Interpretation on the Chinese Elements in Hollywood Film

罗淞译

摘 要：Hollywood film has been conquering the film viewers around the world with its gorgeous styling， spectacle， luxury and fantasy. With the gradual integration of Chinese culture into the international trend， the Chinese elements are more or less added into more and more Hollywood films， which not only brings different cultural and visual shocks to the audience around the world， but also unconsciously influences the Chinese culture.

关键词：Hollywood； film culture； Chinese elements

中图分类号：G712 文献标识码：B 文章编号：1002-7661（2015）05-036-02

Hollywood film has been conquering the film viewers around the world with its gorgeous styling， spectacle， luxury and fantasy. Film shows the culture of a country on the screen and presents the historical culture， ethnic sprits and local customs of that country to the whole world in the way same to the postcard of sound image. In recent years， the Chinese elements have been added into more and more Hollywood films， such as "Kung Fu Panda"， "The Mummy 3"， "Transformers 2"， "The Matrix"， "The Forbidden Kingdom" and "Avatar". The re-encoding learns from other national cultures， which realizes the interaction and integration of film culture in the context. There are also questions to the phenomenon of "foreign-made with China materials"， which has affected the Chinese culture itself to some extent.

1. Hollywood film exploring Chinese culture

The Chinese elements mirror the traditional culture spirits of the whole Chinese nation， not only just a symbol of the traditional culture， but also rich in meaning. As it were， the Chinese elements are extracted from the traditional Chinese culture for years， both the cultural symbol and the embodiment of the national spirit.

In recent years， the Chinese elements have been added into more and more Hollywood films， especially the "Kung Fu Panda" and "Hua Mulan". In "Kung Fu Panda" where panda （China's national treasure） is directly used as the protagonist， the Chinese elements are applied actively， which makes the whole film full of Chinese characters no matter from the theme or from the details. "Hua Mulan" is based on the story of Hua Mulan in combination with the American spirit. As is known to all， Hua Mulan is the most typical heroine in ancient China， of which the combination with the American spirit just makes it become the model among Hollywood films to use the Chinese elements. The application of Chinese elements in this way is mainly out of the commercial interests. Driven by the cultural industry chain， Chinese elements will bring enormous benefits to Hollywood films， so more and more Hollywood filmmakers are targeting at the themes with Chinese elements.

In fact， it is easy to see that Hollywood film combines with the elements of various countries. For Hollywood film， the adoption of elements of other countries itself is to attract movie consumers in one country by using the culture or cultural elements of that country rather than to spread the traditional culture of that country， thus receiving more business values. Faced with the existing huge movie consumer market， there is no doubt that Chinese elements will become the key of Hollywood film to challenge the film market in China. It could be said that the application of Chinese elements is the business strategy of Hollywood film. In addition， China's time-honored landscape and historical figures have offered great cultural resources for the creation of Hollywood films. For example， China's Taoist culture， Kung Fu culture and ancient temples have satisfied the demand of Westerners on the mystery of oriental culture to some extent.

2. Hollywood film under the guise of Chinese elements

With the strong self-centered idea， the Westerners are more on the pursuit of happiness for all and believing in the individualism， namely focusing on themselves and ignoring others. The idea is influenced incisively and vividly in the Hollywood movies. No matter encountering what kind of difficulty or crisis， the heroes will always turn calamities into blessings provided that they do not believe in failure without any timidity or fear. Although Chinese elements are constantly used in Hollywood movies， it is not the “copinism”. More or less combined with the American culture， Chinese elements are just the seasoning introduced into Hollywood movies indeed.

