• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.65-73
• /
• 2021

This research analyzes the characteristics of Chinese tragic films with Chinese traditional ethical ideology as the core, analyzes its specific performance in the plot and ending setting of the film , and analyzes the director's tragic narrative strategy of cultural reconciliation in the face of political environment to understand the characteristics of Chinese contemporary tragic films.The film is a Chinese contemporary tragic film with The Great Cultural Revolution as its historical background. This film is a representative film of Chinese contemporary tragic films. The classic plot has played a certain role in the expression of Chinese traditional ethical ideology such as fatalism and optimistic attitude to life. The male lead's thought changes interpret the Chinese-style tragedy characteristics containing Chinese traditional ethical ideology. In the setting of the ending, the film broke through the "happy ending" model of Chinese traditional tragedies, and chose the open ending of "one tragedy to the end", further showing the time feature of Chinese contemporary tragic film. The euphemism and tenderness of the film as a tragic film is not only due to the compromise with the political culture of power, but also the result of the director's in-depth understanding of the aesthetics of Chinese tragedy. Through the use of symbolic signs in the film language, it has formed the implicit characteristics of the film narrative in the tragic aesthetic experience. In this paper, the author conducts text analysis for the film and discusses presentation of Director Yimou Zhang's tragic feelings and using the tragic narrative strategy of cultural reconciliation to show his creative wisdom in pursuing artistic breakthroughs under political pressure.