Analysis of Aesthetic in Chinese Film Free Samples for Students

Question: Analyze is there is a Chinese Aesthetic in Chinese Films? Please analyze the visual Aesthetic style in Chinese Films. Answer: The outline of this essay is that whether aesthetic is present in the Chinese films or not. China occupies a special position in the field of world politics for example Mao Zedong had introduced the leftist ideology and the Long March of China are remarkable incidents in the history and politics of the world. The Chinese films are till inspired by the socio-political issues but aesthetic visual styles have become one of the significant attribute of the Chinese film. Thus, in this essay there is a analysis about the significance of aesthetic in the Chinese films . Aesthetic is a branch of philosophy, which explains the concept of beauty and art with the appreciation of a beauty. Aesthetic visual art is a part of aesthetic movement. Aesthetic movement is primarily an art movement, which concentrates on the aesthetic values like literature, art, music. Visual aesthetics is mainly about the beauty or the beautiful appearance of things. It is said that China has variegated and age long tr adition in aesthetics and visual arts that is a part of aestheticism movement (Schroeder). In the early days in China, art was inclusive with metaphysics and socio-political philosophy and ethics. Aestheticism has always an upper hand in comparison to rational discourse. Confucius stated that any ceremony should be conducted in such a way that it would be like an artistic performance ( Guo) . Music does not mean only song it also meant instrumental dance and music of ceremony and the sacred rites is conducted in the ceremony. The main motive of this cultural aspect is to bring harmony and bringing peace among the people. From the fifth century B.C. to until the art of aesthetic was dominated by the educated class of China hugely dominates aesthetics. Calligraphy, painting and poetry in the context of landscapes emerged as the new form of art. Previously aesthetics was only used in political ceremonies but later it was shifted to literati aesthetics in which natural landscapes was in tegrated. This aestheticism and aesthetic visual that has expanded his dominance in different spheres of human life in Chinese films. One of the significant aspects of film study or film theory is to recon the film itself. Chinese film theorists mainly focus on the three important features of the film. They are: the dramatic virtue of the particular film, the quality of the literary side of the film, and finally, the filmic quality of the film. One of the film expert Bai Jingyi in 1979 said that the Chinese films should not comprise of any drama anymore. He also agreed that the film itself has been derived from the art of drama. However, the film has become an independent entity of art. At that time, two young directors also questioned about involving aestheticism in the film. After this there are many debates regarding this issue. Zang Junxiang, the vice-chairman of the Film Association remarked that the core content of the film should not be based on only dramatization only but a film cannot escape its dramatic quality. If dramatic literature were not there then the film would lose its main essence. According to Zung Xiang film is a literature comprising of dialogues, music, dance , martial arts. In that case, expression is a very important factor. Literary qualities are the embedded virtues of film. So, in a case it can be observed that literary is a part of aesthetics, which may be aesthetic visual art or other. In other words, film has its own distinct aesthetic features. The practice of filmmaking and the having the knowledge of aesthetic theory for film purpose is very important. Aesthetic theory is learning film art and its expression that is the film language. A film should develop such an artistic style that it should have relation to the reality of life. The film should be realistic and true to itself in such a way like it will include the background scenario of mountains and river which inevitably portrays the the aesthetic feelings and emotions. The film must seem like a real life scene which includes the sound, colour, the thickness and lightness same as in real life. One of the famous film critic Luo Yijun that the aesthetic impact in the film automatically goes on a transformation with the changing situations in the reality. The cultural perceptions of the people do not remain stagnant and so, in that case a film, which is liked by a person in one period, may be not liked in another period (Lin). However, every film must have the capacity t o enrich the lives of the people by providing the aesthetic feelings from time to time (Johnson). Hence, in film making innovation and creation are the two important aspects. Without the ability to create, a film loses its basic value. The first Chinese film, which won the international appraisal, is My Memories of Old Beijing (Gilloch and Kang). This was because there was no artificial scene in the film. The film was very soft, realistic and transparent in nature. However, some of the directors did not like the aesthetic nature of the film. They criticized the film for not having any depth and having excessive aesthetic nature. After that, the Beijing Film Institute formulated certain specific qualities for the proper filmmaking. They are: - First of all, a film should have the dramas and emotions which occurs in daily basis, it should not utilize the dramas of the traditional films (Yan). Secondly, the contemporary filmmakers concentrated to produce films based on the innate psychology and emotions of the people. If this happens then the common people can relate their happiness, inner conflicts and sufferings. Thirdly, the audience also wants to seek and learn from the films. The main motive of the filmmaker should be reaching out some message to the audience. New film concept is the amalgamation of drama, aesthetic art and