论文总字数：26222字

摘 要

美国是世界电影中心，每年向世界各地出口大量影片。在通过浩大的场面和华丽炫目的电脑特技赢得巨大票房的同时也将美国式的文化价值观传播到世界各地。在这些充分吸引人们眼球的美国大片中，充斥着大量以个人英雄主义为主题的影片。论文讨论《碟中谍》系列中的个人英雄主义。通过分析电影，我们可以了解个人英雄主义电影的历史发展和它的特点。论文在此基础上探讨美国文化重视个人英雄主义的历史和现实原因，以及个人英雄主义带给我们中国人的启示。

关键词：美国电影；《碟中谍》系列；个人英雄主义

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Heroism 1

2.1 The Definition of Heroism 1

2.2 Types and Features of Heroism Movies 2

3. Mission Impossible Series 4

3.1 Synopsis of Mission Impossible Series 4

3.2 Heroism Reflected in Mission Impossible Series 5

4. Reasons for Americans’ Focus on Heroism 7

4.1 Puritanism 7

4.2 Westward Movement 7

4.3 American Dream 8

4.4 Sense of Crisis 9

5. Conclusion 9

Works Cited 11

1. Introduction

When talking about heroism, we must refer to the United States. The United States is a country that worships heroism. American society advocates the spirit of independence and freedom, the value of people as the social members, encouraging individuals to rely on their ability to create a better life and benefit the society and the human beings. What Americans respect is individual struggle, winning in the merciless social competition, gaining a sense of security and accomplishment, and becoming the industry pioneer and leader. “Compared with other developed countries in Europe, the United States emphasizes much more on personal and business self-reliance, rather than relying on government and social security.” (Wu Qiong, 2011: 373) The history of the United States is one with the accumulation of numerous personal struggles. People came to the North America, with a strong desire to build homes and create a better life, but in the wild new land, people can only rely on their hands. So this kind of heroism originates from within, rather than from the gods. It’s the inner spirit of the free, democratic and anti-authoritarian people.

In America, we can find that many literature works about heroism. For example, in The Old Man and Sea, Hemingway tells us a story of a lonely old Cuban fisherman, experiencing a relentless and agonizing battle with a giant marlin in the Gulf Stream. Besides the literature works, “movies are good presentation of heroism. The heroes in the movie are the most admirable models to modern people and they are praised highly. So we can see Hollywood repeatedly come down to superhero and put them onto the screen.” (Belton, 1994: 21) Mission Impossible series are one of the examples. The series abandon the endless gunfights, shells and fights. “This makes the ‘Brainy is the new sexy’ become a trend again.” (Belton, 1994: 33)

2. Heroism

2.1 The Definition of Heroism

“Individual heroism is a kind of spirit, a kind of faith.” (Wei Wenjing, 2013: 52) It is believed that through the tireless efforts of individuals and dedication, people can get social recognition and struggle for the benefits according to a positive direction in life. (Liu Jiancheng, 2006: 4) Since the 1950s, the world can be said to be the American world. “According to the American values, standing up actively and dealing with the global transaction are the American heroism.” (Wang Juan, 2005: 2)

Heroism is the source of vitality in the United States. It is the mainstream value of the American society, the basic belief and social consensus. People rely on themselves to strive for the happiness and to realize their dreams. Americans don’t believe in tears. On the contrary, they believe everyone must stand on their own. Social environment encourages Americans bravely shoulder the personal and social responsibility.

2.2 Types and Features of Heroism Movies

There are two ways to classify heroism movies. According to the role the hero played in the movie, there are omnipotent type, saving the world from a narrow scrape type and civilian hero type.

Superman series is a representation of omnipotent type. Review the development of Superman series, we can find it’s a development history of American society. When the superman first appears in the movie, it’s not omnipotent, but with the passage of time, he becomes more and more perfect. The superman has super eyesight, strong hearing, super intelligence and invulnerable body structure. All in all, the superman possesses the ability you can think of.

The Hurt Locker belongs to the saving the world from a narrow scrape type. The Hurt Locker focuses on a group of U.S. bomb disposal experts and tells a story of their mission in Baghdad. Regardless of their own safety, they must remove and disarm a time-bomb to make the city a safer place for Iraqis. This fully confirms the vision of heroism in Americans.

When Americans have fatigue with super heroes, the Hollywood produces civilian heroes. They don’t have super abilities but are with more glory of human nature. They also have joys and sorrows, sweetness and bitterness. Like Sam in the Transformers, he is a common people and just graduated from high school. He has his own secrets and favorite girl. Since with the transformers, he becomes a real hero. When the audience saw Sam on the screen, they must feel very real because the hero also has the weakness. (Wang Shan, 2013: 85)

Another classification consists of western movies, comic book hero movies, military and war movies, space science fiction movies and anti-terrorism movies. These superheroes in the movies reflect the greatness of the human and bear one or more of the following features.

