Author(s)

Yuan Tian^*

Department of General Education, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China.

The relationship between film and culture can be seen from the adaptations that historical fiction films make on these original ancient stories or literary works under the influence of concurrent cultural contexts. In other words, these films are always used to reflect and react on the times in which they are made, instead of the past in which they are set. Therefore film makers add abundant up-to-date elements into traditional stories and constantly explore new ways of narration, an effort that turns their productions into live records of certain social and historical periods, combining macro and micro approaches to cultural backgrounds, both audible and visual. Pinning on this new angle of reviewing the old days, this paper aims to uncover the identity crisis of Hong Kong residents under the mutual influence of nostalgia and rebellious ideas in the 1960s reconstructed in the Huangmei Opera film Lady General Hua Mulan (1964) together with the analysis of the social historical reasons hidden behind. The director’s intention to steer a middle course between traditional Chinese culture and British colonial culture is also discussed to show the reaction of film on cultural development.

Film and Culture, Nostalgia, Rebellion, Youth Problem, Identity Crisis

Tian, Y. (2016) Praises of Household Happiness in Social Turmoil: Lady General Hua Mulan(1964). Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4, 55-61. doi: 10.4236/jss.2016.44008.