The Artistic Expression in the Film “Under the Hawthorn Tree”

羅淞譯

摘 要：Yimou Zhang begins his directing career with the literary film which is also a representative of his personal directing concepts. Along with the popularity and development of commercial films， a lot of famous domestic directors begin to go with the tide to make literary films. The literary film is a kind of simple but moving film which often gains the recognition from a lot of audiences. “Under the Hawthorn Tree” is the best example to show Yimou Zhangs way back to literary film. It presents an outstanding artistic expression effect by telling a simple love story to the audience. The present thesis gives an analysis into the artistic expression of the film “Under the Hawthorn Tree” from the perspective of ethic art， modern style， cultural beliefs， etc.

關鍵詞：“Under the Hawthorn Tree”； love ethics； modern style； artistic expression

中圖分類號：G712 文獻標識碼：B 文章編號：1002-7661（2015）05-034-02

Love is an everlasting theme in the film market. Lots of love films are released every year and they can meet the audiences demands at the same time. Films directed by Yimou Zhang， a famous director at home and abroad， give audiences extraordinary artistic feelings and are highly praised by people. As one of the representative works of Yimou Zhangs way back to the literary film， “Under the Hawthorn Tree” shows a different concept of artistic ideas by telling a love story between two literary youths. This film has become a reference for the shooting and producing of other love films.

1. An introduction to the film “Under the Hawthorn Tree”

“Under the Hawthorn Tree” is a love film recomposed according to Amys novel of the same name. It tells the until-death， sincere and pure love story between the two leading characters Jing Qiu and Lao San. After directing a few commercial films whose box office and word of mouth are out of proportion， Yimou Zhang returns back to his adept literary films. Although this film is incomparable with his masterpieces in his early years such as “Red Sorghum”， “Raise the Red Lantern”， “Ju Dou”， “Lifetimes Living”， “The Story of Qiu Ju”， etc.， this fresh love story still gives us a long-lost moving in Yimou Zhangs films.

2. Simple and moving ethic art

Ethic is one of the principles in the development of human society. It involves the interpersonal relationship， the relationship between human and nature and the norms we need to follow to ensure how to handle the former two relationships. Since the ancient times， Chinese society has maintained a strong ethic. Every person or thing has its special ethic to follow and carries out its activities within some kind of ethic. Like that， people's social practices were restrained in the environment of traditional culture. As a love film， “Under the Hawthorn Tree” certainly appears the artistic features of love ethics and expresses special creation characteristics which is different from the art of film and television.

a. Various expressions

The development of domestic love films has gone through a long phase. And then it gradually finds a proper way which is suitable for the development of Chinese films during the course of change. The love film is also walking step by step towards an ideal state. As a kind of films which puts the ethics and moral concepts into the creation， the love film can adjust the structure and the content of the film work to re-plan a different effect with the principle of ethic. The film “Under the Hawthorn Tree” is various in the aspect of expression forms. This film can be shot according to the real life. And in order to present the audience with more new things， it can also be innovated by recomposing stories base on the real life.

b. Clear theme

Compared with other kinds of films， the love film has its own specialty. The key specialty is that it is capable of blending the ethic spirit into the film making course by using rather ordinary forms of artistic expressions. From the very beginning to the end， the film “Under the Hawthorn Tree” keeps the two characters love as its theme and centered on the love of loyalty， concentration and companion through the whole story. All of these are in the ethic scope of moralities and ethics. Reviewing the development of love films， we cannot just focus on the change and reformation of love films. We should also appreciate the creation specialties that love films bring to us and impacts that love films have on the development of the society and culture. In this regard， the love film usually plays a positive role.

c. Simplified plots

With the rapid development of social screen culture， theme selection of film works begins to change. A comprehensive renewal of film themes is spread mainly around love theme. Love becomes a part of the film industrys development. Recent years， the film industry in our country has turned into a new phase of development and kinds of films of different themes have occupied the dominant position in the market， which exerts a deep influence on peoples daily life. As one of the literary films， “Under the Hawthorn Tree” also begins to adjust in various ways on the theme choice and content form. For example， comparing to other ferocious love stories， this film only uses leukemia as a bedding to run through the whole love story. Though the plot is simplified， the artistic appeal doesnt change.

3. Love of modernism

In essence， love films all focus on social love， moral ideas and character emotions. They describe the character relations by using basic plots to show the change course of the love concept and character relations. “Under the Hawthorn Tree” uses ordinary， simple and pure art expression form to describe Jing Qiu and Lao Sans story in detail. The plot of this film is simple， but Yimou Zhang applies the modern love style and successfully reveals this films main love idea and concept which the contemporary youths are yearning for.

a. Aestheticism

Human society keeps going forward. Both various social programs and humanistic moral ideal are in the stage of reforming and adjusting， which marks the changing of peoples love idea and concept. “Aestheticism” develops under the traditional conditions and has a deep influence on film works at the same time. It regulates peoples love relationships and social relations and proves the restraints result from the social love morality. From the very beginning of the film “Under the Hawthorn Tree”， it keeps love as its main idea and uses kinds of plots to pave the way for Jing Qiu and Lao Sans love story. This is also a generally taken skill in the existing love film works.

b. Massism

Films that can satisfy the popularitys psychology can earn ideal marketing effect and make more audiences to experience its artistic charm. For the love film， either changing the way of producing or the way of shooting can cause the publics different point of view to them. Therefore， it is the difficult point of directing to know how to adhere to the masses course. Under the circumstances of modern film style， “Under the Hawthorn Tree” includes the factor of social interpersonal relationships. For example， the obstruction of Jin Qius mother fixes the social characters of the love film. Actually， the plot does not only aim at a certain love relationship， but generally reflects the problems that the social love faces and the psychological states of the public.

c. Innovation

Presently， love becomes the first theme of many movies and television plays. The love film moves gradually towards the mass communication and has a deep influence on the social mass. “Under the Hawthorn Tree” makes the innovation of theme come true. Yimou Zhang ventures to simplify his literary film， which is an important reform action the modern film style lacking in. In different periods of times， peoples demands of film works are different. And it becomes the main impetus for film works continuing to develop and makes the creation elements to its best evolution. Therefore， the courage of innovation is the key factor for the development of literary film art.

In the face of increasing "love stories"， only by using special artistic thoughts as ornaments can the film reflect the directors advanced guidance concept. “Under the Hawthorn Tree” is a stand for young peoples love. Yimou Zhang uses the ordinary peoples love story to reveal his own art concept and express comprehensively the main idea the literary film aims to tell. “Under the Hawthorn Tree” is more than a kind of love films. The ethics and modern concepts it embodies are the elements which contemporary films need to infuse with. Only by doing so， can literary films draw more attentions from the audience.

Bibliography：

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