visual art and finally real incidents, which occurs in real life only. The new concept of film is to understand the concepts like aesthetic ideas, aesthetic content and aesthetic techniques. Aesthetic content is about the refinement of the character, plot, and structures of the plot. The rising of the wooden plank theories and the prominence of non-structural dramatic characters are the example of the aesthetic content. Aesthetic ideology is the aesthetic ideas or concept of films. It depends on how the society understands the things, the acceptability of certain things by the society; it also integrates the artistic style and the creative part of the film. Aesthetic ideas must include the new technical creations and modernizations. The Chinese film has its begging inspired from the foreign films (Chumley). In that juncture, the issue of nationalizing comes in the forefront. Li Shaobai writing in the film culture said that aesthetic is not a separate entity from its national form (Su). If a film is nationalized it does not mean that it would lose its artistic style. Some of the films as if Country Couple, Narrow Lane, Our fields, and Yellow Earth are the examples of such films, which has nationalizing aspects as well the films have the aesthetic styles. Every country has its unique taste of aesthetic values and interests. Thus, it can be said that the aestheticism and nationalistic aspects of a country is very much related to each and other. Shao Mujun in Summary of Casual Thinking on Film Aesthetics ( Film Art , November 1984) gives various arguments about a number of films in which aestheticism occupies a central place. Chinese paintings and brushworks give expression to the emotional side of a human being (Liu and Gui-wen) . Photography did not create any reversal for the Chinese paintings. The Chinese painting style also did not degrade due to this. Chinese painting is the form of visual aesthetic style. Chinese animations are also a part of the aesthetic features of the Chinese traditions (Macdonald). It can be assumed that the the plain sketches of the Chinese animation are much linked to the Chinese art and paintings (Tan). The animated films Puppet films and paper cutout silhouettes are adapted from the Chinese folk art (Zhang, Jianwei and Lili) . Watercolor Cartoons are also very much linked to the Chinese traditions (Tu).Thus, it can be concluded that the Chinese aesthetic visual style have not lose its import ance even after the introduction of modern technologies (Frisch) . Some movies which relates to the visual art style of China in the mid 1980 are Old Stories of the South of the City, Wild Mountain, A Town called Hibiscus, The Inauguration of the Peoples Republic of China and Decisive Battles. The film directors of these films are called Chinas fifth generation of film directors. They are ZhangYimou, Chen Kaige, and Huang Jianxin. In the late 1990s the sixth generation of film directors emerged, they mainly concentrated on the theme, which happens in day-to-day life. However, as it is mentioned earlier that in this case also they used artistic styles to bring out the emotions of the human being. After this in 2002, there was a rising of new young directors. The award for the best the direction of the best film was given to twenty three years old Wu Bing. Chinese aesthetic tradition is not an outcome of the feudal society. However, the aesthetic sense of the Chinese people developed from the economic structure of a particular person or a particular time. The material aspect of aestheticism changed from momentum to momentum. Lenin explained that every country has two aspects of culture that is the privileged class and the exploited class. He said that the privileged class has enormous materialistic resources as well as they have superiority in aesthetic value also. He has divided the world into two divisions one is the /Oriental culture and other is the Western culture. In this case, the western culture is more dominant because it has always exploited the oriental people both culturally and economically. Culture and aesthetic value both the terms are inseparable (Walker) . Culture of a specific country denotes its form of music, dance, painting and martial arts (Schneider). Aesthetic movement also reflects these factors. Finally, in conclusion it can be considered that the Chinese films have aesthetic styles and values in their films. It is given in the first part of this essay that is a sort aestheticism of intellectual movement signifying art, culture, dance and music. Aesthetic sense of a country whether it may be China or any other country reflects the tradition, customs and rituals of that country. However, it is inevitable that sense of appreciation by the people of that country will change as time will change. Therefore, in that case the aesthetic sense of the people also changes. Film is the mirror of the real life. It is very much obvious that film has aesthetic styles of express, definitely, it keeps on changing its momentum but one cannot deny the fact that the ideology and mindset of the people changes from one generation to another. The core essence of the visual aesthetic style and other forms of aesthetic values remains same for example some religious customs and the landscapes will no t be changed in any generation. Some filmmakers criticize that too much implementation of aesthetic style diminishes the realistic approach of life. However, some filmmaker denies the fact that aesthetic value is the inevitable and integral part of any movie. There are different styles of visual aesthetic style that are now animated by applying modern technologies. Hence, the traditional aesthetic style is applied in a new modern form in present days. Lenin who is the forerunner of the communist ideology not only in Soviet Russia stated that the western people dominate the aesthetic culture because they are the exploiter class and the eastern people are the exploited class. 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