The Research On Cultural Difference Of Disaster Movies In China And Western Countries

Disaster film, as one of the typical kinds of Hollywood films, interests audiences with grand vigor, fantastic visual effect and the plot with unconstrained fluctuation. Disaster films are based on disaster, which is a worldwide open issue and is supported with the common view of audiences to it. Along with the increasingly aggravated ecological crisis, the relationship between man and nature is reconsidered and reviewed. Any ecological crisis can be presented in such cultural media as a reflection of cultural crisis. It has much actual significance and theoretical value to learn the disaster films and disaster cognition on the angle of culture. In this paper, the author tries to treat the disaster films and their prosperity as a kind of cultural phenomenon in way of comparison. With respect to the typical disaster films in China and the Western, comparing the different understanding on disasters and disaster cognition, the author tends to find the cultural rooting of the different understanding of disasters from the disaster films with philosophy tradition, religious belief and aesthetical mind, in order to find more way out for the transition of the disaster films in China and the Western and offer more thinking and enlightenment for people that are trapped in cultural crisis.This paper consists of 3 associated chapters:In Chapter I, the author will overview the disaster films and defines it as the conflict between nature and man which causes massive disaster event and shows how man fights against the disasters. Then the author will review the development of disasters in China and the Western and analyze the reason of prosperity of disaster films.In chapter II, the author will analyze the different understanding of disasters in the films and compare the cause of disasters and measures to treat them according to the film 2012, Day after Tomorrow, Ultra Strong Hurricane, Tangshan Earthquake and so on.In Chapter III, the author will analyze the reason of the difference between Chinese and Western disaster films from the factors of philosophy, religion and art.The innovation in this paper is to analyze the cultural cause of different features of disaster films between China and the Western according to the different understanding of disasters in the films. The research on cultural difference of disaster films not only helps us find the regulation of success from Western films and search for effective experience for Chinese disaster films, but also find the new way to realize the relationship between man and nature in order to improve our environment and increase our disaster cognition.