Heroes are always ready to help others for a just cause. The hero appears in the event of a disaster at critical moments and silently leaves after saving the world. (Wang Lingyan, 2013: 68) Take Spider-man for an example. The protagonist Peter Parker in the Spider-man is an ordinary high school student. In an extracurricular activity, he is bit by a radioactive infected spider, and then obtains a special ability. After graduating from the high school, he decides to take advantage of his ability to rescue people in need. He helps the police to arrest the criminals and rushes into fire to save a child. He protects the safety of New York people, but he leaves alone after the disaster. During a long time, Peter is hidden behind a “mask”. He just wants to help people but does not intend to gain reputation and benefits.

Heroes all have a sense of justice. Their sense of justice will be stimulated when they see the bloody scenes. Hollywood movie Schindler’s List is directed by American famous director Steven Allan Spielberg. The protagonist Schindler is a proponent of the Nazi party at first; he accumulates a great fortune through munitions business. He has a multifaceted character of somewhat lecherous and greedy. He just wants to create a great wealth through a lot of cheap Jewish labor. When he sees the ghetto brutal massacre scene, his conscience is completely awakened. He helps refugees again and again and becomes the famous hero in the Germany history. “The heroes in the American mind are not born perfect.”(Wang Lingyan, 2013: 68)

Women foil heroes. In many Hollywood movies, there are many stories of rescuing lover, mother and children. Woman’s image highlights the male hero’s bravery and sacrificial image. Therefore women are often put in a dangerous situation, waiting for the emergence of the hero. In Mission Impossible II, the protagonist Ethan’s lover Nyah is infected by deadly virus. Ethan competes with time and fierce opponent. The story is exciting and attracting. In the end, of course, Ethan saves his lover’s life.

“Heroes also have shortcomings, but often after experiencing a disaster, they go through a metamorphosis. They are reborn due to the enlightenment of their consciousness and gain more courage and responsibility. This heroic spirit is admired by Americans.” (Wang Lingyan, 2013: 69)

3. Mission Impossible Series

3.1 Synopsis of Mission Impossible Series

Mission Impossible series are action movies. Tom Cruise starred in all the four series. The first was produced by the Paramount in 1996. The movie tells the story that Agent Ethan experiences many disasters and survives, but he is suspected to be the traitor of the organization because of 120 thousand dollar in his account. Ethan decides to find out the true traitors. After a thrilling encounter, he finally eradicates the traitors, but he doesn’t want to return to the organization. The movie is a great success with thrilling scenes and exciting plots.

In 2000, the second division of the movie was on screen. Director Wu Yusen tells the story that IMF agent Ethan Hunt has been sent on a mission to retrieve and destroy the supply of a genetically created disease called ‘Chimera’. His mission is made impossible due to the fact that he is not the only person looking for the samples of the disease. He must also contest with a gang of international terrorists headed by a former IMF agent who has already managed to steal the cure called “Bellerophon” and now need “Chimera” to complete their grand plan of infecting people in the whole world. In order to infiltrate and locate the terrorist group, Ethan relies on the help of an international thief Nyah, of whom he quickly develops a love interest. Time is not only running out for agent Hunt to find and destroy ‘Chimera’ before the terrorists get their hands on it, but he must also find “Bellerophon” so as to save his lover who has already infected by the disease. Hoping to help Ethan accomplish the task and to protect him, Nyah asks Ethan to kill herself in order to destroy the only remaining virus. Sean begins to deal with pharmaceutical factory boss for virus and cures and he claims that the virus will soon sweep the world. At the same time, Ethan arrived. After a fierce struggle, Ethan finally recaptures the virus and cures and kills Sean. He also saves Nyah’s life in time.

After the two series, in 2006, Ethan Hunt again carried omnipotent sharp momentum team. At the beginning of the third episode, Ethan Hunt has stepped down from the ranks of first-line agents, responsible for the training work of the IMF. In front of his bride Julia, Ethan must hide his real identity. The world is still full of crisis. The IMF team raids the warehouse where Lindsey is kept. They rescue Lindsey and collect two computer laptops during their escape. As they flee on a helicopter, Ethan discovers a micro-explosive implanted in Lindsey’s head. Before Ethan can use a defibrillator to disable the device, it kills her. Ethan learns that Lindsey mailed him a postcard before her capture, and discovers a magnetic microdot under the stamp. Ethan faces unprecedented strong opponents. The devil is engaged in international trade of arms and intelligence. He knows all about Ethan’s background. Once again Ethan collaborates with his team around the world to accomplish the task again.

Ethan’s boss Brassel congratulates Ethan as he leaves for his honeymoon with Julia. Ethan is unsure if he will return to the IMF. Brassel promises that he will tell Ethan what the Rabbit’s Foot is if Ethan will promise to return. Ethan smiles and walks off with Julia.

