重庆师范大学硕士学位论文

用镜头思考自然

—解读当代美国科幻电影中的生态思想

硕士研究生：李波

指导教师：方丽 副教授

学科专业：英语语言文学

所在学院：外国语学院

重庆师范大学

2012年4月

Pondering Nature through Lens

：

Analyzing Ecological Thoughts Embodied

in Contemporary American Science Fiction Films

By

LiBo

Supervisor

Associate Professor Fang Li

A Dissertation Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment

For the Degree of M.A. in English

Language & Literature

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

CHONGQING NORMAL UNIVERSITY

April, 2012

I

用镜头思考自然

—解读当代美国科幻电影中的生态思想

中文摘要

生态批评是20世纪80年代出现的一种文学批评模式，目前已成为当代西方乃至世

界范围的文学批评活动的重要力量。生态批评的主要任务就是探讨人与自然的关系，

尤其是关注人类发展对环境的负面影响。可以说，正是人类的发展才导致了环境恶化

和生态危机。生态批评最现实的意义就是在反思与批判中唤醒人们的生态意识。

科幻电影是电影类型的一种，它通过强大的技术支持，给观众带来震撼的视觉冲

击。尽管科幻片属于商业电影范畴，但是其中很多对人类的生态问题有着深入的思考，

并且为唤醒全人类的生态意识，建立整体和谐的生态文明社会发挥着重要作用，因此，

科幻电影具有着重要的社会价值，这也是本文解读当代美国科幻电影中生态思想的最

主要原因。

到目前为止，对当代美国科幻电影的解读，我国学者主要集中在字幕翻译、特效

摄影技术、文化、美学以及商业运作等角度，从生态批评的视角进行解读的不多。鉴

于此，本文选取具有代表性的四部当代美国科幻电影《金刚》、《阿凡达》、《

ET

外星人》和《尼斯湖水怪》作为分析的文本，尝试从生态批评的角度对其中所蕴含的

反人类中心主义和生态整体主义两种生态思想进行解析。本研究旨在通过文化批评，

培养生态情感，唤醒环境意识，创造出人与自然和谐相处的人类文化和生存发展模式，

进而为解决全球生态危机做出贡献。

关键词

：

科幻电影、生态批评、反人类中心主义、生态整体主义

II

Pondering Nature through Lens

Analyzing Ecological Thoughts Embodied in Contemporary

American Science Fiction Film

ABSTRACT

Ecocriticism as a discipline came being in the 1980s. It has become a major trend

of literary criticism all over the world. The major task of ecocriticism is explore the

relationship between human being and nature. Ecocriticism especially stresses on the

side-effects of human beings’ development on environment. It can be said that human

beings’ development results in deterioration of environment and ecological crises. In

addition, the most practical meaning of ecocriticism is to give rise to people’s ecological

awareness in the course of reflection and criticism.

Science fiction film, one type of films, can make a stunning visual impact on

audiences by means of advanced technology. Although science fiction films belong to

commercial films, many of them carry on a deep thinking about ecological problems.

Besides, these films have the important effects of awaking eco-consciousness of human

being and building the holistically harmonious eco-civilized world. Thus, science fiction

films have vital social values, which is the most important reason why the paper analyzes

contemporary American science fiction films.

Up to now, many scholars in our country have analyzed contemporary American

science fiction films mainly from the perspective of translation of captions, photography

technique, cultural and aesthetic values and commercial operation and the like. And few

have analyzed them from the perspective of ecocriticism. Due to this, the paper chooses

four representative contemporary American science fiction films:

King Kong, Avatar,

The

Extra-Terrestrial

and

The Water Horse,

and attempts to analyze two ecological thoughts:

ecological holism and anti-anthropocentrism embodied in contemporary American science

III

fiction films. In addition, the aim of the paper is to cultivate people’s ecological emotion,

wake up their ecological awareness, and create the culture and developmental pattern of

human beings’ living harmony with nature, furthermore making contribution to solving

global ecological crisis.

Keywords

: Science fiction films, ecocriticism, anti-anthropocentrism, ecological holism

IV

Contents

中文摘要

...........................................................................................................

I

ABSTRACT

....................................................................................................

II

Chapter 1 Introduction

...................................................................................

1

1.1 A Brief Introduction to American Science Fiction Flims.........................................................

1

1.2 A Brief Introduction to the Four US Science Fiction Films ....................................................

2

1.3 The Layout of the Thesis ............................................................................................................

4

Chapter 2 Literature Review

..........................................................................

