Variations In Common Sense And Sensibility

Thriller,counter-spy and Gong An movies filmed after the foundation of PRC(People's Republic of China)used to be audiences' favorite film categories in China.There are some close connections,due to certain reasons,between these movies and Chinese history after the foundation of PRC.1977-1980 is,on one hand,a vital crossroads in PRC's history and,on the other hand,a turning point,at which Chinese thriller,counter-spy and Gong An movies changed and varied.Through formal analysis and historical analysis,this dissertation would reveal and interpret complicated cultural and historical information contained in these films.Based on Antonio Gramsci's vital theoretical concept,"common sense" and Jacques Rancière's theory about "distribution of the sensible",this thesis would interpret films concerned in a contextual way.Through close reading of history and films concerned,this dissertation intend to analyze variations,presented during the particular period,in common sense and sensibility.The first chapter of the main part would reveal and explain the variation in the world views and epistemological attitudes that were presented in films concerned.It would involve analysis of signifiers and themes appeared in these films,such as "Qun Zhong"(the common people),economy and trade activities,action scenes and truths.In the second chapter,changes in the subjects,showed in Gong An films,of act and how the collective subjects were replaced by individual subjects called "elder hero" would be revealed and illustrated through analysis of films like Murder in 405.These changes and replacements would also be interpreted in context of PRC'S politics and culture.The changes in distinctions between the "enemy" and the "friend"(which is also the most important inter-subject relationship in Chinese thriller,counter-spy and Gong An films),would be carefully analyzed through the close reading of films such as Rainy Spring,A Mystery of the Great Buddha and Death Lasers from a Reef Island,in the third chapter of this dissertation.The cultural and historical meanings of these changes would also be explained.Supported by arguments presented in the three-chapter main part,this dissertation would come to a conclusion that,in 1977-1980,the de-political process of films concerned contain certain and vital political discourses.