Ideas of cinema in China, 1913--1937: Three Chinese filmmakers.

摘要

This thesis offers a detailed investigation of the ideology, culture and aesthetics of early Chinese cinema based on the extant films, scripts and pertinent materials relating to the filmmakers Zheng Zhengqiu, Hou Yao and Tian Han from 1913 to 1937. Before the advent of Chinese feature films, the first Chinese filmmaker filmed performances of Beijing Opera. Then, Zheng Zhengqiu, drawing upon civilised drama and the work of some mandarin duck and butterfly school writers, reflected the radical thinking of urban residents from 1913 to the 1930s. Hou Yao went further by dealing with themes of new literature---individual liberation and women's liberation---in the 1920s. Tian Han spoke for some intellectuals in the ideological transitional period in the second half of the 1920s. In the 1930s, he advocated proletarian culture but maintained his support for new "Noras."; This study argues that, aesthetically, early feature films began with a close connection with drama but gradually became more independent from theatre. Cinematography started by presenting stage-like performances with a fixed camera. It developed to mix both theatrical and cinematographical features by 1922. It had excluded theatrical manipulation and used cinematographical approaches and techniques in editing and mise en scene by 1927. Cinematography improved further with the experiments in talkie production by 1935. Early Chinese features were innovative in structure rather than following Chinese narrative tradition. Film acting developed from the unrealistic to the realistic.; This thesis provides an original revelation about the influence of American film circles on Chinese cinema in directing, editing, film language, cinematic technique, acting, continuity script and film theory. Simultaneously, it shows that Chinese feature films remained rooted in Chinese culture. Symbolic montage---creating meaning that is graphically undepictable through naturalistic images---is probably the unique characteristic of Chinese film as shown in early Chinese features, including Hou Yao and Tian Han's productions.; Early Chinese cinema is an under-explored subject. This thesis sets out to use the screen works of the three filmmakers and the ideas of cinema they developed as a key to understanding early Chinese film from 1913 to 1937. Early Chinese films are distinguished from those of other countries by ideology, culture and aesthetics. Early Chinese cinema has laid a foundation for the development of Chinese filmmaking and has provided considerable references for understanding Chinese films of today.