Part IV of the Mission Impossible series screened in North America on December 16, 2011. And it makes the best media ratings record of the movie series. On January 28, 2012 it screened in China. When Agent Ethan Hunt performs a secret espionage in Moscow, a bomb placed by a terrorist blows up the landmark in Russia: the Kremlin. The Russian government immediately announces that the attack has gone beyond the general scope of the terrorist attacks. It is completely “a provocation of war.” The Russian government’s argument makes its rival the U.S. government on pins and needles. So the U.S. government has to send the agent Ethan Hunt to Moscow to perform a secret program called “Ghost Protocol”. In order to let Hunt have the complete autonomy, the agent’s organization in the United States helps Hunt escape from the prison. They will complete an impossible task and prevent a war between the United States and Russia.

3.2 Heroism Reflected in Mission Impossible Series

Mission impossible means that the mission is too hard to finish. The tasks, which ordinary people cannot even imagine to finish it, eventually are finished by the Agent Ethan Hunt. This represents not only the hero’s own charm but also heroism. Ethan Hunt acted by Tom Cruise is the heart and soul of the movie. Ethan Hunt himself is taking big risks many times, but with his own ability, he finally completes the tasks.

In the part IV of the series, Ethan fights with the opponent for the starter of the nuclear weapon. He falls from elevator platforms several times, one leg fractured. In the end, the opponent carries the box of the starter and jumps down in order to delay the time of stopping the starter of the nuclear weapon. Ethan has no choice and he thinks for just a second, then he creeps into a car, fastens his seat belt, and starts the engine. He drives the car from high place and rushes to the first floor. Finally, at the last second, Ethan successfully prevented the explosion.

The most breathtaking scene is in the fourth part of the series Ethan climbing the world’s highest tower, the Burj Dubai. He wants to break the window of the hotel computer control room and then controls the hotel daily monitoring. The tower has 160 floors with a total height of 828 meters. When shooting the scene, the director Brad was worried. Tom Cruise insisted that he climb on his own. Although shooting with the protective measures, everyone was nervous. During shooting, “I focus on myself. It was not until we finished the scene that we realize we are so crazy.” Brad Bird said, the director of the fourth part of movie series. The audiences are worried about the agent and other actor’s safety. Some audiences even think that thrilled scene is finished by computer special effects.

Another scene which shows us the heroism is when Ethan escorted David to America. After the plane landed, when crossing a bridge, Ethan’s team suffered a missile attack. The scene is in a mess. To fight of the armed helicopter, the gunners strafed back and forth constantly. Hunt rushed to the front of the broken car. In the rain of bullets, he took a rifle from the trunk and assembled it quickly. Ethan picked up the rifle and shot down the fighter jet.

Breathtaking scenes like these are the main reason for the popularity of the movie series. Ethan has fully showed us the spirits of heroism in American culture: having a firm goal, never yield, responsibility, struggling for justice and eventually keeping the world safe.

4. Reasons for Americans’ Focus on Heroism

4.1 Puritanism

Before we discuss the heroism in American movies, obviously we can’t avoid the roots of American culture --- Puritanism. The Puritans were a group of English Protestants in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, including, but not limited to English Calvinists. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England. Puritanism has profound influence on American culture, like a red line separating the American history from the colonial era to today’s American culture. The puritans suffered religious persecution in Europe. They were discontent to the cruel reality, so they immigrated to the new continent. These new immigrants believed in the true freedom, thought of himself as god’s voters, and strove to build a “city upon a hill” --- a utopian country attaching great importance to the spiritual life. In this country, freedom covers a wide range of moral implications. The history of American culture is actually the rethinking of the Puritanism. Individualism constitutes the basic characteristics of American culture patterns and the main content. It expresses the thought most eloquently.

American individualism idea rooted in the philosophical tradition represented by the 17^th century British philosopher John Locke. Locke asserted that biological individual is the basic unit of nature. Emerson made the best annotation of individualism. He said there is a forever fresh and noble teaching, that is: there is a “person”. People are not farmers, professors or workers, but everything. Philosophers should be free --- free and brave. In the United States, they respect “rely on self”, and believe sanctity and dignity of the individual.

4.2 Westward Movement

The westward movement began in the early 1600s with European settlements along the Atlantic Coast of North America. It continues until the late 1800s.

