A Study On Space Narration Of Guizhou Ethnic Films

As a cultural and social phenomenon,cinematic space not only reflects changes in the political,economic and cultural landscape,but also serves as a space for the production of social space and cultural representation,which influences social consciousness and building cultural spirit through the presentation,imagination and identification of space,becoming an important vehicle for people to reconstruct the “imagined community”.On the one hand,the use of ethnic groups as objects of cinematic representation has enriched the expressive range of new Chinese cinema;on the other hand,it has reshaped the imagination of minority cultures through cinema,making them an integral part of the political and cultural community of new China.Guizhou is a multi-ethnic province,where 18 ethnic minorities,including the Miao,the Buyi,the Dong,the Shui and the Yi,live.The geographical location in the mountainous region of southwest China has given Guizhou’s ethnic groups a natural vernacular and marginality,and the long history of the ethnic groups and their cultures are diverse,tolerant and congenial,which makes Guizhou’s minority cultures unique and shine in the Chinese cultural family.Among the numerous ethnic films with different styles,Guizhou’s minority films also stand out for their unique ethnic charm.The films reveal the complex social and cultural ecology of Guizhou’s minority regions and their operational mechanisms from a common perspective,thus reflecting the material and spiritual changes in Guizhou’s ethnic minority society.From a geographical perspective,Guizhou minority films are also an important part of Chinese cinema,reflecting the unique landscape and human interest of Guizhou,as well as portraying vivid ethnic characters,making them a special kind of existence in the new Chinese cinema.This dissertation focuses on films(feature films)produced in China since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China that reflect the ethnic minority areas of Guizhou and feature the ethnic minority groups of Guizhou as the main characters.Using the methods of typical case study and the reading of texts,this dissertation analyses the space narration characteristics and aesthetic styles of Guizhou ethnic films and the power entanglements reflected in their cultural “fields”,based on spatial theory and the synthesis of theories from film studies,communication studies,sociology and anthropology.Firstly,this dissertation starts from the three levels of “geographical space”,“social space” and“spiritual space”,and draws on the theories of Henri Lefebvre and others to make a detailed interpretation and analysis of their cinematic space,and discusses the expression of film space and its cultural reflections.Secondly,from the perspective of audiovisual language,this dissertation explores the films’ space expressions and techniques,and discusses how directors use long shots,scene scheduling,composition,colour,sound and other artistic languages to construct a series of image sequences with a distinct sense of space.From the perspective of the narrative function of films,the dissertation discusses how “space”permeates film narratives,becomes the driving force of film narratives,and influences the narrative structure and themes of films.Finally,the dissertation further combines space culture theory and Foucault’s concept of “heterotopias” to point out the significance of Guizhou ethnic minority films in the production of both imaginary “utopia” and realistic“heterotopias”.Through the study of space narration,this dissertation seeks to grasp the aesthetic style and cultural implications of ethnic minority films in Guizhou,and to use space as a window to interpret the way of survival of individuals in the midst of social transformation.This dissertation argues that the space narration of ethnic minority films in Guizhou reflect the influence of the Chinese culture,the socio-economic and cultural changes,and the difficulties of survival,development and transformation of ethnic minority groups in the context of globalization,and that the mixing of ethnic identities has made minority identity and national identity go through an extremely complicated and difficult process of confirmation.However,it is undeniable that Guizhou ethnic minority films have played a significant role in expanding the cultural landscape of Chinese cinema and in building a pluralistic cultural identity for the Chinese nation.Of course,in terms of “ethnic minority films” in the strict sense,the number and quality of Guizhou ethnic minority films made by Guizhou ethnic minority creators,reflecting the lives of Guizhou ethnic minority groups and embodying the main body of Guizhou ethnic minority culture,has yet to be improved.There is still much possibility for the development of Guizhou ethnic minority films.