Abstract
The relationship between film and culture can be seen from the adaptations that historical fiction films make on these original ancient stories or literary works under the influence of concurrent cultural contexts. In other words, these films are always used to reflect and react on the times in which they are made, instead of the past in which they are set. Therefore film makers add abundant up-to-date elements into traditional stories and constantly explore new ways of narration, an effort that turns their productions into live records of certain social and historical periods, combining macro and micro approaches to cultural backgrounds, both audible and visual. Pinning on this new angle of reviewing the old days, this paper aims to uncover the identity crisis of Hong Kong residents under the mutual influence of nostalgia and rebellious ideas in the 1960s reconstructed in the Huangmei Opera film Lady General Hua Mulan (1964) together with the analysis of the social historical reasons hidden behind. The director’s intention to steer a middle course between traditional Chinese culture and British colonial culture is also discussed to show the reaction of film on cultural development.
Highlights
Film and culture interplay with each other
This research intends to use historical fiction film as a good subject for research to figure out the mutual actions between film and culture in detail
Lady General Hua Mulan is a Huangmei Opera film produced in Hong Kong in 1964
Summary
Film and culture interplay with each other. According to Graeme Turner, these two “share a common interest in the textual analysis of popular forms (i.e. the cinemas)” [1]. Tian tive historical analysis and textual analysis The former one “allows us to address many exciting ‘big’ questions about patterns in entire societies or over time” and “brings clarity to many methodological concerns found in other research techniques” [2], a perfect solution for the examination of social processes that operate across time and places and lead to specific outcomes (like war or the introduction of a new ideology). Lady General Hua Mulan is a Huangmei Opera film produced in Hong Kong in 1964 In this filmic edition, Mulan is a filial girl who has great martial skills. With the analysis of the reason for and the status of the identity crisis of Hong Kong residents, this paper will discuss that the fundamental idea of the producers in making this movie is the praise of household happiness which could serve as a proper solution for their identity problem as it’s always easier to find one’s position in a family than in the whole society
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