Western "Gaze":Evolution Of Chinese Image In American And British Documentary Films Concerning China

Documentary,as the"mirror of human existence",helps us understand and think about the world,and shapes our image as the"public actor"of the world.We act on the knowledge we have picked up in the film,look back on ourselves and ask questions.But reality does not need to be selected or narrated.The reality in the documentary is the reality that the creator acts on our brain,and it is the production of sense of reality or purposeful significance.Therefore,the United States and Britain examine and judge China in the way of documentaries,and examine China reconstructed by narrative techniques.perspective of"the other"in the West is in contrast with the national expression of China itself.It can not only reflect on itself,but also fully understand the significance production in the process of documentary narrative expression and the contradiction between documentary scene-based and narrative art.Academic research on the construction of Chinese image in Chinese-related documentaries is mostly focused on a documentary film or a specific period.The author expands the research sample to Chinese-related documentaries filmed by the United States and Britain in the same Western cultural circle from the first Chinese-related news documentary film to the present.By combing historical documents and analyzing documentary text,the author draws a systematic dynamic picture.A picture album of the image of China in the West.On the basis of studying what kind of Chinese image is constructed in Chinese-related documentaries,this paper examines how the western Chinese image is constructed,whether there is a deviation from the real China and whether it implies the prejudice of Western discourse through the analysis of documentary works.Further analysis is made of the factors that influence the formation of the Chinese image in Chinese-related documentaries.Finally,it tries to overcome the simple paradigm of viewing the image of China from the perspective of"binary opposition",and dialysis the complex Western cultural mentality and power relations hidden behind the documentary.Starting from the above problems,the author selected the influential works of various periods,major producers or directors from the rich documentary films filmed in the United States and Britain from 1896 to 2018 for detailed text analysis,and summarized the trajectory of the evolution of Chinese image.From the perspectives of narratology,communication and aesthetics,this paper analyses the production intention,theme selection,visual rhetoric and voice language of documentary works concerning China,reveals the narrative structure hidden in the original material of documentary films,as well as the selection of materials,techniques and rhetoric strategies to complete this structural presentation,and then expounds that the image of China has been constructed through conscious narration.Any subject can make a difference and can be interpreted from different perspectives.From the perspectives of history,politics and communication,this paper studies the reasons why the West interprets and expresses China from different perspectives.By analyzing the historical development stages of China itself and combining the political,economic,cultural and military backgrounds of the West,it is concluded that the Chinese image constructed by documentaries concerning China is national strength and dissemination strength,International Relations and national interests,historical recognition and Cultural differences,audiences' feelings and directors' positions are the result of the combined efforts of many factors.By revealing the deep-seated causes of the image construction of Western China,we can see the power game between China and the West.The Western mentality hidden behind the documentary film is the admiration,reference and mockery of "choose the good and change the bad",as well as the unbalanced mentality of the rise of China.Study ing American and British documentaries on China-related themes will help us to look at the creation of documentaries from an international perspective and learn their narrative skills,so as to create documentaries of China's national image,which are more easily disseminated to the outside world,and better use documentaries to express the identity of the Chinese nation.