硕士学位论文-《撞车》社会焦点问题的电影研究价值

Sichuan International Studies University Appeal for Communication-A Reading of a Hollywood Movie Crash byWang XiaoshuaiA thesis submitted to the Graduate Schoolin partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Artsin English Language and Literatureunderthe supervision ofProfessor Zeng ChuanfangChongqing, P. R. ChinaJune 2011摘 要电影作为最为普遍与流行的大众文化产品之一，一直都是文化研究学者们所关注的重点。众多的学者是按照传统的方法来分析电影的，他们主要关注的是影片作为大众娱乐消费品所涉及的那些主要因素，如故事情节，视觉效果，演员阵容，演技等。这些因素也成为了传统的影评人士和大众评判一部影片优劣的标准。作为当代电影业最高水准的代表，众多的好莱坞大片无不是将以上传统的电影赏析标准演绎到极致的佳作。与传统的电影评论相比，当今电影研究所关注的是潜藏于影片中的深层含义。电影就像是反映社会现实的一面镜子, 当然以种族主义为主题的电影撞车也不例外。导演保罗哈吉斯执导的电影撞车一经问世便引起了强烈反响。影片中看似互无联系的故事情节和人物实际上却紧密相关，共同表达了一个主题：种族冲突。本文以这部美国好莱坞大片为例，探讨美国社会中广泛存在的种族矛盾和冲突问题，指出影片为解决种族冲突指出了一条出路，即沟通。本论文从这个视角解读影片撞车，从而揭示出作为大众文化载体的电影从本质上说其实是一件复杂的文化产品，同时每部电影都是对社会问题的解读, 尤其是最棘手的社会问题。因此诸如撞车这样关注社会焦点问题的电影颇具研究价值。关键词：电影研究 种族主义 沟通 和解 AbstractAs one of the most popular form of pop-culture products, films have been a major concern for the scholars in the field of culture studies. Most scholars study film from the perspective of traditional analysis, they mainly focus on the entertainment level of the film, such as the plot, the visual effects, the casting, the performance and so on. These elements have long been regarded as the standards for the evaluation of a film. As the representation of the highest standards of film production, Hollywood films have made the utmost use of all the above elements in film production.Compared with the traditional film critique, now the focus of the film studying is mainly on the hidden meanings in the film. Film just like a mirror reflects the social reality in different degree. Crash has no exception, with its underlying themeracism. Paul Haggis Crash is a hard-hitting film whose seemingly unconnected stories and characters intersect boldly, putting people into an awareness of the volatility of ethnic mix in which people live.From the new perspective of film reading, this thesis will take Crash as the example for study and aims to reveal the changing of racism, and argue that calling for communication is a solution to solve the problem of racism. The analysis of this film from this perspective will provide a new reading of Hollywood films crash, which serves to illustrate that as a vehicle of pop-culture, popular films are essentially a complex cultural product and that they also provide a reading of the social problems, especially the tough problems with a long history is worth studying. Of course there is no exception of the film Crash.Key words: Film studies; Racism; Reconciliation; Communication AcknowledgementsUpon the completion of this thesis, I come to know that one could never accomplish such a task without help from others. Here, I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards those who have ever kindly offered their advice and ideas during the hard course of accomplishing this thesis.First of all, I would like to give my sincere thanks to Professor Zeng Chuanfang, my supervisor, without whose insightful criticism and resourceful instruction, this thesis would not have been possible. But for her patient guidance throughout my study at SISU, I would not have finished my studies. Therefore, I will sincerely thank her here.I also give my sincere thanks to all the teachers at Graduate School of SISU, who have helped open my eyes to a dynamic world of knowledge by their enlightening lectures during my study at SISU, such as Prof. Fei Xiaoping, Prof. Li Zhenzhong, Prof. Zhang Tao, Prof. Zhao Chun, Prof. Chen Xirong, Prof. Li Xiaoqing, Prof. Tao Xi, Prof. Liu Aiying. Here, I also thank my friends Wang Yu, Li Peng, Hu Rong, and Liao Xiaoqiong, who have helped me through the difficult period in the composition of this thesis.Last but not least, I give my deepest gratitude to my beloved parents, whose constant encouragement and selfless support have always been a drive for me, especially my mother, who fought against disease bravely last winter, gave me lots of strength and encouragement. Here, I want to thank them for what they have done for me, which cannot be expressed in words. TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroduction.1Chapter One Racial Problem in Los Angeles .111.1 Origins of Racial Problem in the United States.111.1.1 Historical Origin111.1.2 Cultural Origin111.2 The Status Quo of Racial Problems in the United States.121.2.1 The Definition of Racism.121.2.2 The Continuity of Racial Inequality .13 Residential Segregation.14 Education Segregation15 Segregation in other Areas of Social Life.161.3The Status Quo of the Racial Problem in Los Angeles.18 1.3.1 The religion in Los Angeles.18 1.3.2 The bloody issue in LA.201.3.3 Different Opinions on Race Relation in America.21Chapter Two The Indifference between Different Ethnic Groups in the Film.232.1 The Estranged Relationship between Family Members in the film.23 2.1.1Husband and Wife.232.1.2 Mother and Son .252.2 The Estranged Relationship between Friends in the Film.272.3 The Estranged Relationship between whites and blacks in the film.272.4 The Estranged Relationship between Minority Groups in the Film.28Chapter Three The Confrontation and Reconciliation in the Film.303.1 The Confrontation and Reconciliation between Family Members.30 3.1.1 Husband and Wife .30 3.1.2 Mother and Son.313.2. The Confrontation and Reconciliation between Whites and Blacks .323.2.1The confrontation between whites and blacks.333.2.2 The reconciliation between whites and blacks.363.3 The confrontation and reconciliation between different ethnic groups.39 3.3.1 The confrontation between Persian and Mexican.39 3.3.2 The reconciliation between Persian and