论文总字数：27799字

摘 要

近年来，我们的身边发生了很多的灾难。这些灾难牵动着人们的心弦。越来越多的人开始关注自然灾难和人类的未来。基于这样的心理，电影《2012》和《唐山大地震》产生了。论文从文化的角度对比两部中美灾难电影《2012》和《唐山大地震》，找出影片反映出的异同价值观，并探讨异同的文化根源。本论文能帮助中美人民更好地了解对方，为那些陷于跨文化冲击中的人们提供一些新思路和启示。

关键词：灾难电影；《2012》；《唐山大地震》；价值观；异同

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Disaster Films 3

3.1 History of Disaster Films 3

3.2 Synopsis of 2012 and Aftershock 4

4. Similar Values Reflected in 2012 and Aftershock 5

4.1 Parents’ Love to Children 5

4.2 Family Concepts 6

4.3 Team Spirit 7

5. Different Values Reflected in 2012 and Aftershock 7

5.1 Future-oriented versus Past-oriented 7

5.2 Individualism versus Collectivism 8

5.3 Interests versus Righteousness 9

6. Conclusion 10

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

In recent years, tsunami, earthquake, floods, hurricanes and volcanic explosion have taken place all over the world frequently. The unusual weather and the emergence of new virus have made people pessimistic about the future. Faced with this situation, a lot of people are worried about the future. This situation has also prompted people to look for ways to express their concern about the living environment and to deal with the various natural disasters. People express their concern in multitudinous ways. Among them, the film, as an effective art form, can not be ignored. According to a research on the film made by Cai Shengqin, “… young adults spend nearly 50% of their leisure time watching films and videos. In the past one hundred years the films has become a vitally important part of contemporary culture, which is becoming increasingly started by visual media today. We are called to acknowledge and analyze our greatest sources of entertainment and information as they influence the warp and woof of our lives.” (Cai Shengqin, 2013: 1)

Disaster films, in a direct and intuitive way and with the astonishing sound and devastating scenes, give the audiences great psychological shock and arouse their concern about natural disasters throughout the world. The popularity of disaster films in recent years is not without reasons. Firstly disaster films are an objective reflection of people’s ecological consciousness. Secondly, disaster films are in agreement with the aesthetic needs of people. Among all the disaster films released recently, 2012 and Aftershock should be mentioned because they have caused the trend of the frenzy of disaster films.

Released in 2009, the Hollywood film 2012 embodies the deep concern for human beings’ past and future. It has a tremendous impact on the world disaster films because the glaring scenario settings look so real that audiences believe they have experienced the disasters in person. Audiences are addicted to this kind of destructive film; thus the directors from other countries begin to follow and make more disaster movies.

Domestic disaster movies can be numbered. The disaster movie Super Typhoon takes “Saomai” landed in Wenzhou in 2006 as the prototype. The blizzard, happened in 2008 has left a deep impression on people’s mind. This blizzard also shocks the hearts of literary and art workers, so the movie The Next 11 Days is produced. Wenchuan Earthquak in 2008 also brought back the Chinese memories of Tangshan earthquake in 1976, in which many Tangshan people lost their families. All things there were in a mess. People who could not save their children would live with self-accusation and compunction in the rest of their life. That is what Aftershock is about!

2. Literature Review

Disaster films attract the audiences. At the same time, they also trigger the scholars’ interest to make a further study. Both domestic and foreign scholars have written research papers on disaster movies.

Tang Jinxian, from Southwest University of Science and Technology, wrote an essay about Aftershock: “The movie is moving because of the kinship it presented; the movie is touching because of motherhood it depicted. I think the deep affection between family members is unforgettable. To those who survived the earthquake, it is also a test for their bravery and perseverance.” (Tang Jinxian, 2011: 32) Wang Hui of Nanjing University once expressed his view about Chinese disaster films. He thought Chinese are not good at producing prophetic and warning science fiction disaster movies because the technology of visual effects in China is limited. Besides, the disaster consciousness expressed in disaster films is not consistent with the Chinese view of pursuing peace and stability. Chinese disaster films are, basically, depiction of the disasters that have happened in the past.

