Literature Review

Literature ReviewThis part includes three components concerning heroism which are a comparative study on heroism between China and western countries, American individual heroism, the trend of heroism study and the culture influenced by the film Brave Heart . According to , hero worship exists in almost every place of the world. Different culture has different definition towards heroism, and shapes unique hero. Heroism impulse is the fundamental driving force of human life, is a concrete manifestation of certain culture pursuit, and to some extent influence the development of the society. He writes the similarities and differences of heroism between China and western countries‟heroism and the causes of the similarities and differences—the origins of heroism in both cultures.1.1The comparative study on heroism between China and western countries1.11 The definition of heroismIn thesis, hero or heroine refers to character that, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self sacrifice — that is, heroism— for some greater good, originally of martial courage or excellence but extend to more general moral excellence.1.12 Chinese and western characteristics of heroismThis part is made up of two parts including the differences and the similarities between Chinese and western heroism.The differences, in the author‟s opinion, firstly, Chinese heroism always takes emphasis on collective interests or overall situation, especially national interests.Secondly, most of the Chinese heroes comply with the destiny. Thirdly, ancient Chinese hero types roughly divided into four categories: national heroes, emperor heroes, folk heroes, martial arts heroes (潘天强，2007). But in point of view, there is another kind of hero, myth hero. Western heroism, firstly, as we all know, individualism is a notable feature of western heroism. Different from Chinese heroism, the western heroes take emphasis on selfhood and personal value. Thus, they have absolute self—confidence about their wisdom and power. Second, Chinese heroes always give people the feeling of distant. Dislike Chinese heroes, western heroes are more humanizing, and felt more accessible. They have a sense of responsibility on the family. In movies, American heroism wants to show the audiences the perfect perfection while Chinese heroism wants to express the fragmentary perfection.In , Both in China and western countries, hero worship is start from myth hero worship. In the early stage of human society, people confront the threat from nature. On the other hand, both Chinese and western heroes have certain trait beyond ordinary people. In addition, all heroes in two cultures have unique charisma.1.13 The origins of heroism in China and western countriesFirst of all, the author thinks the fighting against nature is along with the emergence of humankind. The hero is one who dared to fight against nature and saved people in the disaster. Secondly, from many historical events and hero movies, hero arise from contradiction, and under certain background of times. Dynasties emerged anddisappeared one after another. In the ancient time, the replacement of the dynasties often accompany by war which come from the conflict between classes. Under this circumstance, a large number of folk heroes emerged. Thirdly, the influence from Confucius thought. The core concept of Confucius thought is justice and humanity, and it puts forward four aspects that a hero must achieve: high degree of moral consciousness; sincerity; erudite; harmonious relationship between individual and society, which individual must be subordinated to the society. Thus Chinese heroes always on the decent side, and for collective interests, they even sacrifice themselves. Confucius believed that heroes must have wisdom, humanity, and bravery, that threevirtues （崔子修and 丁四海，2005）Firstly, western heroism comes from curiosity, and the exploration of the unknown world. Secondly, external expansion of western countries has also been an important factor. The war is a machine that produces heroes no matter in china or western countries.So, according to the author, people in both cultures must learn more about each other and communicate with each other actively in order to lessen the culture conflicts.1.2American individual heroismIn thesis, Analyze American individual heroism from the perspective of Hollywood film, on one hand, his thought is that the value of this kind of American individual heroism advocates individual and independence, and pursuit just and dignity. On the other hand, there is contradiction implied between individual and social order, violence in the film. Then the author mainly wrote heroic image of Hollywood. Firstly, he pursues freedom. Secondly, leaders need hero mostly. Thirdly, hero needs courage. Fourthly, the hero needs his enemy to set off. The hero needs female to set off.While, according to 王一雷, he thought that America is a country which worshipsheroism in great fever, so if people want to analyze its culture, its heroic ideology is an inevitable subject that must be paid high attention to .he though that;at first，the definition of hero is given and discussed in detail．The thesis classified the view ofheroism according to different school of thoughts and cultures，and found that to some extent，thedefinitions given in the popular American dictionaries are not quite reasonable，the author analyzesthe philosophical cause why the emphasis is especially put On heroes‟strength and fighting ability，after that，from the point of mind·body integration，the thesis demonstrates the virtues a hero shouldpossess(王V)Although America hash‟t the long-history-based heroic culture like some otherwestern countries，which have their archetypes such as Homeric or Arthurian heroes，it individually develops heroes in its specific democratic way following the footprintsof classic and epic heroes．