Historical Interpretation Of The Classic Life And Aesthetic Exploration

Biographical film is a mature film genre boasting countless excellent works. The biographical films which won the Oscars are generally regarded as the masterpieces of this type. Studies of the production laws of these classics and their implicit characteristics have significant meanings to the production of such film genre. However, very little academic attention is paid in this field currently. This study tends to provide a unique perspective for the biographical films, with hope to offer new findings and breakthroughs in the theoretical level.This thesis makes a research on the well known masterpieces of biographical films, demonstrates their characteristics in expression of themes, ways of narration, aesthetic patterns and explores their artistic accomplishments as a whole. In addition, it also looks into the American social and cultural context to reveal the fundamental reasons for their success. As a result, a clear picture of the development of the American biographical films is drawn in the aesthetical and historical perspective.Meanwhile, from the characters in the films, the collective consciousness of American society is perceived. That is, how they look on themselves, what they think about American history and the position of America in the world, and what they think about other countries and the history of all human beings. The Oscar attaches a film' s commercial success same importance to its artistic quality, which is in exact accordance with the dualistic nature of the film—art and commodity. The author believes that Oscar' s aesthetical taste is a good perspective in which biographical films should be studied.The first chapter of this thesis summarizes the biographical films which won the Oscars in the chronological order, hoping to make a further analysis on a more distinct coordinate; it also explores their cultural background and gives preliminary analysis. The second and third parts make particular analysis on their narration and aesthetical characteristics respectively, based on an adequate understanding of the past and present of biographical films. The last part is a reflection on the production of biographical films in China. It also discusses how to use Oscar winners for reference to improve production techniques, diversify the themes and narration patterns and boost up the box office of our biographical films.