Aftershock: Movie Analysis

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There is no denying that the film, Aftershock, directed by Feng Xiaogang is the most bankable domestic blockbusters in mainland China and wins the box office of more than six hundred million in 2010 (Coonan, 2010). It reproduces the grave earthquake took place in Tangshan, Hebei Province on July 28, 1976. Such a 7.8 magnitude earthquake turned Tangshan into ruins in only twenty-three seconds and caused 250 thousands death. The successful release of the film has caused the high attention and intense discussion among the community until nowadays. As an excellent work of contemporary Chinese realism film, it moves audiences through its setting, expression, characters and also the touching plot. For people who experienced the earthquake, it would …show more content…

In the film, the scene of catastrophe has not been repeated rendering. To some extent, the stereotype of disaster film is just a shell for attracting people’s attention. Because of the rapid earthquake, the film actually focuses on the aftershocks at the sight of what this incredible natural disaster has done to those survived people and how they retrieve the lost family in the long time after the earthquake. From this point of view, it should be considered as a family ethics movie revolving around perennial themes of life, forgiveness and coming-of-age (Wenzhong, …show more content…

The scene when the mother is plunged into a dilemma between life and death for her children hit people’s most vulnerable emotional nerve, no matter what kind of persons they are. To the mother, she loses husband during the sudden earthquake and the twins’ lives are endangered but only one can be saved by the rescue team. In the moment of desperation, she reluctantly chooses her son instead of the daughter. On the one hand, audiences may feel sorry for the result. For parents from anywhere in the world, they would be collapsed about the same situation. On the other hand, it leaves a kind of profound thinking about the typical ordinary Chinese ideology and how great is the impact of such a decision on people’s

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