现代战争与社会冲突中的好莱坞电影产业发展和流变——以三个历史阶段为例

The Development of War and Social Conflicts in Modern Hollywood Film Industry:A Case Study of Three Historical Phases

战争与冲突时刻伴随着社会活动和政权的更替,而电影作为历史书写和群体价值观的载体,是超越记忆的存在。包括电影在内的各种媒介塑造的美国形象由过去主要依赖地理条件来连接各自区块的熔炉,转变为由商业与技术相交织的混合体。电影从诞生至今,持续保持的首要定位是一种商品,其次是满足文化意识的传承和美学艺术的发扬。将艺术、商业与大众娱乐杂糅在一起的好莱坞为世界提供了一个探究美国文化和社会历史的窗口。好莱坞受惠于战争和社会冲突的成果不仅是有形的,也是无形的;而电影有超越媒介技术和文化宣传层面的更深的传播影响,能够双向助力于产业生产者和消费受众意识形态的变革。与政治合作是好莱坞曾经的资源和策略,而全球化则是华莱坞的机遇与挑战。

From hearsay to being well known, the Chinese audiences have become more familiar with the term Hollywood, especially since the end of last century. Film markets believe that Hollywood produces films according to the interest of the audiences, as if Hollywood is approximately equal to commercial output. This kind of bias is why this paper chooses the classic Hollywood film industry for text and historical analysis. It is understandable that market performance helps film companies to make production decisions. This paper tries to dig deep into the relationship between the economic interest of Hollywood and the social environment it has penetrated into during same historical stages. The paper hopes to demonstrate that the industrial development trend in Hollywood does not primarily depend on economic adjustment, but is intertwined with warfare and social conflicts. Films are most likely treated as vehicles for carrying historical and community values, and are used as a form of an alternative hyper memory card. With the help of its film industry along with other types of the media, the United States is able to gradually transform the nation from ＂a bowl of broth＂ into a big community with a national spirit of solidarity. That is to say, in the past, the country mainly relied on geographical connections from one section to another for the sake of transportation and communication. However, the entire nation is nowadays more likely to be influenced by an ideological mixture of the art, commerce and mass entertainment. Ever since the film itself has been invented, its main concern is to follow the commercial law, which is to meet market needs in order to maintain a competitive position. After that, to satisfy the desires of delivering cultural values and social ethics of a certain community, and to promote the aesthetic awareness are also important duties of the film. Hence, the Hollywood entertainment industry, which is considered as a combination of the previous components, offers the world a possible way to explore the United States, both culturally and historically. This paper analyzes the opportunities and challenges which Hollywood industry and its films have encountered from the perspectives of wars, social conflicts, public ideology and the commercial market, by demonstrating benefits that the Hollywood film industry has taken from the following three time periods： the World War II stage, the Cold War and multi-conflicts phase, and a globalized and symbolized Hollywood stage. The paper indicates that films＇ influence can spread beyond the media technology and culture propaganda, and can direct both the content producers and consumers＇ political preferences in addition to ideological adjustments. Nowadays, China and the Chinese audiences have become a market that the world＇s film industries can hardly ignore. On 2013, Huallywood box office has an annual growth rate of 27 %, which is about 3.6 billion in the U. S. currency, and has become the first film market to reached three billion U. S. dollars other than America. In 2014, China＇s film box office exceeded 10 billion mark in just 141 days. Huallywood film industry is facing rapid financial growth plus a huge potential market. One of the opportunities to be explored is how to motivate the audiences with positive cultural orientation, and how to get inspiration from the current environment which can be considered as full of social conflicts and instability. While Hollywood continues to break through the Orient film market, it is necessary for Huallywood to strengthen its regional alliances and cooperation.