Mexican.40Conclusion.42Works Cited.45IntroductionSince the late 19th century, film has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment around the world. For many people, films have become an indispensable part of their daily life. People are largely attracted to films by the performances of the leading actors and actresses, the exciting plot or the special effects and so on. Professional film commentators comment on a film from the above mentioned aspects. However, since the emergence of cultural studies in Britain in the late 1950s, with films being one of the most popular cultural products, film studies have become the major concern for many scholars in the field of cultural studies. In this area, pop-culture studies are often associated with the study of power, race, identity, class, gender, etc. Therefore, compared with the traditional ways with which films are evaluated, people go much deeper in interpreting films from a more sophisticated perspective such as class, racism, feminism, patriarchy, hegemony, power and so on. For many years, Hollywood movies have long been regarded as the reprehensive of the Western film industry. On the surface, a huge number of audiences are attracted by Hollywood movies because the movies successfully bring them unparalleled visual and audio stimulithe exciting plot, the charming characters, the unimaginable special effects and so on. However, as the representative of American film industry, Hollywood films are inherently products infused with deep and realistic meanings, especially when films deal with serious social problems which are the focus of the general public. One of the major tasks of film studies is to reveal the hidden meanings and the purpose of the director.A. A Review of Film Criticism and film functionFilms often describe a world which is somewhat different and usually more exciting than the real one but most of them connect with the social reality. (出处)Of course, as commodities films are produced to make profits. Therefore, attracting as many audiences as possible is the aim of film makers. So they have to take the audiences emotions and expectations into consideration, such as their dreams, fears, and social concerns. In this way, films inevitably are produced in a sense of reflecting social realities. Of course, the world described by the films is not an exact reflection of the reality, but it can be seen at least as a mimicking of the real happenings. Just as David Brown in Explorations in Theology and Film: Movies and Meaning points out, “Cinema was born out of a desire to reproduce the images which present the world in which we live, to capture life and freeze it for posterityFilm is located within reality, and reality within expectations (Brown, 10).” We can see that, the film production is actually a production of a series of meanings, which are the dreams, expectations and hopes of the audiences. This is true of the Hollywood movies. Similarly, Branstan Gill, in his Cinema and the cultural modernity, maintains that “far from being dead, films are and have been, related to realityJust as cinema could be regarded as the first truly mass medium films are the truly reflection from reality (Gill, 2).” It has been pointed out by some of the early critics that Hollywood films reflected American society, providing mirror images of its dreams, fears, and mode of life.( 出处？) Consciously or unconsciously, Hollywood movies are vehicles of social reality and also peoples dreams, expectations and hope. Fiske further argues that some of the social codes which constitute our reality are precisely definable in terms of the medium through which they are expressedskin color, dress, etc (Fiske, 5). The analysis of Hollywood films began in the 1960s, which are represented by the analysis of Cahiers du cinma and the extremely influential work associated with Screen which translated many key Cahiers and other works of French film theory, including Christian Metz, Roland Barthes, and other scholars who produced much more sophisticated formal approaches to analyze films. “The Cahiers group moved from seeing film as the product of creative auteurs, or authors to focus on the ideological and political content of film and how it transcoded” (Kellner 208). Robert Warshow shows that classical Hollywood film genres such as the western, the gangster films and the racial films are related to the social history and problematic of the U.S. society. The critical work of Barbara Deming is more sophisticated in the post-1960s era by representing that how films reproduce reality and Barbara Deming is also one of the most important scholars who take a racial reading perspective of the Hollywood films.( 出处？) In the 1960s and 1970s, members of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies began to show that gender, race, and sub-culture were also important elements in analyzing the relationships between culture and society. They began to reveal the hidden meanings in the movies: racism, identity, hegemony, ideology and so on. We can see that, the Birmingham school shows that constructing and serving the reality of a certain society is very important in movies. It is held that Hollywood movies are produced aiming at commercial success. Therefore, Hollywood movies are produced to cater for as many audiences as possible by bringing them with various satisfactions. In this sense, Hollywood movies have done very well in this aspect. However, Hollywood movies are also produced with profound meanings in them. Film The Patriot was a box of office success in 2ooo and serve as a good example. Although film The Patriot is a war film filled with family love