贾樟柯电影的跨文化传播案例研究

摘　要：贾樟柯作为中国当下最有世界影响力的导演艺术家之一，创作了很多世界范围内的经典电影作品。从跨文化传播的视野分析，他的另一个身份，是一位成功的跨文化传播者。那么，他的影视作品中具有哪些特质，使之能够超越文化的障碍和折扣而大步走向世界? 本文主要通过案例分析与内容分析的方法，运用跨文化相关理论，发掘贾氏电影跨越文化隔阂的内在因素在于：选题致力于当下，关注中国底层现实；创作手法上的纯纪实风格与欧洲学院派的镜语手法；蕴含贾氏电影中的普世价值。这些因素，恰恰跟跨文化传播能力的基本构成要素隐隐形成对应，解释了贾樟柯为何能够在跨文化传播领域取得如此巨大的成就。

Abstract：As the most influential Chinese director at present，Zhangke Jia has produced many classic films renowned worldwide. From the viewpoint of intercultural communication，he can be taken for granted a successful intercultural communicator. As to this evaluation，for what characteristics of his films should be accounted，furthermore，how do those characteristics help surmount cultural shock and barriers to make his films stride towards the world straightly? Under the theoretical framework of intercultural communication，by methods of case study and content analysis，this study has revealed the internal factors of Jia's films：The first factor is their focus on the present Chinese social problem and their concern for the people at bottom；the second one is the creative approach of documentary style and the camera language skills of the European Academism；the third one is the“universal values”in the dramatic contradictions and conflicts-which are all corresponds with the basic compositions of intercultural communication competence and explains Jia's great achievements in intercultural communication.

Keywords：Intercultural Communication；Zhangke Jia；Chinese films；

Introduction

When it comes toIntercultural communication of Chinese films，Zhangke Jia's movies is worthy of study. Being a leading figure of directors in the“new generation”and favored by the audience from foreign cultural backgrounds，Zhangke Jia has high visibility and recognition abroad and win large numbers of prizes in the filmdom overseas. It seems that Jia's movies always have a special kind of“trait”which can remove and overcome the intercultural obstacles and barriers，transmit information and promote friendly relations. From his first film Xiao Shan Going Home in 1995 to A Touch Of Sin in 2013 and Mountains May Depart in 2015，Director Jia successively creates 11 feature films and 6 documentaries during the last twenty years，and almost all the films has been recognized by international film industry，won countless awards，and received huge response.

Analyzing from the perspective ofintercultural communication，Zhangke Jia' s films serve as the window through which the world can have a better understanding of China and the bridge closely linking China and the world. Furthermore，some people even believe that his films have become a“successful international cultural brand in today's China”，and he himself is rated as“the most talented film-making artist active in the Chinese filmdom”by the mainstream media in New York.In 2014，Jia was invited as a judge of the main competition in the 67th French Cannes Film Festival，which is circumstantial evidence for the international community's high recognition of both Jia and his movies.Brazil Director Walter once said：“Today No country experiences such rapid and drastic changes as China，and no one can reflect these changes so profoundly as Zhangke Jia does.”

As the most influential Chinese director at present，Zhangke Jia creates many classic films renowned worldwide. His another identity，is a successful cross-cultural communicator. With his films reaching out to the world，Chinese landscape and Chinese culture are better known by people from different cultures. So，what are the characteristics of his films and television works，and how do these characteristics help surmount cultural obstacles and barriers and make his films stride towards the world?

一、The subject of the present China social problem and attention to the bottom of the Chinese society

Zhangke Jia's films are devoted to the current reality and pay close attention to the survival of the Chinese people and the daily routine of their lives. He takes people at the bottom of the society and the most commonly seen details in their lives as point of penetration，and depicts the image of modern China vividly and impressively on the screen.Professor Su Mu from Beijing Film Academy said“film is the loss of single life on the screen.”Therefore，Jia's films are the losses of those living at the bottom of contemporary China.

Zhangke Jia's“hometown trilogy”is composed of his earliest three works，namely Xiao Wu，Platform，and Unknown Pleasures. He chose his hometown，the place he knows best，as the setting of the story，and the most familiar state of life and emotional experience as the subject of the story，which helps him find the perspective for the construction of Chinese cultural core—to present the living conditions and emotional experiences of those at the bottom who go out of date in the process of modernization in China.

