Perception Of The Hero Complex Among Chinese College Students-A Movie-Based Perspective

The thesis takes on a movie-based perspective to study the perception of the hero complex among Chinese college students. The hero complex is a psychological function that is universal to all human beings regardless of their cultural background (Zheng, 1996; Chi & Shao, 2004). Chinese college students in time are mainly the ones who were born in the 1980's and who have been witnessing the most dramatic changes with China's Reform and Opening-up policy. Movies have developed rapidly, exerting increasing influences on culture and right in reverse. The thesis innovates in incorporating the three elements and tends to conclude with intercultural significance.The author reviews the conceptual and research work conducted by scholars on perception studies combining that on the youth part in movie-involved context. Then the author goes over the hero complex respectively from the approaches of psychology, drama and movie. The third literature review part concerns Hofstede's and Kuo-shu Yang's relevant intercultural communication (IC) theories that are highlighted to explain the research findings in the later part of the thesis. Definitions of individualism and collectivism from cultural-beyond disciplines are introduced as part of academic grounding for the thesis.Three hypotheses with one sub-hypothesis under each are generated, either confirmed or disconfirmed with the first-hand data collected through 320 questionnaires and statistically analyzed. The findings show 1) that Chinese college students perceive heroes in Chinese movies more collectivism-oriented while more of individualism-orientation on the counterparts in the US; 2) that the target group prefer heroes presented in daily-life-like literary movies to those in violent war films, and they note the existence of difference comparing movies produced in the 1980's with the ones today; 3) that Chinese college students empirically depend on intuitional affection in making judgments on heroes. The process and findings together contribute to intercultural significance with room for improvement for further studies.