| Yimou Zhang stepped into the Chinese film world in 1980 s. He has been fighting for his career for 30 years so far. During the 30 years, literature and art largely changed under the development of politics, economy and culture in China.Yimou Zhang’s works have a variety of characteristics in different periods of time because of his sensitive perspectives. His perfect application to Elitism, Populism and Consumer is mainly reflected in his aesthetic style during three periods. Yimou Zhang’s films have far-reaching influence and get great success. Besides that, his works are significant for Chinese contemporary films.From the early 1970 s to 1980 s, China just ended the’10 years unrest’. At that time, the liberation movement was started. Being affected by the criticizing spree for the Chinese traditional culture and also being influenced by the Chinese cultural roots, Yimou Zhang broke the tradition film concept, emphasizing fiml’s own language form and concerning about the sense of ontology. He tried to present his films with an overall perspective. During this time, his aesthetic style came with elitism, which was addressed in his films by criticizing the society and civilizing people. The film ‘Red Sorghum’ shows that Chinese people are confined in a feudal society and are burdened for a long time. Yimou Zhang intends to show the origin life form and the freedom to be away from the modern civilization through this film.Since 1990 s, the mass media was effected by the rapid economic and benefited by the technology advance. Here came the public culture. Then, it was expected to be a part of people’s daily life. When public culture became a new way of entertainment and a new kind of interests, it caused negative influence on elitism. The international popularity and overseas welcome to Yimou Zhang’s films turned out to be in the history. The moment Yimou Zhang realized this problem, he restarted to fix his energy on domestic film market. Talking of national symbol, his film ‘Red Sorghum’, which was full of criticisms and enlightenments, favored a transition to the film ‘Could Not Be A Less’ and the film ‘The Story Of Qiu Ju’, which depicted the ordinary lives of people. He decreased the sensitivity of elitism by narrowing down the distance with audiences. The change of his subjects in the films must have led to the change of his aesthetic style.In modern times, science, technology and economy are great prosperous. People are addicted to the thrill of pursing material enjoyment. Culture and art are greatly influenced by this. The film industry is closely combined with commerce. Yimou Zhang’s film aesthetic style turns out to be a consumer. He begins to apply a large number of commercial elements to his films and pays close attention to the profits. At the same time, he also intends to bring the Chinese films to international stage. For instance, the film ‘Hero’, as a starter, is to satisfy the audiences’ desire to consume. In this period of time, his aesthetic style can be characterized by consumer.Elite culture, popular culture and consumer culture are the opposite matching of political, economic and ideological factors in China’s unique social environment. Yimou Zhang’s films reflect the aesthetic style of these three periods. He mixes these three different forms of culture together, forming the ideological, artistic, appreciative, commercial and entertaining contents so that these films can attract a large number of domestic as well as overseas audiences. His films play an important role in spreading Chinese folk cultures as well as making a great contribution to local film industry. |
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