Zhangke Jia once said，”Before Xiao Wu is filmed，I have watched innumerable Chinese movies，and I am dissatisfied. From those movies，we cannot see the present living condition of Chinese people and the state of Chinese society which are avoided by almost all the people. I suppose that when people watch Chinese movies after ten or one hundred years，they cannot see the reality of this era.”

There is a perpetual theme inZhangke Jia's films，that is to depict the gap between the rapid development of modernization and the people living at the bottom of the society. In such a context，Jia finds some“common”universal values，the dramatic contradictories and conflicts，from the ordinary people. However，the invisible conflicts that thread their way through all his films are his concern for“individuals”，his anxiety about“hometown”，and his interpretation of“humanity”.These universal values penetrating Jia's films become the catalyst which communicates between various cultures and stir up emotional resonance.

Zhangke Jia constantly focuses his attention on the common people.As he himself said，”Our attention to them represents our concern for them. We will not escape the sadness of life like they do；instead，we will seek for the splendor of ration. We will not gaze at our own shadows and caress ourselves in the din of rock and roll；instead，we will show our sympathy for others to improve interpersonal communication in the age when people's hearts gradually get cold and people's faith and beliefs get lost. We will regard respect for individuals as the precondition and make it widely known. We pay attention to individuals and then to the whole society.”

Various kinds of characters suffuse Jia's films. They come from different places，have different occupations and different cultural backgrounds. They have just one thing in common；that is their similar life experience. All of them go out of date under the rapid development of modernization；they feel frustrated and depressed in real life，they are aimless and helpless towards the future，and they are tolerant and tough when they are faced with these difficult situations. The two unemployed boys in the movie Unknown Pleasures，Sanming and Shen Hong，a man and a woman both trying to find their spouse in the movie Still Life，Zhao Xiaotao and Cheng Taisheng in the movie The World，the interviewed workers from different generations in number 501 factory in the movie 24 City，and Da Hai，San'er，Xiao Yu，and Xiao Hui in the movie A Touch Of Sin have experienced helplessness at and frustration of the reality without exception. All of them seek，struggle，and contend in real life. Bin Bin and Xiao Ji in Unknown Pleasures look for millionaires and dreams and love；Sanming and Shen Hong in Still Life look for their loved ones；the worker in number 501 factory in 24 City seek for their lost youth；Da Hai，San'er，Xiao Yu，and Xiao Hui in A Touch Of Sin appeal for justice，fairness，righteousness and dignity. People's feelings and the characters' real experience of social life are conveyed to the audience through the slow and silent lens. Under the circumstances of modernization，Zhangke Jia has not drawn his focus away from these nobodies，and this is Jia's perspective of observing the world and also the portrait of China and the Chinese people in his inner sense.(www.xing528.com)

二、The creative approach of documentary style and the camera language skills of the European Academism

In almost all ofZhangke Jia's films，the story happened then and there in the local scene. The movie Xiao Wu is about a photographer in the street of Fenyang，and Fenyang is chosen as the spot for photography. The ancient city walls，the demolition of old towns，the appearance of karaoke with the arising of popular culture like the dreams after the spring rain，and the hustlers trying to give up evil and return to good make you feel you are actually in the early 1990s of Fenyang. This feeling will not necessarily bring you much joy because the 1990s'Fenyang is not a very pleasing place(maybe it is one of the reasons for the low box office of Jia's films inside China because，for most audience，the pleasant experience is of top priority while watching a movie).

Today's Fenyang city cannot reproduce its appearance in the 1990s，but we can still find that image in Zhangke Jia's films. Unknown Pleasures describes the rebellion and helplessness of the growing young people in Datong，Shanxi province，and the filming location is in Datong. Even the ancient cities being pulled down and the construction site are real scenes. The story in Still Life happened in the backdrop of the Three Gorges Project，and the filming location is one of the construction sites of the project. In the film，we can see the red line carved on the two-floor building，which reads“the third water storage record：165.5 meters”. The images in the film may have disappeared as the Three Gorges Project carries out when we watch the movie. But for Zhangke Jia's films，we will never know anything about people's lives here before the reservation of water.

