The Complex Of The Chinese Culture Revolution In Chen Kaige's Movies

Chen Kaige, who was born in the 1950s and grew up during the Chinese Culture Revolution, is the pioneer of the fifth generation of directors in China. His movies have frequently won big prizes in the International Movie Festival and he has set an example to the Chinese homemade movies. He is not a prolific director, but each of his movies contains abundant cultural contents. He always tries to transmit the contents of a book in a movie, even some of his movies are considered as hard to understand and he himself is also labelled of"culture preacher".The research into Chen Kaige's movies has made great achievements in recent years. In addition to affirming his original contributions to Chinese movies in the aspects of establishing the image esthetics of Chinese type, people also try to make further analysis on the deep meaning of his movies in their own ways. This dissertation selects the complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution as angle of view for corresponding. Chen Kaige experienced the Chinese Culture Revolution when he was a teenager. The complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution, produced from this period, penetrates all his life and appears in his movies indistinctly. This dissertation applies the psychological analysis, the cultural analysis and the textual close reading, reviews the creative road of Chen Kaige, excavates the complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution in his movies, summarizes his creative experience and lesson and provides the reference for the successors.The introduction part shows the influence of the complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution upon the creation of movies mainly depends on the unconscious theory of Carl Gustav Jung, thus draws out the importance of the complex of Chinese Culture Revolution. Chapter One recounts the origin of Chen Kaige's complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution,"the family background and the memory of his teenager"combed his family background and his growing experience. The education he received during this time becomes the cause of formation of his disposition."The Chinese Culture Revolution nightmare not to be wiped"refers to Chen Kaige's own experience in the Chinese Culture Revolution, this is formative basis of his contradictory complex."Personalized complex in the community memory"states the general memory of the Chinese Culture Revolution of Chen's generation and Chen's own memory, and further highlights the uniqueness of Chen's complex in the contrast between generality and personality. Chapter Two to Chapter Four, according to the obvious degree reflecting the complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution, Chen's movies are divided into three groups. Each group reflects different degree of complex. Chapter Two excavates Chen's complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution reflected in the movies that introspected the Chinese Culture Revolution from the obverse side, and mainly analyzes"King of the children"and"Farewell My Concubine"with emphasis. Subvert and reconstruct in"King of the children", infatuation and betray in"Farewell My Concubine", all of these reflect Chen's complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution clearly. Chapter Three seeks for Chen's complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution in the movies introspect the traditional culture and mainly analyzes"Yellow Earth","The Big Parade"and"Life on a String"with emphasis. Revolt and blind devotion in"Yellow Earth", individual and group in"The Big Parade"and belief and reality in"Life on a String", all of these contents have subtle relations with Chen's complex. Chapter Four seeks for the clues of Chen's complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution in his few commercial movies, and mainly analyzes"The Emperor and the Assassin"and"The Promise"with emphasis. Tyrant and great man in"The Emperor and the Assassin", promise and deceit in"The Promise", all of these is the opaque reflection of Chen's complex. When the dissertation analyzes the above movies, it compares with the movies of the same theme from director Zhang Yimou, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Zhou Xiaowen and so on, who are also belong to the fifth generation of directors in China. Thus shows the differences and similarities of their complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution. For example, it presents a contrast with"To Live"(Zhang Yimou) and"The Blue Kite"(Tian Zhuangzhuang) when analyzes"Farewell My Concubine"and a contrast with"The Emperor's Shadow"(Zhou Xiaowen) and"Hero"(Zhang Yimou) when analyzes"The Emperor and the Assassin". Thus summarizes the movies of the same kind of the directors of the same period with a point to plane technique and shows that the complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution is not Chen Kaige's own possession. The conclusion part of this dissertation makes an overall appraisal to Chen Kaige's complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution from the catholicity, abundance and duality of it. The complex of the Chinese Culture Revolution in Chen's movies has both merits and demerits. It is very meaningful to recognize the complex clearly, not only for the researchers but also for Chen Kaige himself.