The studies of disaster films, especially of the Hollywood disaster films have started since long time ago. Disaster films in the United States have a long history. Some disaster films usually render soul-stirring disasters so as to stimulate the audience’s sense of fear. And others preach irrational region. As the studies of films grow more and more mature, foreign scholars tend to study and analyze the disaster films. American scholar Vyalkovo compared disaster films to the bugs in the carpet. According to him, the disaster movie has appeared for a long time and has formed a formula of its own. It should be treated as a genre of film rather than a flashing trend. Moreover, Northrop Frye, a famous cultural critic, explained the reason why so many people are crazy about disaster films. In his book, The Great Code, he wrote, “In human’s subconscious, there always exists the thought of doomsday, which either in the form of the fallen apart of the sky and earth, or in the form of the disaster caused by biochemical wars.”(Frye, 2002: 18)

This paper treats the booming of disaster films as a cultural phenomenon. By comparing American movie 2012 and Chinese movie Aftershock, we can find the similarities and differences of Chinese and American values. This paper also tries to explore the cultural reasons for these similarities and differences so as to provide new thoughts and enlightenments for the people who are immersed in cross-cultural crisis.

3. Disaster Films

3.1 History of Disaster Films

Films began in the 1890s, with the invention of the first motion-picture cameras and the establishment of the first film production companies. The year 1900 conveniently marks the emergence of the first motion pictures that can be considered as ‘film’ in the sense of the movie we watch now. At this point, film makers began to introduce basic editing techniques and film narrative. Disaster film, as a special type of the film, was born almost at the same time with the film. (History of Film)

Then, what is disaster film? The disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. “Disaster film is the television works depicting the natural or man-made disasters. It aims to present the catastrophic scene and to show people’s fear.” (Xu Nanming, 2005: 36)

The disasters in the films include natural disasters, such as earthquakes, or asteroid collisions, accidents, such as shipwrecks or airplane crashes, or calamities like worldwide disease pandemics. The films usually feature some degree of build-up, the disaster itself and sometimes the aftermath, from the point of view of specific individual characters or their families.

The disaster themes are almost as old as the film medium itself. One of the earliest was Fire! (1901) made by British director James Williamson. This silent film portrayed a bumming house and the firemen who arrived to quench the flames and rescue the inhabitants.

Origins of the genre can also be found in more movies, such as In Nacht und Eis (1912), about the sinking of the Titanic; Atlantis (1913), also about the Titanic; Noah’s Ark (1928), the Biblical story of the great flood; Deluge (1933), about tidal waves devastating New York City. The golden age of the disaster film began in 1970 with the release of Airport, a huge financial success earning more than $45 million at the box office. The genre continued with a high-profile film, 2009’s $200-million budget 2012, which portrayed a series of global natural disasters as supposedly prophesied by the 2012 doomsday prediction. (Disaster Film)

Then, the earliest Chinese disaster film is Sailing on a Foggy Night in 1957, directed by the filmmaker Shi Hui. The film was not accepted by the audiences of that time because of the advanced imitation of British film A Night to Remember. In 1960, the August First Film Studio released a film Express No.12 about a train trapped in the mountain torrents. The war disaster film Nanking Massacre is a vent in the 1980s. Since 2001, more disaster films gradually emerge in China, Super Typhoon (2006), about the real typhoon “Saomai”; Earthshaking (2009), about the Wenchuan Earthquake; Aftershock (2009), about the Tangshan Earthquake.

Audiences all over the world are keen on disaster films in recent years for three reasons. The deterioration of environment leads to the first reason. The second reason is for the needs of the market. The audiences are seeking the psychological excitement when they watch the catastrophic movies. The last reason is that disaster movies contain rich cultural elements. The movie is the carrier of culture, so people can express their cultural feelings through the films.

