What kind of Western literary narratives are reflected in Troy

The movie "Troy" was created based on the ancient Greek epic "Homer's epic", utilizing its unique form of artistic expression, and in the reconstruction of the classic, there is both integration and alienation, but the interpretation of the core values of Western culture in both is the same. This paper points out the ideological kernel of Western culture, thus further analyzing the core cultural values of the West from the ideological content and expression of the film, aiming at actively examining the cultural differences between China and the West and their measurement standards, and providing meaningful explorations for better cross-cultural communication.

[Keywords]

Film; Troy; Western Cultural Values

The classic poetry of ancient Greece, Homer's Epics, is the collective name of the two long epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, composed by the blind ancient Greek poet Homer, which reflect the social situation of Greece from the 11th century BC to the 9th century BC, and is the main legacy of the Greeks' entry into the civilization era from the age of barbarism. The Iliad and the Odyssey, collectively known as the Iliad and the Odyssey, reflect the Greek society from the 11th century BC to the 9th century BC, and are the main heritage of the Greeks from the barbaric age to the civilized age. The Hollywood blockbuster "Troy" takes "Homer's epic" as the blueprint, and spends huge sums of money to reproduce the epic and magnificent scenes, and strives to recreate the scenery of the past, which not only reflects to a certain extent the ideological content of the original work and ancient style, but also integrates modernized commercial elements, and in the process of reconstructing the classic, there is both integration and alienation, but the embedded value of cultural interpretation is the same feature of the two ***, which reflects the core of the local Western culture and national psychology. Both reflect the core of Western local culture and national psychological structure.

One, the ideological core of Western culture

Western culture has three sources: one is the ancient Greek civilization; the second is the ancient Hebrew Judaism civilization; the third is the ancient Roman civilization. These three sources later merged to form the Western cultural system in the form of Christianity. Western civilization can be said to be a marine civilization, such as the Greek Peninsula, the British Isles, land barren and limited, land transportation is extremely inconvenient, harsh environment, narrow living space. However, due to the sea surrounded by the unique conditions of marine trade, with the development of maritime industry and trade, and constantly expanding outward. The maritime culture directly gave birth to the characteristic culture of the West.

The establishment of the city-state system, which is characterized by political pluralism and democratization, has made the interpersonal relationships in Western culture rely on contracts, with a clear sense of entitlement and an emphasis on individual consciousness, and a reverence for personal heroism and individual self-expression. Together with the exclusivity of Christianity in the construction of the Western cultural system and cultural character, it constitutes the dualistic worldview of "one for each heavenly being and one for each human being". The positive factors are clear property rights and the idea of freedom, which emphasizes personal dignity and honor; the negative factor is that it is easy to lead to conflicts of interest between individuals and groups. The movie "Troy" in the "wrath of Achilles" fully illustrates this point.

Second, the analysis of the western values of the movie

(1) Ideological content

The Iliad, the first part of Homer's epic, depicts the social condition of ancient Greece in the transition from clan system to slavery. The epic is full of myths and legends, with the distinctive features of the homogeneity of the gods and men, and the mixture of myths and realities. The movie "Troy" has made considerable changes, almost completely abandoning the existence of the image of the gods, just as a kind of faith, completely highlighting the human factor. Achilles, the main character of the original film, was born of a god and a man, and at the beginning of the film, he was portrayed as a "god of war", with tall and powerful warriors instantly killed by his sword, still retaining traces of the gods and the sense of aristocracy of the clans that evolved as a result. Hollywood factories have always been known to produce heroism, which is in line with the core cultural values of the West. Except that heroism tends to be individualistic, and their great wisdom and courage reflect individual rather than collective values. Fighting for honor can be said to be the theme throughout the film, and it is the supreme belief that the characters in the film believe in. When the princess is taken away by the Trojan prince Paris, the king of Sparta angrily goes to the Greek king Agamemnon to fight for the reason that "the Trojans trample on my honor", "insulting me is insulting you, and insulting you is insulting the whole of Greece", which is undoubtedly the reason for the greedy and greedy people who have long coveted the territory of Troy. The greedy Agamemnon, who had long coveted the territory of Troy, found a perfect excuse to attack Troy and dominate the Aegean Sea. The unruly Achilles was unwilling to fight for Agamemnon, and his mother changed her attitude after a conversation, "You stay, you can lead a peaceful life ...... If you go to Troy, the glory will be yours, and your great deeds, will be passed down through the ages... ...your glory will bring about your demise" strengthens Achilles' resolve to fight for honor, and he chooses the latter between a mediocre existence and a death with honor. Achilles swore to his soldiers on the shore: "Do you know what awaits us on the other side of the beach? A legend that will never die. Take him, and we shall remain famous for ages."

