Aesthetic Study On Chinese Silent Film

Chinese silent films came into being in early20th century and enjoyedprosperous development in1920s, with a history of over30years from1896to1936.Since its birth in1930, sound films did not vanish immediately; instead, it boosteddevelopment, being gradually replaced by sound films several years later. At the verybeginning, Chinese silent films were combined with art forms emphasized in traditionaloperas, enjoying a set of unique film types. At initial phase, as for its formation, Chinesesilent films absorbed the aesthetic ideology of "one person, one thing, infinite causesand infinite plots" emphasized in Chinese drama aesthetics. By means of typificationand artistic realness, abundant aesthetic elements are created. As for its creation form,Chinese silent films are greatly influenced by novel scripts; the stylized actions andskills emphasized in traditional operas are used in the performance; the expression isvaried and abundant, which is beneficial to convey intentions and emotions; the use ofsubtitles enhances the fluency of narration. As a new era of films, silent films are full ofaesthetic values. Silent films are epochal and comprehensive, absorbing the features ofChinese traditional operas. By means of exaggerated performance, fluent narration andabundant visual effects, complete aesthetic elements can be shown. In accordance withthe analysis of Gestalt psychology, the aesthetic elements of Chinese silent films aremainly manifested by the subjective creation of three subjects, namely, director, actorand audience. By means of imagination and understanding, audience will have a fullunderstanding and reprocessing on silent films so as to do better aesthetic creation. Inrecent years, modern films are with more forms, while technology has been excessivelyused, resulting in the difficulties hindering the further development of Chinese films. Incontrast, the silence of silent films can bring audience with pleasant and complexaesthetic experience. Therefore, from the author’s perspective, it is with significantimportance to study, discover, explore and emphasize the aesthetic values of silent films,so as to better develop China’s modern films.This papers include4chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to this paper,introduces the meaning and the value of Chinese silent film, and show the researchstatus. The second chapter aims to the development of silent film in china. The thirdchapter aims to analyze the aesthetic element of Chinese silent film, contains the following three perspectives, which include the impact of dramatic in Chinese silentfilm, the aesthetic character of silent film, the subjective creation of Chinese silent film.The forth chapter talks about the aesthetic value of Chinese silent film. To explore theaffection to Chinese silent film based on the Chinese silent film itself. As a founder ofChinese film, Chinese silent film plays an important promotion role on the developmentof Chinese film.