3.2 Synopsis of 2012 and Aftershock

As one of the Hollywood’s most representative disaster film, 2012 is a 2009 American science fiction disaster film directed and co-written by Roland Emmerich. The plot is as following.

Jackson Curits (John Cusack) attempts to bring his children, Noah (Liam James) and Lilly (Morgan Lily), ex-wife Kate Cutits (Amanda Peet), and her boyfriend, Gordon Silbeman (Thomas McCarthy) to refuge, amidst the events of a geological and meteorological super-disaster. At last, they succeed and survive the big disaster by unity. The film includes references to Mayanism, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, and the 2012 phenomenon in its portrayal of cataclysmic events unfolding in the year 2012.

In July, 2010, China released globally another shocking disaster movie Aftershock, choosing a real historical event as the theme of the movie. The synopsis of Aftershock is like this: In Tangshan, the truck driver Fang Daqiang (Zhang Guoqiang), his wife Li Yuanni (Xu Fan) and their twins Fang Da (Li Chen) and Fang Deng (Zhang Jingchu) are members of a happy family. On 27 July 1976, a devastating earthquake destroys Tangshan, and Daqiang dies while trying to rescue his children from their apartment. When a collapsed beam traps Fang Da and Fang Deng, Yuanni is forced to make a decision between saving her son or her daughter. She chooses Fang Da, her son. However, her daughter Fang Deng overhears her mother’s words. Miraculously, she is rescued by a soldier and adopted by Mr. Wang and his wife with the name Wang Deng. Thirty-two years later, Wang Deng meets Fang Da accidently, and she learns the drama of Yuanni through all those years. The family is finally reunited at Yuanni’s home, where bitterness is exposed and resolved.

4. Similar Values Reflected in 2012 and Aftershock

Cultures and values, the core of the cultures, are reflected in films. Although people in different countries have different historic traditions and have formed various cultures, we still live in the same earth; we will get married, will have families and children, and will receive the same ethical and moral guidance after all. There are some similarities between American culture and Chinese culture, so does the values. The above-mentioned films both show us how much parents love their children and how important the family means to them.

4.1 Parents’ Love to Children

In 2012, the Russian billionaire Yuri Karpov (Zlatko Burić) has left a great impression on the audience. At first, all people think he is a selfish man because when facing so many people that he can help, the only thing that he has done is to protect himself. However, with the development of the plot, we find that in the last minute, he gives the hope of survival to his twins Alec (Alexandre) and Oleg (Philippe Haussmann).

Similarly, in Aftershock when the ground shakes, and buildings begin tumbling down, Father Fang Daqiang and Mother Li Yuanni rush to rescue their children without thinking of their danger. In this sense, both of the films give one message to us, the parents’ love to their children. Whether in China or America, parents are always their children’s umbrella. Parents are liable for the infinite care for their children. Even in the last moment, they are willing to sacrifice themselves to save their children. So, both in American culture and in Chinese culture, parents’ love to the children is a recurring tradition throughout the years.

4.2 Family Concepts

In 2012, the movie has arranged four calls. The first one is a call from Adrian to his father. They spend more time apart than they get together. At that moment of the call, Adrian could not save his father, but the father was proud of having such a son. The second call is made by American president to his daughter. He is President of the country; at the same time, he is a father as well. He feels sorry for his daughter because he cannot protect his daughter well, that is, he does not protect his family well. Then the next call is made by a jazz musician to his son in Japan. The granddaughter takes the phone, and this is also their final farewell. The last call is between the politician Anheuser (Oliver Platt) and his mother. He tells his mother that he will come back next day. There is a little anxious mood revealed to his mother. The four calls appear at the same time in one film, and repeated more than once, which surely imply that when people are in danger or when they are to lose their lives, the first thing coming to their mind is their family.