These reflect the fact that Achilles is the arrogant overriding hero of the nation, and that his decisions are often made from a personal perspective. Next, the "wrath of Achilles", who refused to go to war because Agamemnon had taken his beloved female captive Briseis, led to the Greek army's failure to attack and suffered heavy casualties. The conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon also shows that the chiefs did not have absolute leadership in the primitive democratic system of the transition from clan society to slavery. The fact that Achilles went to war after his cousin was killed and that he desperately searched for his female companion, Briseis, after the capture of Troy also shows that the hero fights for personal love, affection and honor, not for the king. Once again, it highlights the traditional Western thought that highlights the freedom and liberation of human personality, the independence and development of the individual, the worship of heroes, and advocates respect for human beings, respect for human life, and the freedom, equality, and individuality of human beings to be flaunted and played out.

Another hero in the film, Hector, the master general of Troy, also regards honor as his life. But unlike Achilles, Hector is a hero who loves his people and is embraced by them. In addition to giving the image of a brave and resolute man with the dignity of a king, he also had an additional sense of national responsibility and justice. When on his way back from Sparta he learned that his brother had taken the Spartan princess, he angrily rebuked his brother: "My brother, I love you. But if you do anything to jeopardize Troy, I will tear your handsome face from your handsome skull", "Father has worked for many years to negotiate peace. You have destroyed Troy for her sake" and other short phrases present the audience with an alternative hero who is deep and generous with the greater good in mind. Though he despises his brother's cowardice, though he foresees that the cause of the war is unjust and that it will end in destruction, that the city-state will be destroyed, that he himself will be killed, and that his wife will be reduced to slavery, he is the best warrior and leader of the nation. But as the country's best warrior and leader, he had no choice but to meet the challenge and resolutely shoulder the heavy responsibility of defending the country, leading the way and finally spilling his blood on the battlefield. One of Hector's words of encouragement to his soldiers was, "This is my country, my countrymen."

Exemplifies his loyalty to his country, his love for his people, and his attachment to his loved ones.

If Achilles is the victor of the annals of fame, Hector, the loser, is equally memorable to the world forever. Hector's tragic end of the hero is more humane and contagious, from him can be seen to value the honor of heroism and affirmation and pursuit of human value of the present humanistic ideas, showing the Greek culture and even the whole of the Western classical culture, an important feature.

(2) Forms of Expression

The original "Homeric Hymns" is a narrative poem, the layout is rigorous and precise, the narrative is a great view of the waves and ups and downs, as a kind of open-minded Western culture, the expression of emotions on the relatively unrestrained, delicate, in the rhetoric through the direct form of expression of feelings, the expression of love is direct and fast; the description of the war scene is The description of the war scene is direct and fast; the description of the war scene exudes a strong smell of blood. For example, the flash of bronze spears is described as "like flames from afar, as if a great forest on the top of a high mountain were filled with fire"; (Homer, 34)

Describing the army as "as full of leaves and flowers as the seasonal .... . there was not a moment's silence, as in a springtime barn when the milk pails are full, and uncountable flies fly around"; (Homer, 34)

The mutual slaughter of the two sides was described as "like two shifts of mowers in a rich man's field starting from opposite sides, and mowing down the wheat or barley by handfuls"; (Homer, 34)

The army was described as "as if two shifts of mowers in a rich man's field were cutting from opposite sides, and bringing the wheat or barley down by handfuls". wheat or barley down by handfuls, until the handfuls on each side meet together". (Homer, 194) In addition to this, there are also scenes written about killing: "Not interested in anything but seeing blood, killing, and listening to the groans of the dying." (Homer, 369) "That cruel bronze bit into the flesh of many a warrior." Depictions such as these shout out their hearts without the slightest hint of a feeling of uninhibited joy. Expressed the western culture worship power, advocate freedom, people will win the national spirit.