As an immigration country, its “hero” unavoidably has something with the shadow of the old world hero culture. But since the first day of the young country, it continuously grew both in land and national strength. The hero is shaped by the American. The cowboys or the westward white settlers or the overseas American soldiers generally have similar traits: individualism, aggressiveness and absolute confidence. The western movies are almost one pattern: a lone hero, finally retire and then quietly disappear. The heroes of the modern American movies are diversified, with different backgrounds, but essentially they are of one model. Sometimes the hero wears a cowboy clothes, sometimes wearing Vietnam steel helmet, sometimes dressed as spider-men or even aliens. American writer James Fenimore Cooper’s works The Pioneers and The Last of the Mohicans are about heroism in this period. The repeated appearance of the same heroism plot is of no accident. The United States is an immigrated country; the ancestors in the British colonial land opened up a piece of land and built a nation. The image of the pioneers is expressed to the limit. The spirit of unrelenting struggle, fighting for freedom as well as the long struggle process has important historical role in American culture.

4.3 American Dream

American Dream is a belief that one can achieve a better life after a hard struggle in the United States. People can achieve success through their hard work, courage, creativeness and determination, rather than depending on specific classes and assistance of others. Many European immigrants hold the ideals of the American Dream to go to the United States.

From independence to the end of the 19^th century, the vast land in the western part of the continent was uninhabited. Anyone can occupy and invest in land. And in the industrial revolution, America’s huge nature resources and advanced industrial technology makes rapid social mobility possible. And this trend is still increasing day by day.

Although some people criticize that the American Dream puts excessive emphasis on material wealth when measuring personal success and happiness, many Americans do think that the opportunity to succeed in the America cannot be found in other countries in the world. Unlike many other countries, there is more economic freedom in the United States, and the role of government is relatively limited, which makes social mobility in the United States easier. Thus anyone can march toward the peak through their own efforts.

4.4 Sense of Crisis

The birth of heroism comes from the American sense of crisis. (Liu Jieliang, 2013: 107). In the First World War, America accumulated the vast materials and formed a good economic basis. In the Second World War, the United States began to stay neutral, and then was forced to declare war on the fascist. America was involved in the war, but America’s comprehensive national strength and national economy suffered little. After the Second World War, the world became polarized, namely the socialist camp headed by the Soviet Union and the US-led capitalism camps. The Soviet Union put too much attention on the development of military industry, causing imbalances in industrial development and highly centralized planned economy, while the United States attached great importance to the development of the economy. Eventually the Soviet Union collapsed; the United States gradually becomes a powerful country. The American people have a sense of superiority, thinking their country as the most powerful one. But after “9.11”, many Americans’ views change greatly. They think that under the strong appearance, there are many crises in the United States. People have a sense of insecurity. Anxiety about terrorism, other hostile countries, the deteriorating environment and natural disasters remind the Americans of the sense of crisis. Facing the crisis, the Americans are not pessimistic. They believe that man can conquer nature. They are calling superheroes. Mission Impossible series endure because they adapt to the needs of the American society, bringing protection and security to the Americans.

5. Conclusion

Movie is a visual art. It is also an important part of human cultural life, and directly or indirectly reflects the culture of a nation. Given the origins of the word hero, it is not surprising that a heroic act that is typically associated with some degree of danger or a martial act in performing the social behavior to help others in need. (Mathew, 2012: 1085) American movies are filled with the characteristics of self-centered individualism and heroism. These reflect the demand for reasonable order of common people.

As a matter of fact, the U.S. heroism in the movies, to some extent, has its positive significances, which contributes to an inspiration for the audiences by conveying the spirit of freedom and democracy. Obviously, the hero’s dream plays a critical role in inspiring people to realize their dreams, and reflects people’s strong desires to fight the forces of evils with the power of their own and to save the world. Nevertheless, such desires can be achieved with great difficulties by ordinary individuals in such a modern society. Therefore, the protagonists in the movies will be an effective substitute of the audiences to complete the elusive dream hidden in their heart. In fact, the spirit of the heroes not only plays an important role in science, economics, but also in different fields such as politics. At the same time, the transmission of cultural values in the movies also exerts a subtle influence on the formation of culture values of the world film lovers. The film and the hero are the products of the era. The film gives us a shocking visual impact, enough sensual pleasure and spiritual sublimation. The hero is an idol that we desire for; the hero brings us strength and beauty, love and hope, and makes our life full of dream and passion.

Meanwhile, it can not be denied that there exists a heroism abuse in Hollywood. Thus, many Americans are sick of heroism movies. Moreover, violence and bloody battles become a prerequisite for the establishment of feats of superheroes, so that the traditional image of heroes gradually deviates from the right track. Many moviegoers, especially minors begin to imitate the violent and aggressive images of heroism movies, leading to many social problems.

Even though personal heroism has been criticized as the eternal theme in the American movies, and most Chinese people have also been annoyed by it, there is no doubt that people will be walking into the cinemas and watching the movies. Consequently, achieving a balance between how to shape the great heroism and how to lessen heroism abuse becomes particularly important. Furthermore, the majority of such heroism movies doubtless demonstrate the positive spirits. All in all, the victory of justice over evil and the great courage in the face of difficulties are the common belief of human beings.

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