Anti-narrative Strategy Research On Jia Zhangke’s Movie

Jia Zhangke, known as an independent director, was transited to on-ground director after his film World. However, he kept his genes of rebelling elements during his creation. Thereby, his works present the documentary style of strengthening history and weakening dramatic conflicts. The thesis argues that it is this inner logic and art skills that helps form the unique strategy of counter-narrative.The thesis combines the methods of film narratology and film aesthetics, analyzing all the narrative film text of Jia Zhangke’s works, including Xiao Wu, Platform, Unknown Pleasures, World, Still Life, A Touch of Sin and Mountains May Depart. The thesis aims to proceed with three dimensions, which are contents forming, plots unfolding and symbolic meaning expressing to analyze through narrative strategy, clarifying the rebellion to mainstream commercial film narration as well as in-system film narration in the ways of narrative character forming, narrative scene selecting, narrative construction unfolding, narrative space constructing and symbolization deconstructing.Jia Zhangke follows the narrative modes of’anti-hero’for the contents and subjects of his films. He selects anti-hero narrative characters, constructing anti-heroism frame story through anti-grand narrations of scene collage. During the process of story expansion, Jia applies anti-drama narrative construction, delaying progress of narrations in the beginning of the film. He fades conflicts and dramatization through deconstructing binary opposition in the period of antagonism. Also, he leaves a note to receive an open ending to implicitly release narrative dynamics, In addition, the thesis explores the process of how Jia Zhangke deconstructs and reconstructs the meanings of traditional images as well as symbols and redefining it through his particular narrative context to collude with narrative techniques and narrative cores. In terms of this, the thesis intents to reveal the surface logic and deep meaning of Jia’s’anti-narration’strategy.