete his own understanding.In the process of reception of the Peking Opera, Brecht published several texts, in which he indicated his opinion about the art of acting and the alienating effects of the old Chinese opera, such as "Alienation Effects in Chinese Acting", in which his understanding and reception of the Peking Opera are included. On the basis of these texts the author makes analyzes, such as how Brecht understood the Peking opera on his position, what he borrowed from the Peking Opera to complete his epic theater and the alienation effects, and how he created the innovation of his own. After the brief comparison of Brecht's theatre with the Beijing Opera, the author comes to his conclusion:Brecht went from his "misunderstanding" of the Peking Opera to innovation, and "misunderstanding" is in itself innovative.