5

2.1 Current Studies of the Four Contemporary US Science Fiction Films..................................

5

2.2 A Brief Introduction to Ecocriticism.........................................................................................

7

2.3 Anti-anthropocentrism .............................................................................................................

10

2.4 Ecological Holism .....................................................................................................................

12

Chapter 3 Anthropocentrism in These Films

..............................................

15

3.1 Carl and the Captain’s Controlling over King Kong ............................................................

15

3.2 RDA’s Domination of Pandoar ................................................................................................

18

3.3 NASA Researchers’ Hunting for E.T.......................................................................................

21

3.4 Three Kinds of People’s Cruelty over Crusoe........................................................................

24

Chapter 4 Ecological Holism in These Films

...............................................

27

4.1 Love between Ann and King Kong..........................................................................................

27

4.2 Jack and the Na\'vi’s love for Nature on Pandora ..................................................................

28

4.3 Friendship between Elliot and E.T..........................................................................................

32

4.4 Augus’s Harmony with Crusoe................................................................................................

34

Chapter 5 Conclusion

....................................................................................

37

5.1 Summary ...................................................................................................................................

37

5.2 Ecological Expectation .............................................................................................................

38

References

......................................................................................................

40

Appendix

........................................................................................................

42

Acknowledgements

........................................................................................

43

1

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 A Brief Introduction to American Science Fiction Films

The following part is going to discuss American science fiction films from two aspects:

history and classification. First of all, the history of American science fiction films can be

divided five periods. “The first period is from the late 1890s to 1920s, in which

American science fiction film starts from scratch, and the outstanding films in the first

period are exemplified by

Frankenstein, 1910,

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

and

The

Mysterious Island

，

1929

. The second period is called maturation time of American

science fiction films, which lasts from 1930s to 1940s. Some excellent films such as

The Batman

and

Superman,1948

are produced in this stage. The third period ranges

from 1950s to 1960s, which is the golden prosperity time. What’s more, the films

themes during this time refer to aliens, monsters or nuclear warfare, for instance,

The

Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951

and

Invaders From Mars, 1953

. The fourth period is

from 1970s to 1980s, the most distinct feature of which is to maintain a balance

between special effects of science fiction films and its plots. Besides, one famous

director is impossible not to be mentioned when this stage is referred to, and this guy

is Steven Spielberg. Many of his classic science fiction films are produced in this

period such as

Close Encounters of the Third Kinds, 1977

and

The Extra-Terrestrial,

1982

. Science the 1990s, many types of new high-tech have been used in producing

science fiction films and many science fiction films have made an amazing box office

income. In addition, with the progress of science and technology, American science

fiction films start to explore new themes such as clone and intelligent machines.

During this time, a lot of science fiction blockbusters are made such as

King Kong,

Avatar, 2012, Jurassic Park

and

Transformers

and the like”(Wu Pu, 2005: 23).

This paragraph is going to talk about the classification of American science

fiction films. “In accordance with the intersection of science fiction films and other

genres, American science fiction films can be divided six sub-types: sci-fi

adventure films, sci-fi action films, sci-fi epic films, sci-fi disaster films, sci-fi thriller

2

films and sci-fi society films”(Liu Zongkun

,

1992: 134).

1.2 A Brief Introduction to the Four US Science Fiction Films

The four contemporary US science fiction films have been chosen in this paper are

King Kong, Avatar, The Extra-Terrestrial

and

The Water Horse

. The following is going to

give a brief introduction to the four contemporary US science fiction films one by one. First,

King Kong

whose cost of production was over one hundred and ten million dollars, is

directed by Peter Jackson, best known for directing the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. And

it was released by Universal Picture in 2005. In the 78

th

Academy Awards Ceremony in

2006,

King Kong

was awarded three big prizes: Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects

and Best Sound Mixing. In addition, it received positive reviews and became a box office

success. “After this film was released in about ten days in the foreign countries, its total

box office revenue reached more than one hundred million dollars. There was no film that

could catch it except Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, compared to films that ranked

first on other box office charts in 2005. Its worldwide box office income exceeded seven

hundred million dollars in 2006, with domestic box office income exceeding one hundred

million yuan”(Kevin, 2010: 127). Second,

Avatar

was an America science fiction

blockbuster directed by James Cameron, one world-renowned director. This film was

released in 2D and 3D versions in 2009. From the perspective of commerce, the

blockbuster film

Avatar

has been a smash hit at the box office in the United States and

around the world, becoming the fastest film ever to earn one billion dollars in ticket sale.