Zhangke Jia employs a lot of non-professional actors in his films，and they even use their real names in the play. Han Sanming in Still Life is acted by Jia Zhagke's cousin under his real name，and he also plays a role in Jia's second film Platform as a coal miner，which is his occupation in the real life. Wang Hongwei，Zhangke Jia's classmate，is said to be the last person to act in the acting teacher's eyes. However，he acts the leading role in the following four films Xiao Wu，Platform，The World，and A Touch of Sin. Zhao Tao is a dancing teacher，who is found by Zhangke Jia accidentally when Jia intends to select actors from her students. In fact，there is no such thing as actors in Jia's mind，especially in his“hometown trilogy”because there is no need to act，and every single part in his films is a real person in the real life. What he needs to do is to find out this person，help him eliminate his tension when faced with the crew and the camera，and let him be himself under the camera because only the self is the real existence.

In the camera language skill，Zhangke Jia's film also reflects the European Academism. Different cultural backgrounds have a huge impact on the formation of“audio-visual style”：European art film is more advocating with long—length shot which is the expression of the main“documentary style”；but The United States Hollywood commercial films are more inclined to“dramatic style”which rely on montage and post processing. Zhangke Jia's cognition and attitudes towards the film are deeply influenced by“The Father of the New Wave”—Andrei Bazhan，his“long—length shot theory”has been a perfect practice in Jia's films，the camera language is full of“European documentary style”，also became the main reason of his film landing in Europe and get the popularization of European audience.

The pure documentary style is also embodied everywhere in the camera language skills. The full-length shot is an important feature of Zhangke Jia's films. The use of full-length shot in new realism serves as a tool to provide a sense of space and can make the form and style of the film prominent. This kind of visual processing which doesn't split the scenes into pieces unifies every single shot into a whole. All of this not only symbolizes the creator's objectivity to be faithful to nature but also achieves transparency in the film. Finally，there is no subjectivity in the movie. An example in the movie Xiao Wu can illustrate the point. The full-length shot reproduces the chaos and the real geographical space of the small town，Fenyang；moreover，it attracts the audience to stare at the people wandering in the space for a long time. De Sica is the first person to shoot a film on the streets，and this way of making a film is preserved and passed along by Zhangke Jia. Jia uses the camera to observe the space，record history and changes，which adds more impressive historical significance to his films.

三、The“Universal values”in the dramatic contradictions and conflicts of films

Sticking to the“documentary style”and insisting on movies'“real description”of life are fundamental purposes ofZhangke Jia's films，and reflections of his ability to cross-cultural communication. When talking about the basic compositions of cross-cultural communication ability，Sun Yingchun mentions that the ability to adopt descriptive and non-descriptive stance (is an important part of the cross-cultural communication ability)…Description refers to the objective description of the behaviors observed，and these objective behaviors shouldn't be evaluated or gave new meaning to.

Zhangke Jia's films are the best interpretations of these words.Actually，there is a perpetual theme in Zhangke Jia's films；that is to depict the gap between the rapid development of modernization and the people living at the bottom of the society. In such a context，Jia finds some“common”universal values，the dramatic contradictories and conflicts，from the ordinary people. However，the invisible conflicts that thread their way through all his films are his concern for“individuals”，his anxiety about“hometown”，and his interpretation of“humanity”.These universal values running through Jia's films become the catalyst which communicates various cultures and stir up emotional resonance.As he himself said，”Our attention to them represents our concern for them. We will not escape the sadness of life like they do；instead，we will find seek for the splendor of ration. We will not gaze at our own shadows and touch ourselves in the din of rock and roll；instead，we will show our sympathy for others to improve interpersonal communication in the age when people's hearts gradually get cold and people's faith and beliefs get lost. We will regard respect for individuals as the precondition and make it widely known. We pay attention to individuals and then to the whole society.”

Conclusion

From the view of inercultural communication，we can gradually find the internal factors in Jia's films' ability to beyond cultural barriers and achieve cultural communication：firstly the subject of the present Chinese social problem，secondly the creative approach of documentary style and the camera language skills of the European Academism，thirdly“Universal values”in the dramatic contradictions and conflicts of films-which are all corresponded and mapped with the basic compositions of intercultural communication competence and explains Jia's great achievements intercultural communication.

At the same time，Zhangke Jia's achievements enlighten us to have a profound thinking：Chinese films shouldn't have just one style renowned worldwide—Zhangke Jia's style. Only by developing creative vision，promoting the varieties of Chinese films，and deepening structural reform can Chinese films be on the international stage along with Chinese culture.