Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Open Access Dissertations Theses and Dissertations Spring 2015 Chinese eco-films and their pastoral myth Runlei Zhai Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations Part of the Comparative Literature Commons Recommended Citation Zhai, Runlei, "Chinese eco-films and their pastoral myth" (2015). Open Access Dissertations. 605. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/605 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Graduate School Form 30 Updated 1/15/2015 PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL Thesis/Dissertation Acceptance This is to certify that the thesis/dissertation prepared By Runlei Zhai Entitled CHINESE ECO-FILMS AND THEIR PASTORAL MYTH For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Is approved by the final examining committee: Charles S. Ross Chair Daniel Hsieh Richard D. Johnson-Sheehan Daniel C. Morris To the best of my knowledge and as understood by the student in the Thesis/Dissertation Agreement, Publication Delay, and Certification Disclaimer (Graduate School Form 32), this thesis/dissertation adheres to the provisions of Purdue University’s “Policy of Integrity in Research” and the use of copyright material. Approved by Major Professor(s): Charles S. Ross Approved by: Charles S. Ross 4/17/2015 Head of the Departmental Graduate Program Date CHINESE ECO-FILMS AND THEIR PASTORAL MYTH A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University by Runlei Zhai In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2015 Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana ii For my family iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation could not have been completed without the help of my committee members: Professor Charles S. Ross (chair), Professor Daniel Hsieh, Professor Richard D. Johnson-Sheehan, and Professor Daniel C. Morris. My sincere gratitude goes to Professor Ross, who gave me invaluable suggestions and guidance in the many years of my Ph.D. study. I have learned a great deal from his teaching and mentoring, which was always encouraging, inspiring, and thought-provoking. My gratitude also goes to Professor Hsieh, who was always patient and rigorous in my study of traditional Chinese literature. I should also thank Professor Johnson-Sheehan for his lecturing on environmental rhetoric and Professor Morris for his discussion on American films. They are all excellent role models for my future career. My special thanks should be given to my parents, who travelled all the way from China to the U.S. to help me take care of my two babies. I also want to thank my husband for sharing the family chores, for helping me with the dissertation format, and for the encouragement and support he gave me in all these years. I am also grateful for having my two beautiful daughters in the process of writing this dissertation. Although life was busy, their happy faces brought me continuous sunshine and satisfaction. This dissertation expresses my deepest love to them all. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 I. Important Definitions in Ecocinematic Studies ........................................................... 1 II. Literature Review of American and Chinese Ecocinemas ......................................... 5 III. Ecocriticism as the Methodology ............................................................................ 12 CHAPTER 2. AMERICAN PASTORALISM IN HOLLYWOOD ENVIRONMENTALIST FILMS ..................................................................................... 23 I. Three Conflicts in American Pastoralism .................................................................. 26 II. Simplification in Hollywood Environmentalist Films.............................................. 33 III. Commercialization as the Ultimate Cause .............................................................. 44 CHAPTER 3. HOLLYWOOD’S INFLUENCE ON CHINESE ECOCINEMA ............. 47 I. General Trend and Failed Attempts ........................................................................... 49 II. Three Difficulties in Imitation .................................................................................. 57 III. Nature and Chinese Pastoral Tradition.................................................................... 61 CHAPTER 4. CONSTRUCTION OF THE PASTORAL MYTH IN CHINESE ECO- FILMS ............................................................................................................................... 71 I. Recognition of Chinese Social and Cultural Realities ............................................... 72 v II. Establishment of the Human-Nature Connection ..................................................... 85 III. Affirmation of the Nature-Culture Unity .............................................................. 109 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION........................................................................................ 132 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 135 VITA ............................................................................................................................... 156 vi ABSTRACT Zhai, Runlei. Ph.D., Purdue University, May 2015. Chinese Eco-Films and their Pastoral Myth. Major Professor: Charles S. Ross. This dissertation is a cross-cultural study of Chinese ecocinema after 1978. It begins by introducing the Hollywood practice in simplifying the conflicts between garden and machine, anthropocentrism and ecocentrism, and Tityrus and Meliboeus in American pastoralism, then explains why such simplification does not work on Chinese screen, and finally studies how Chinese filmmakers reconstruct their pastoral myth in three major steps: first, to recognize Chinese social and cultural realities; second, to establish the human-nature connection, and third, to affirm the nature-culture unity. The conclusion is that Chinese eco-cinema exists in a hybrid form. While Hollywood influences Chinese eco-cinema in terms of production, promotion, and distribution, it manages to develop its own voice by reconstructing a pastoral myth that Chinese audiences could understand and appreciate. It differs from the Hollywood version by creating some tragic, everyday heroes who may seem powerless in protecting or retrieving the pastoral garden, and yet maintain a strong life force not to give up their pastoral faith which has its root in both the human-nature connection and the nature-culture unity. 1 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION This dissertation focuses on Chinese ecocinema, a new research field in both film studies and ecocriticism. In the past several decades, critics have been focusing their attention on American ecocinema, neglecting an active growth of eco-films in other countries and areas. Although Sheldon Lu published the first book-length study of Chinese ecocinema in 2009, the book does not touch upon the inter-relationship between American and Chinese ecocinemas. Yet, American culture is an important element in current Chinese cinema. A deep American pastoral tradition can be discerned in American eco-films that directly influence contemporary Chinese screen. The differences are important too for China has its own pastoral tradition. This dissertation seeks to sort out the elements of Chinese and American culture to understand the resulting hybridity and cultural pluralism that characterizes contemporary eco-screen. I. Important Definitions in Ecocinematic Studies The first step in ecocinematic studies is to define related terms such as ecocinema, eco-films, environmentalist films, film vert, green screen, etc. When Roger C. Anderson coined the word “ecocinema” in 1966, he meant to create the motion pictures that could be shown in certain special theaters “in which all the appropriate sights, sounds, and 2 smells would be brought together, refined, and improved to produce an art form vastly superior to nature itself” (452). Naming those motion pictures “ecocinema,” Anderson believed that his proposal could quiet the public fears of nature being destroyed by creating “something as genuine as, or even more genuine than, nature itself” (452). The proposal was obviously too idealistic to attract serious critical attention. The word ecocinema, as a result, has been largely forgotten until Scott MacDonald published his article “Toward an Eco-Cinema” more than thirty years later. Using ecocinema as the key word, MacDonald introduces and analyzes five films and videos produced between 1996 and 2001 to exemplify the possibility of making and appreciating an ecocinema. The five films and videos are respectively Diane Kitchen’s Wot the Ancient Sod (2001), Andrej Zdravic’s Riverglass: A River Ballet in Four Seasons (1997), Peter Hutton’s Study of a River (1996) and Time and Tide (2000), and James Benning’s Sogobi (2001). All of them are noncommercial films with few plots related to human activities. MacDonald believes that although such films lack traditional elements like dramatic plots and captivating conversations, they offer an opportunity to be away from the hustle and bustle of contemporary life and an experience of getting immersed in nature. MacDonald emphasizes