Four Images Of Urban:The Research Of Shanghai Films In Recent Years(1994-2011)

This thesis researches on some urban cinemas about Shanghai in recent years. From analyzing the Shanghai images in these films with the theory of urban aesthetics, the aim of this thesis is to represent that city residents’ lives are influenced during China’s society in transition, films about Shanghai are plentiful. These films reveal the meaning of culture and aesthetic, which are benefit to the developing of cultures in other cities in China.The thesis is divided into four chapters: the first chapter studies the image of ’material shanghai’, disclosing human mind is affected by the material desire, consumption and commodity in modern society, which makes the secular residents culture. The second chapter studies the image of ’nostalgic shanghai’, this chapter aims at explaining why the nostalgia fever has happened in Shanghai. The modernity has a significant change over traditional life that we need to rethink the value of urban memory. The third Chapter studies the image of ’marginal shanghai’, the author talks about the marginal people who live in the city. Their lives are relevant to the complicated history. The fourth Chapter studies the image of ’feminine shanghai’, the city’s character has a tendency to feminine, uncovering the contact with women and the city’s temperament. We can know women’s position, function and awkward in today’s urban culture.The conclusion points out that observing the urban images of Shanghai requires us paying more attention to the urban residents’ lives in the future. The core of this conclusion is related to the slogan of 2010 Shanghai EXPO, ’Better City, Better Life’. As the background of postmodern ideology focus on the fate of urban residents’ lives, the urban cinema should be improved.