“The box office gross reached $18.43 billion in just six weeks after it was released around

the world, which created a new record in the history of box office gross. Up to now, this

film not only gets the highest film box office gross in film history, but also it serves as a

wake-up call to human beings”(Chen Zhengyu, Xiang Zhi, 2010: 51). In addition, this

blockbuster was awarded “Best Visual Effects”, “Best Arts Direction” and “Best

Cinematography” in the 82

th

Academy Awards Ceremony in 2010. The American Film

Institute has lauded “Avatar” as a “pioneering effort to unleash the human imagination…. a

film that has firmly established itself a landmark in the way stories are told” Third,

The

Extra-Terrestrial

, one classical science fiction film directed by American famous director

3

Steven Spielberg, was produced by Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures in 1982.

What’s more, this film also obtained considerable box office income, overtaking seven

hundred and seventy million dollars all over the world. Most important of all, it ever took

up the first position of top-earning films for ten years. At the same time, “

The

Extra-Terrestrial

was conferred ‘Best Visual Effects’, ‘Best Sound ’and ‘Best Sound

Effects Editing’ in the 55

th

Academy Awards Ceremony in 1983, and this animated science

fiction film also was nominated for ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Cinematography’ in the 55

th

Academy Awards Ceremony. What’s more, the director

Steven Spielberg won ‘Best

Directing’ for this well-received science fiction film”(Zhang Donglin, 2000: 47). Fourth,

The Water Horse

: Legend of the Deep is a family fantasy-drama film directed by Jay

Russell and produced by Columbia Picture in 2007. As a matter of fact, the screenplay by

Robert Nelson Jacobs, is an adaptation of Dick King-Smith’s famous children novel

The

Water Horse

. It mainly tells a story about a young boy who discovers a mysterious egg and

cares for what hatches out of it: a water horse (loosely based on the Celtic water horse)

which later becomes the fabled Loch Ness Monster. Many people hold that the plot of

The

Water Horse

is similar to that of

The Extra-Terrestrial,

both depicting the relationship

between a boy and non-human. “The film was a success and grossed about nine million

during its opening weekend. As of October 2010, the film has grossed a total $103,071,443

worldwide due to gaining about $40.4 million in the United States and about $62.1 million

in foreign countries”(Gao Shan, 2011: 79).

What’s more, this film was awarded Best

Family Feature in 2008.

Next is going to talk about the reasons why these four reprentative contemporary US

science fiction films are chosen in this paper. In the first place, all of them have made an

amazing box office income in the year when they are released, especially

Avatar

and

King

Kong

. What’s more, these four films have ever been granted many famous awards, which

has been mentioned in the previous paragraph. That is to say, these four films have exerted

great impact on a large number of audiences. In addition, there is a common feature among

these four US science fiction films. Exactly speaking, they all reveal the relationship

between human and nature (animals) in a very obvious way. Finally, the four science

fiction films can represent the six sub-types of American science fiction films(It has

been talked about in last section). In particular,

King Kong

is the typification of sci-fi

4

adventure films or sci-fi action films.

Avatar

is the typification of sci-fi epic films or

sci-fi disaster films. The Water House is the typification of sci-fi thriller films.

The

Extra-Terrestrial

is the typification of sci-fi society films. In a word, these four films are

the typical of contemporary American science fiction films

1.3 The Layout of the Thesis

The thesis is made up of five chapters. In the first chapter, the paper shows a brief

introduction to the history and classification of American science fiction films and the four

contemporary US science fiction films, which is followed by the layout of the thesis.

Chapter two focuses on literature review. In this chapter, there are the current studies of the

four contemporary US science fiction films, an overview on ecocritcism and a brief

introduction to two important ecological thoughts: anti-anthropocentrism and ecological

holism. Chapter three discusses the reflection of anthropocentrism in

King Kong, Avatar,

The Extra-Terrestrial

and

The Water Horse

. Chapter four discusses the reflection of the

other important ecological thought—ecological holism in

King Kong, Avatar, The

Extra-Terrestrial

and

The Water Horse.

Finally, chapter five is the conclusion of the thesis.

It summarizes ecological thoughts, hoping that readers can take up their own ecological

responsibilities.

5

Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Current Studies of the Four Contemporary US Science Fiction

Films

At present, as for the four contemporary US science fiction films, current studies can

be classified five types. In the first place, it discusses the translation of captions in

these films. All these four US science fiction films have been imported domestic


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