What the Hollywood film believes in is the principle of mercantilism supreme， targeting at the global film market rather than just the local audience. Not completely blind to keep the national culture， the accommodation and absorption capacities of Hollywood film shall not be underestimated. Committed to attracting the talents around the world for years， Hollywood film has invisibly become the multi-national film by transcending the national boundaries no matter from the capital chain， the production or the film-making. Although absorbing the elements of various countries， Hollywood film is just under the guise of those elements to attract the audience without abandoning its essence. Take "Kung Fu Panda" for example： Chinese shadow play， splash-ink skill and paper-cut skill are used from the DreamWorks logo animation of the opening paper-cuts to the tail animation； the Chinese and Western cultures are compatible on both the setting of background music and the arrangement of stories； some words are also pronounced in Chinese directly. In the film， acupuncture， Kung Fu， Tai Chi， calligraphy and temple fair are also Chinese elements； the undershorts of the protagonist are full of patches with China's rural amorous feelings； snake， monkey， mantis and tiger are all Chinas boxing representatives； more importantly， the whole story is full of Chinese philosophy. Throughout the story however， even wrapped with Chinese elements， the film never loses the essence of Hollywood film. Po （the protagonist shaped in the film） is a typical American： yearning for freedom， fearless of danger and expecting challenges， the American-style humor and the Western characteristics are fully embodied， quite different from those of a traditional Chinese image. The showy but not practical Chinese Kung Fu of Chris in "Rush Hour"， the Terracotta Warriors in "Mummy" and the “Master Sun's Art of War” in "Wall Street" are undoubtedly the embellishments after Hollywood film guised with Chinese elements.

3. Impacts to the Chinese traditional culture after the addition of Chinese elements into Hollywood film

The addition of Chinese elements into Hollywood film undoubtedly facilitates the spread of Chinese culture. Although at the premise of commercial value， on the basis of complying with the commercial interests of Hollywood movies， the addition of Chinese elements into Hollywood film still provides the opportunity to show the world the Chinese culture. It is well known that the Hollywood film production is extremely strict on the subject. Although the Chinese elements selected are mostly the classical elements， what is used is still the fashion value. The Chinese are accustomed to maintaining the subjectivity of Chinese culture with cultural spirits， cultural traditions and national characteristics， so as to inherit and carry forward the Chinese culture better. However， the United States is a nation of immigrants without local culture in the real sense， which just helps Hollywood film to break through cultural barriers and fully absorb the Chinese elements. It is from Hollywood movies that the Western moviegoers gradually deepen their understanding of Chinese culture at the level of curiosity.

As a way of culture spreading， film not only leads to huge profits， but also carries a lot of political characters. Over the years， the application of Chinese elements in Hollywood film is contradicted by most people， believing that Hollywood film invades Chinese culture under the mask of Chinese elements. On the one hand， Hollywood film pleases the Chinese audience with Chinese elements； on the other hand， although Hollywood film shows the whole world the Chinese culture in its unique way by combining Chinese elements， the Chinese culture shown in this way is not pure. The themes with Chinese elements selected are mostly out of date and processed extremely immature， which makes the Chinese elements not as they were and even completely changed. During the development and spreading of Hollywood movies， the corrupted Chinese elements have distorted the understanding of audience from other countries on China， thus influencing the spreading of real Chinese culture.

In addition to the interests of the overseas box office， another important reason for Hollywood to apply Chinese elements is because which could impel cultivating China's film market. Due to various reasons， Hollywood film hasnt yet set itself an important position to China's film market； anyway， there has great potential for China's market is advantageous of a huge population of 1.3 billion. In recent years， the purpose of many American movie companies is to realize their cultivation to China's film market so as to forge China a similar market as important as in Europe and Japan for Hollywood through investing in Chinas cinemas as well as inviting the participation of Chinese to shoot films without Chinese themes.In fact， as early in 1920s， the US Department of Commerce had helped its film industry to explore overseas markets and also entrusted the US Embassy to conduct an in-depth study on the film market in various countries of the world， while China was the first target of the investigation at that time. Hollywood has its commercial films as the largest export of the US. In the perspective of the audience， Hollywood embodies the American culture. Hollywood film is not only on behalf of the "soft power" of the US which is the sole superpower of the world， but is also respected as head-part of its global "cultural expansion". Nowadays， the inclusion of themes of various countries and the participation of people from overseas has become the key to the success of Hollywood film.

4. Conclusions

Overall， the Chinese elements are used in the more and more Hollywood movies in an increasingly skilled manner， with a more sincere attitude to the creation； on the other hand， Hollywood film is always keeping a set of internal and narrative strategy modes as well as adhering to promote the consumption and American cultural values， showing the single but diverse complex characteristics.

References：

[1] Zhang Tianpan. Another "Orientalism" -- The Chinese elements behind Hollywood [J]. South Reviews. 2013 （12）

[2] He Jinran. Cultural logic of globalization -- Hybridity [J].Journal of Hefei Polytechnic University （Social Sciences）. 2012 （03）