| “Seventeen Years Period” animations refer to the China animations produced from 1949 to 1966 which are the succession to those produced in the Republic of China and the prelude to those produced during The Cultural Revolution. This period is also the first golden age of China animation history. Taking “Seventeen Years Period” animations as the research object,the author starts from the perspectives of aesthetics and history to ascertain the development course of “Seventeen Years Period” animations, and explores the reference of these animations took from traditional literature and art style, for their aesthetic and cultural values have been highly enhanced because of their integration with the traditional painting, literature,drama, folk arts and crafts. Also, further discussions are made on the art design methods of these animations that expresses the solemnity in humor, the humanistic spirit, countryside features and the integration of revolutionary romanticism and realism. Besides, the root causes of these characteristics are revealed from the perspectives of politics, economics,culture and society, for the purpose of restoring the appearance and the development of“Seventeen Years Period” animations and finding out their external constraints and internal development logic, thus to present the reference value for current art practices of the animations.The first chapter is the introduction of this paper, which mainly elaborates the background, purpose and significance of studying “Seventeen Years Period” animations.1949-1966 is a historical period when China is engaged in overall construction. Animation, as an important part of literary and artistic creation, just entered into the golden age of Chinese animation history during this period of time. Exploring the art design methods of “Seventeen Years Period” animations presents far-reaching significance for inheriting and carrying forward the aesthetic tradition of “Seventeen Years Period” animations.The second chapter deliberates on the development course of “Seventeen Years Period”animations. The development of Chinese animation is divided into two stages in this paper,namely the 1949-1955 is the primary stage characterized by “inheritance and imitation” and the 1955-1966 is the mature stage characterized by “nationalized exploration”. The primary stage of “Seventeen Years Period” animations is the continuation of the animations produced in the Republic of China in terms of the technical level, creative ideas and professional talents.At the same time, it has imitated the animation produced by the Soviet Union in terms of artistic style and ideology to some degree. The mature stage of “Seventeen Years Period”animations gradually transferred to the road of nationalization. This paper sets forth the transformation of the “Seventeen Years Period” animations from the imitation stage to the nationalization stage. At the same time, “Chinese School” came into being and gradually established the national style.The third chapter discusses the reference of “Seventeen Years Period” animations from the traditional literary and art style. “Seventeen Years Period” animations contain the aesthetic purport of Chinese traditional painting, the profound thoughts of classical literature, the form style of the drama and the decorative beauty of fine arts and crafts. First of all, “Seventeen Years Period” animations have absorbed the aesthetic thinking of Chinese traditional painting,such as the pursuit of poetic mood, the false or true complement and the syncretism between heaven and man. The poetic mood of animation is the artistic state realized by the fusion of one’s feelings with the natural settings. The false or true complement is a kind of philosophical meditation after the color, music or picture is fading out. The syncretism between heaven and man can lead the audiences into a superorganic mental state in the detached condition. “Seventeen Years Period” animations drew creative inspiration from the myths, legends, literary masterpieces and folk tales, which in return have popularized and promoted these stories. Secondly, by virtue of the romantic imagination and self-improvement national spirit, the myths and legends highly enhanced the spiritual connotation of “SeventeenYears Period” animations. The literary masterpieces have endowed the animations with profound cultural deposits. The folk tales have the similar contents and thinking modes with the animations, for both of them can reflect the praises of the masses for life and traditional virtues. Thirdly, the elements of the drama have enriched the artistic expression of the animations. Decorative and symbolic opera facial designs are supportive in role shaping. The stylized stage performances provide shortcut for making animation characters, such as physical movements and facial expressions. The opera music not only shows the inner world of the characters and the spatial atmosphere, but also reflects the theme of animation.“Seventeen Years Period” animations have inherited the humanistic and cultural atmosphere of China folk arts, such as the paper-cut, shadow play, puppet show and New Year pictures,which can not only embellish the life, but also broaden the ideographic space of animations with religious and symbolic implications.The fourth chapter covers the analysis of the art design methods of “Seventeen Years Period” animations, namely the art design methods that expressing solemnity in humor, the humanistic spirit and symbolic methods, countryside methods, the integrated methods of revolutionary romanticism and realism, which left a splendid mark in the Chinese animation history. Firstly, the comic character personality, interesting childlike innocence, and exaggerated expressions endowed the animations with the comic features. Funny animations often adopt the critical tone to satirize the absurd the reality. The humorous animations adopt philosophical thoughts to pass on rational wisdoms. This paper expounds the causes of mushroomed emergence of the comic animations, such as the producers, the audiences, the cultural contexts, cinema chain mechanism and so forth. Secondly, the civilian hero symbolizes the “perfect personality”, the self-discovery of the protagonist symbolizes“growth”, the mana symbolizes “justice”, and all these symbolize the humanistic spirit symbolic features of “Seventeen Years Period” animations. Thirdly, “Seventeen Years Period”animations demonstrated the scenery and humanistic beauty of the countryside life. These animations have highlighted the countryside style of the minorities through the theme and artistic performance and integrated the countryside life into the grandiose narration of political campaigns, which revealed the conflict between the countryside style and modern style in the transformation of social reform. Finally, the integration of revolutionary romanticism and realism is also a distinctive method of “Seventeen Years Period” animations.As praising the new life and criticizing the old society, “Seventeen Years Period” animations have pursued the essence of surviving experience, revealed the social conflicts, and blended the elements of revolutionary romanticism.The fifth chapter is the conclusion of this paper, which mainly discusses the profound influence of “Seventeen Years Period” animations. Firstly, “Seventeen Years Period”animations gave birth to the unique oriental aesthetic style-“Chinese School”, and got a seat in China animation history with its unique national style. Secondly, “Seventeen Years Period”animations were the combination of the traditional culture and the political ideology. The political factors are a double-edged sword for “Seventeen Years Period” animations, which made dual effects on the development of “Seventeen Years Period” animations. Finally,“Seventeen Years Period” animations combined the dual attributed of education and comedy,which present the social function of edutainment. Therefore, how to coordinate the relationship between the education function and comedy function is a big challenge for the animators. |
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