In the 19th century，influenced by the Homeric and knightly heroism；the new democratic American heroes became lofty defenders of democracy on its lawless frontiers．Western and frontier metaphors were adapted to satisfy c6ntemporary tastes and concerns，the first great cofnic hero，superman appears in an era when a superhero is expected to defeat fascists，and dies in the movie when the world don‟t admire and accept inborn heroes any longer，following this，it is the popularity of anti—heroes or non—hero，the author picks up the most successful and convincing hero image created just after the death of Superman·——Forest Gump as the example to show that it is the struggling anti-heroes but not omnipotent ones Americans adore in 20th century．(王VI)Following the development of science and technology, also the discouraging fame of cowboys and military heroes，Americans tend to look．for idols in fantasies．There are SO many heroic movies；everyone has its distinctive heroes，which directly contribute to the“overflow of heroes”which is the viewpoint that demonstrated in Chapter Seven．In lots of movies，in o rder to show the…humanity‟of heroes or to prove the belief that“everyone could be a hero”，movies always raise ordinary people to the upper stage as heroes，which gradually deviate the traditional concept of being a hero．Elifferent kinds of media propaganda have made heroes an obscure concept，Americans sometimes feel lost to which one they should choose to adore．（王VI）the author gets the conclusion that Hollywood movies indeed make people get in touch with numerous American heroes and their touching spirits．But whether the ones，the events，which the heroic stories want to highlight，are heroic，or whether they have set up perfect models for the society，these are to some degree questionable．Liberalists even argue that sometimes the celebration of heroes in popular culture encourages actual violence，or leads to lots of other social problems．To American people，the positive development of their tradition of heroism which is a part of their culture depends on the right understanding of heroism by the mass and mass media；to the people who want to study American culture，the author tries her best to offer a complete picture of American heroic values，development，and social influence from the angle of popular culture———movies(王VI-II)1.3The culture influenced by Brave HeartThe author 熊丹analyzed the Scottish nation music instrument-bagpipe. He wrote it from two aspects including the reason of selecting bagpipe as major music and the performance of bagpipe in Brave Heart. The reason why bagpipe was chosen concludes two factors, which are national one and the personal factor of the musician himself. The detail is that bagpipe is the soul of Scottish music and it has been handed down for several hundred years. In the thirteenth century, it was used in the war as war music which called upon army force and encouraged soldiers to fight bravely. Meanwhile, it is also peace music used for daily activities such as wedding and funeral in the local, which is necessary in Scotland. Then the author discussed the performance of bagpipe in the film. He hold that the bagpipe as music instrument can divided three kinds of types which are subject music including the hero music and love subject music, scene music and background music. We can take an example from the author‟s thesis. When Wallace‟s father told him that his heart was free and had courage to follow it. The hero subject music is played through Scottish bagpipe. Another example is love subject music, when Wallace‟s father and brother were killed and buried because of fighting against English army, at this moment, little Murron picked a purple to give little Wallace to comfort him. He looked at her in deep sorrow and he was so moved that tears rolled down from his cheeks. At the scene, there was no monologue, and there was silence between then and the sad music of bagpipe which was telling that their love was doomed. Whatever types of music was used, Scottish bagpipe played an import role in the film which gave us a charming music feast.(熊133-134 )While, According to 张敏，孙晓丹，卢冰，they analyzed the music in the film through its character and the import role of it in the film.(141-142)According to the author 王红英，she wrote the cultural feast responded in the film. For example, national flower- thistle flower. The little flower means independence and just. In the film, it is no t only the witness of the love between Wallace and Murron, but also is the symbol of freedom and the nation not giving in to England. We know when little Murron gave a purple to Little Wallace, then Murron the purple flower in the handkerchief and gave it to Wallace. When Wallace was killed, the handkerchief was falling down from his hand and drowned red by his blood. Then the author discussed the Scottish kilt. He wrote the origin and the symbol meaning of it.(59)Scottish kilt was said different grids stand for different families. Black and grey grid represents for government grid. There are some special grids ruled by the loyal families，and called noble grids. In the film Wallace gave his own the cloth of his kilt to Murron as the loving witness. At the scene, the plot is so gentle and touching.(张59)ConclusionSo we can come to conclusion that the heroism exists everywhere whatever it isin china or in western countries. we can see the film from the different perspectives. The above studied the different Aspects and different eras concerning however in China, western countries and America. They have the same and the different points about heroism. Then the culture influenced by the film studied gave us the cultural feast. However, they haven‟t studied the emoti ons and tenderness heroism for the present.王红英，《蓟花绽放，风笛悠扬，从<勇敢地心>透视苏格兰文化》刊名：电影评价，年，卷2009，23，页数59王一雷, 《从美国电影看其英雄主义文化》“Viewing Widespread American Heroism from Its Movies”, （2006）：I-II熊丹（133-134）张敏，孙晓丹，卢冰，《灵魂深处的天籁：电影<勇敢地心>配乐解读》，名作欣赏艺林散步2010：141-142。