Film art not only creates images, reproduces and reflects life, but also has its unique visual art characteristics and forms of expression in artistic expression. Through its forms of expression, we can see the cultural content reflected behind it. Based on the principle of reproducing the classics, the movie "Troy" has a great degree of integration with the original work in terms of expression. For example, the color tone of the film is dominated by the earthy yellow color, which brings out a reckless and ancient atmosphere, with the naked clothes of the princes and nobles and the simple and crude furnishings in the apartments, bringing people back to the ancient Greek slave society more than 2,000 years ago. The tone of the movie is dominated by pathos and excitement, and the theme song is sad and timeless, as if it is interpreting the picturesque epic poem written by Homer, telling the story of Achilles and Hector and other heroes. In addition, the movie also appeared many times in the funeral scene: that high up the mausoleum platform, that placed in the eyes of the dead on the coin, the burning fire, the priestess murmuring wail ...... all of these, with its rough rustic atmosphere, all bring the audience mysterious, sad feeling. In the expression of love, are so direct and open, bold bed scenes have always been an indispensable element of Hollywood, the Western open sexual concepts coupled with the inherent need for commercialization, so that love are naked expression of lust. For example, the Queen of Sparta and Prince Paris of Troy from love at first sight to the passionate bed scene; greedy and lustful Spartan king and all the maids indulge in wine and sex between; Achilles and female prisoners Briseis at first sight and after the strike of the war, and so on, all is the direct expression of love and desire, in line with the psychological characteristics of the Westerners and thinking characteristics. In the portrayal of war scenes, adhering to the delicate style of the Homeric Hymns, the bloody killing scenes are reproduced many times. For example, Achilles' cousin Patroclus impersonates himself and dies under Hector's sword, his throat is cut and blood is spewed as he moans in agony; Hector is stabbed in the heart by Achilles, and he falls to the ground dead with a loud spurt of blood, and then the old king of Troy watches his son's corpse being dragged away by Achilles in a heart-breaking scene; Achilles attacks the city to free the humiliated Briseis and cuts off the soldier's head alive. soldier's head alive. These stunt effects and take great pains to show the gruesome bloody killings, in Chinese works of art is to be implicitly expressed or strongly avoided, on the contrary, in Western works of art is greatly exaggerated, which is one of the main forms of expression of Western culture and art, that is, the form of expression to strive for realism, frankly vivid reproduction of things as they are, to give a person in the visual formation of a huge contrast, in order to form a strong psychological shock of art to the audience. Psychologically strong shock of the artistic effect. At the same time, in the aesthetic way, westerners focus on showing their psychological ability of "spatial trust" and reproducing the wonderful skill of spatial perspective relationship, the movie strives to reproduce the kind of level delicate and miscellaneous depictions of the Homeric Hymns, which is a concrete demonstration of the spatial grasping ability of the westerners. In the outline of the plot and characterization, all of them are glittering with the connotation of rational thinking. It shows the determination of westerners to label themselves, the spirit of conquering nature and the self-expression of revering individuality. This undaunted spirit shows the confidence of Westerners to challenge the known or unknown space. This grasp and trust of space and that pure spirit of challenge is rarely seen in the East.

Third, Conclusion

Speech

The film "Troy" is based on "Homer's epic", and based on the integration and detachment of the classic original work, with the help of the unique advantages of film art, it shows the great heroic chapter of Homer's epic through sound, picture and other modern technical means. The movie embodies the realistic pursuit of Western movie art in terms of both ideological content and presentation form, which is the artistic and humanistic spirit of Western culture since ancient Greece. good and evil, and obsessive thinking about the eternal human topics of life and death.

It is worth pointing out that Hollywood is a cultural entertainment industry, on the one hand, the subject matter it digs up and the shaping of its movie themes are, to a certain extent, inextricably linked to its commercial value. On the other hand, its cultural values are based on the Western mindset, which is also an important way to promote Western cultural values. In today's increasingly close cultural collision and exchanges, we need to actively examine the differences in cultural values between the East and the West, how to face the penetration of the strong Western culture, how to measure and judge the ultimate cultural standards is really worth thinking about.