There is a similar scene in the movie Aftershock. The mother Yuanni is reluctant to move out of the old house and to remarry. Every year, when she burns the paper money in memory of her dead husband and daughter, she is always talking about the way to the house that she lives in now and reminds them not to forget to go home. The concept of family has been deeply rooted in her mind. No matter how bitter the life is or how tired they are, family is always their harbor for their bodies and souls. To Li Yuanni, family is the only solace for her injured heart.

4.3 Team Spirit

It is not difficult to find that both movies want to convey the same message about how people can unite together to fight with the common enemy.

In 2012, Jackson Curtis is a science fiction writer who works part-time as a limousine driver for the Russian billionaire, Yuri Karpov. As millions of people die in destructive earthquakes worldwide, the group, made up of Jackson Curtis’s family and Yuri Karpov’s family, flies to Yellowstone to retrieve a map and learns that arks are in China. This group of people works together to land in the Ark 4 and at last with the help of Jackson and his son, the ark finally takes off from the land. And in Aftershock, when the earthquake happens, all the people try their best to help those in disaster areas. They are not afraid of death. There is a belief in their mind that union is strength!

American and Chinese films have paid more and more attention to the importance of unity, which has become a part of their cultures. It is not only reflected in the movies, but also in the reality that they help other countries in need.

5. Different Values Reflected in 2012 and Aftershock

On the other side, we also need to pay attention to the different values reflected in the two movies. As we all know, people in different countries have different traditions and lifestyles. To some extent, these differences will be reflected in their cultures. That is to say, there are some differences between American values and Chinese values. In the two films, we can see the different cultural attitudes towards time and money. Besides, Americans and Chinese put different emphasis on individualism and collectivism.

5.1 Future-oriented versus Past-oriented

China and the United States have the different emphasis on time. In future-oriented society like America, there is a strong belief in progress. People may have negative expectations for the future and their efforts may be directed at preparing for or preventing from bad times ahead. The movie 2012 includes references to Mayanism and the 2012 phenomenon in its portrayal of cataclysmic events unfolding in the year 2012. From the beginning of the film, all people and all things are in a tense atmosphere. They all believe that the whole world will be completely collapsed. They also hold the views that they should overcome the limitations of the past or surpass the accomplishments of the past, which are good reasons for doing something new.

China is a traditional past-oriented society in which tradition is very important. Because of the Wenchuan Earthquake, the memory of Tangshan Earthquake in 1976 is brought back. In this way, the movie Aftershock is produced. In past-oriented societies like China, the cultural memory is rich and deep. People of this culture often look back to the hard time or glory time that they have gone through and may quote these experiences as a guide for actions in the present.

As Davis Linell wrote in her book Doing Culture, “In these societies the past is studied scientifically to find trends and patterns. The cause of present and future conditions can be found in the past, so it is useful to investigate it in order to create a better future”. (Linell, 2012: 200) In Aftershock, when buildings collapsing, mountains falling and the earth splitting in 2008, people felt more secure because this was similar to the earthquake that had happened in Tangshan in 1976. Chinese people are good at learning from the disasters happened in the past. They believe that by learning from the experience, they can prevent these kinds of things from happening or minimize the losses.

5.2 Individualism versus Collectivism

The United States is a country advocating individualism, while China puts more emphasis on collectivism.

Members of individualist cultures value self-reliance. People are more likely to express pride in themselves and their accomplishment rather than to express pride in their group, company, family, or hometown. Personal initiative is highly valued, and failure to solve your own problem is your fault. So, in cultures of individualism each person is seen as autonomous and separate. In the United States, social relations are based on the autonomy of each person. That means each person should be treated as an individual first and only secondarily as a member of a group or the occupant of a position in a hierarchy. In the movie 2012, the hero to save the world is not a superman but a common person, just like the audience. In the movie, there is something wrong with Ark 4 and the door could not be closed, which leads to shutoff of the engine. The ark would hit the Himalayas at any time. At this critical moment, Jackson Cruits decides to dive to the water tank to fix the trouble. And he succeeds in saving the world. The movie has presented both heroism and individualism in full.

