The Revolution of Aesthetics in Chinese Swordplay Films.

• Main Authors: Tu Hsiang Wen, 塗翔文
• Other Authors: Chen Ru Shou, Ph. D.
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 1999
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/53348976134494078969

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 大眾傳播學系 === 87 === “Swordplay film”is,in the historical context of Chinese movies,one of the most well developed and distinctive genres. However, relatively systematical and complete studies on this genre were rare. This thesis attempts to take“swordplay film”solely as a“film genre”and explores its historical development as well as changes on aesthetic characters by applying the methodology of “genre study”which has existed in U.S. This thesis consists of three parts. First of all, it start with explaining the background and crucial concepts of long-established American genre study of films, moving to the analysis of the definition and rules of swordplay film genre. Second, I attempt to trace the development of Chinese swordplay films, referring to existing materials and films, and reconstruct a history of swordplay films with a focus mainly on China before 1949 , Taiwan and Hong Kong after 1949. The last section is film analysis. Since all the swordplay films of the 20s were lost, I choose to focus on two peak periods--the 60s and the 90s--and select from them four representative works：Dragon Gate Inn (1967, directed by King Hu), One-Armed Swordsman (1967, directed by Cheh Cheung) , Dragon Inn (1992, directed by Raymond Lee), and The Blade ( 1995, directed by Hark Tsui). By showing the differences in narrative, theme, content, mise-en-sence, and the modes of action scenes, transformations of aesthetic characters in swordplay films between two generations are formed.