and friendship, racial conflict is the films highlight. At the very beginning, whites harbor a deep hatred towards blacks, however, at last whites and blacks come to reconciliation. And whites finally confess that blacks have made a great contribution to American independence and blacks are also the creators of American history. The hidden meaning of this movie is the reconciliation between blacks and whites and also it is the expectation and hope of both. In the meanwhile it serves as a good example to solve racism. So, some of the Hollywood films are produced in an endeavour to suggest certain solutions to settle social problems. B. The Background and the Significance of the Research Racial conflict in the United States has been a major issue since the colonial era and the slave era. Heavy burdens of racism in the country have fallen upon Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Mexican Americans, American Jews, Irish Americans, Italian Americans, Arab Americans, and some other immigrant groups and their descendants.Major racially structured institutions include slavery, Native American reservations, segregation in residential schools (for Native Americans), and internment camps. Racial stratification exists in employment, housing, education, government and so on. Formal racial discrimination was largely banned in the mid-20th century, and it came to be perceived as socially unacceptable and morally repugnant as well, yet racial discrimination and segregation remain a major phenomenon.Racial prejudice, is held by a substantial portion of the U.S population. Discrimination against African Americans, Latin Americans, and Muslims is widely spread. Members of every major American ethnic minority have perceived racism from their dealings with other minority groups.Native Americans, who have lived on the North American continent for at least 20,000 years, have an enormously complex impact on American history and racial relations. During the colonial and independent periods, a long series of conflicts took place, with the primary objective of obtaining resources from Native Americans. Through wars, massacres, forced displacement (such as in the Trail of Tears), and the imposition of treaties, land was taken and numerous hardships were imposed on Native Americans. In 1540 AD, the first racial strife was with Spaniard Hernando de Sotos expedition who enslaved and murdered people in many New World communities. In the early 1700s, the English had enslaved nearly 800 Choctaws. After the founding of the United States, the idea of Indian removal gained momentum. However, some Native Americans were allowed to remain and escaped the removal where after they were subjected to racist institutions in their ancestral homeland. The Choctaws in Mississippi described their situation in 1849 this way, we have had our habitations torn down and burned, our fences destroyed, cattle turned into our fields and we ourselves have been scourged, manacled, fettered and otherwise personally abused, until by such treatment some of our best men have died (/documents/harkins.htm).”Joseph B. Cobb, who moved to Mississippi from Georgia, described Choctaws as having no nobility or virtue at all(/documents/harkins.htm),” and in some respects he found blacks, especially native Africans, more interesting and admirable, the red man is superior in every way. The Choctaw and Chickasaw, the tribes he knew best, were beneath contempt, that is, even worse than black slaves Racial conflict has a long history in America; even today it is still a thorny problem. The 1992 Los Angeles Riots, also known as the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest and Rodney King Uprising, were sparked on April 29, 1992, when a jury acquitted four Los Angeles Police Department officers who was accused because of beating black motorist Rodney King with a high-speed pursuit. Thousands of people in the Los Angeles area rioted over six days following the verdict. At that time, similar, smaller riots and anti-police actions took place in other locations in the United States and Canada. Widespread looting, assault, arson and murder occurred, and property damages cost roughly 1 billion US dollars. At last, 53 people died during the riots and thousands more were injured. Until today, many ways have been tried to end racial conflict, such as police force, government repression, and both corporation and noncooperation methods have been tried, however, they did not work effectively enough. As is known to all, racial conflict is a global issue and so many people have died during the racial riots. Of course, ending it is the wish of people all over the world. Everybody desires for peace just like fish needs water. There is a long way to go before it can be solved. On this road, large number of children lost their parents, wives lost their husbands, parents lost their children and thousands of families were broken up by the conflict. Every day we can see blood, hear screaming, and can feel pain through the Internet, television programs and other media. So it is the dream of all to end racial conflict and enjoy the peace shared by all ethnic groups. In the film Crash the director Paul Haggis expresses his understanding of racial conflict. He tries to give audience some ideas of how to deal with the problem in a special way. He indicates that human nature is good when people were born and they like to communicate with each other when they were children. Gradually, people are busy working in order to afford a car, buy an apartment and even to become a billionaire. Luckily they own a car then they hide themselves in the car every day. As a re