On the contrary, in cultures of hierarchical values, people are aware of their positioning relations. They comply with hierarchical principles, and their behavior reflects the group pattern of social relationships.

In cultures of collectivism, people often make decisions by consensus. With the group, they feel safe and proud. They also feel stronger and more competitive. In the rescue operation of Wenchuan Earthquake, all people come together and face the huge disaster together. They have a common belief that “Great things may be done by mass efforts”. Chinese people value the group strength. In Aftershock, when the Wenchuan Earthquake happened, Fang Deng read the news about the accident on the Internet. Although she has a horrible memory about the earthquake in her childhood, she resolutely decides to support the disaster area. Her brother, Fang Da, has been a successful businessman when Wenchuan Earthquake happens. He not only donates goods and materials to the disaster area, but also rushes to the worst-hit area to rescue people there. They work as a unity with the people from all over the country. Through this earthquake, they contribute their own strength and recover the weakened family ties.

5.3 Interests versus Righteousness

There are significant differences between Chinese and American attitudes towards money. In the United States, material wealth has become a standard for measuring one’s social status. To some extents, American Dream has embodied the strong desire of Americans for material wealth. “Climbing out of poverty to become the rich” has become the slogan of American Dream. In the movie 2012, when people face the doomsday, survival is the right for the rich, not for the poor. Rich people can have the tickets for Noah’s ark and escape from death, but the poor can not. In the history of western ethics, comparing the “interests” with “righteousness”, most people will choose the interests. Therefore, Americans never feel ashamed of pursing the material wealth which in a sense is the embodiment of the personal ability.

In contrast, Chinese value the righteousness more than the interests. It can be traced back to the ancient Chinese Confucianism. In China, there are words in the analects of Confucius, “Wealth and rank attained through immoral means are to me as empty as floating clouds”. To be righteous or treacherous is a dividing line for the man of noble character and vile character. When the earthquake happens, people of the whole country, whether rich or poor, all make donations to the disaster areas. The protagonists of Aftershock Fang Deng and Fang Da experienced the Tangshan Earthquake, so when the Wenchuan earthquake happens, they both rush to the front line desperately. In a sense, they want to repay the help they get in the terrible disaster of 1976. But it would be more proper to say that the virtue of righteousness has rooted in their bones. They think it is their duty to inherit the virtue and to help more people in need. It is not the question of interests but righteousness. As Liang Shuming said in his book Eastern and Western Culture and Philosophy, “Chinese people make the best of things as they are; they never seek fame and gains as westerners”. (Liang Shuming, 1999: 22)

6. Conclusion

This paper makes a contrastive study of two typical disaster films --- 2012 and Aftershock, produced respectively by the United States and China, to find the similarities and differences of American and Chinese values and the reasons for these similarities and differences. Some people think the disaster films of Hollywood are more magnificent than those of China’s. Other people hold the view that Chinese disaster films can reflect the beauty of human nature. It seems to be meaningless to argue which movies are good or bad since the differences of these two movies are determined by their cultural foundations. We must be aware that the prevalence of western disaster film is a reflection of cultural blend. As Zhao Lin said in his book, “I think the western culture has continuous self-transcendence while Chinese culture has a strong internal coordination.” (Zhao Lin, 2006: 191) Through the comparison of the two cultures, we can learn from each other and find new ways for the transformation and breakthrough of disaster movies.

Cultures change over time. Values and beliefs also change as societies respond to changing conditions. But how to make Chinese cultures stand in this changing world? Being self-centered or taking a hostile attitude to other cultures is never a solution. It can only be achieved by knowing what is going on elsewhere, by importing technologies and ideas from other cultures, by reinterpreting traditional values to meet new needs and to solve problems, and by getting rid of the bad part of our traditions to have them suit and serve the modern society. This is the only way to protect our culture and wake up the people who are confused in the cultural conflicts.

Works Cited

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