论文总字数：30610字

摘 要

随着大众传媒的日益普及与深入，电影已经成为人类现代文明生活的重要部分。好莱坞作为美国电影的中心，每年制作大量的电影对外出口。这些电影集中体现了美国的多元文化特点，其中最为大众熟知并乐道的当属个人英雄主义文化。《美国队长》作为一部典型的代表美国的个人英雄主义电影，在美国甚至是全世界都很受欢迎。本文主要分析探讨《美国队长》中体现的个人英雄主义。首先浅析个人英雄主义的定义，然后分析其形成的原因和特点，最后通过电影《美国队长》来分析个人英雄主义的特点在电影中的表现形式。

关键词:电影；《美国队长》；个人英雄主义；文化

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

3. Individualistic Heroism in America 2

3.1 Definition of Individualistic Heroism 2

3.2 Origin of Individualistic Heroism in America 3

3.3 Individualistic Heroism in American Movies 6

4. Individualistic Heroism Reflected in the Movie Captain America 9

4.1 Role 9

4.2 Background 10

4.3 Plot 10

5. Conclusion 11

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

With the development of social economy, the emergence of high-tech and the pursuit of living standards, films have entered the human families and become an indispensable part of their lives. The need of human beings for movies has created numerous factories in the development of the world, especially the famous Hollywood film factory today. Heroes emerge endlessly in the American heroism movies; young Americans and even other people in the world have obsession with American heroes. From 2011 to 2014, there’re all kinds of American heroes, such as Thor, Spider-man, Iron Man, and Captain America and so on. In the movies, these protagonists are heroes for saving the whole world and they have extraordinary ability so that they can defeat the evil force by their own strength, which exactly shows that individualistic heroism in the United States has infiltrated into the movies. Meanwhile, it becomes an important way to show American culture for the world.

The movie Captain America is directed by Joe Johnston, and the protagonist is acted by Chris Evans. A lot of people are fond of the movie. The movie took place in the World War Ⅱ; our hero Steve Rogers was refused by army, for his body was too weak. However, the Dr. Abraham Erskine persuaded Stephen to join in the “super solider” experiment. Stephen became a tall and strong man. In World War II, he made outstanding contribution for the anti-fascist war.

Movies in Hollywood transfer the core values of American culture. This thesis mainly intends to analyze American individualistic heroism in many ways by using a classic individualistic heroism movie Captain America, which aims at making people better understand the American culture and values of the American people.

2. Literature Review

Individualistic heroism is an indispensable part of the American culture; meanwhile, movie is also an important way to study the American culture. Therefore, there are many scholars who have studied them and recognized their influence by American movies, especially Hollywood movies. There are two main ways to study individualistic heroism. Some scholars study individualistic heroism as a whole, for example, Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life written by Robert Neelly Bellah in 1985. It offers a detailed study of individualism and influence in American life(1985). The history of American movies including individualistic heroism is analyzed in detail in Robert Sklar’ s Movie-Made America: A Culture History of American Movies, who is a famous professor at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University(1994). In our country, Li Qirong makes a detailed definition of American Spirit and influence for American in his American Spirit(1998).

Some scholars analyze features of individualistic heroism in American movies through a deep study of one movie. For example, Lu Qian makes insightful and in-depth analysis of what individualistic heroism is reflected through the narrative of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises(2012). Wang Ailing also studies individualistic heroism in movies Batman. In the article From ethical dilemma to see American culture in the movie: The Dark Knight, she pointed out the reflection of individualistic heroism in detail(2013).

Although there are many studies on individualistic heroism culture, but few studies make a thorough and systematic study on individualistic heroism. Therefore, the paper tries to analyze individualistic heroism from its origin, character and symbols in detail in the movie Captain America.

3. Individualistic Heroism in America

3.1 Definition of Individualistic Heroism

Individualistic heroism should be divided into two parts: one is individualism and the other is heroism. Actually, individualism is a significant part of American culture. As the famous American sociologist Robert Neelly Bellah said, individualism is one of the most profound national identities for American, also as a core of American culture. American culture traits with fundamental things are all from it (qtd. in Zhou Huiming, 2011: 190). They believed that the existence, development and free stretch of individualism are the most significant core. However, for heroism, it is derived from anxiety and fear of our own living environment and humanistic concept, which is the induction of the unknown world and the survival crisis from the bottom of the heart. Individualistic heroism is defined as showing a kind of decisive, courageous and sacrificial spirit when someone completes a significant history task or achieves a social ideal. It is a symbol of social justice. Therefore, in the American culture, the content of the American spirit is very rich, such as individualism, equality, optimism and strives for realism the innovation. They all play a unique cohesion and pillar role in the formation and development of America. We can say, American spirit is a key towards success and glory(Li Qirong，1998: 23). In American movies, they tout self-centered individualistic heroism, which makes individual heroism become an indispensable essence for heroes. However, heroes in Hollywood movies always have good qualities that we expected. Whether civilians or president, they are all alone and always give the most favorable supporting protection at the most dangerous moment. In the end, no matter how dangerous the moments they would face with, they would use their own wisdom, courage and a variety of skills to solve the crisis and make a success.

3.2 Origin of Individualistic Heroism in America

3.2.1. History

Individualistic heroism is not abstract and it has its own origin. It needs the specific histories, different cultural backgrounds and valuable system to create heroes. Individualistic heroism traces its history from 18^th to 19^th American Frontier’s Time. As James Martin said in his book Concise History of America and Its People, “The first settlers of America were largely puritans from Europe, and the characters of the founder fathers as well as other first settlers were much more independent and more gallant than other Europeans, and they want to be free from the monarchy system. Their spirit are accepted and appreciated by the people in the North American and then passed on from the generations to generations in this country(Martin，2008: 29).” Besides, Maryanne K. D. and Edward N. K. offered the similar but more specific opinion about the origin of individualistic heroism in book An introduction to American Culture(K.D and N.K， 2008: 31). In the book, the authors hold the view that the historical decision made by those first settlers has had a profound effect on the shaping of the American character. The settlers created atmosphere of freedom where the emphasis was on individualism by limiting the power of government, the churches and eliminating a formal aristocracy. Gradually, the United Stated came to be associated in their minds with the concept of individual freedom. This is probably the basis of all the American values. Scholars and other observers often call this value individualism, but Americans use the word freedom. In general, the origin of the value of individualistic heroism can be concluded by Liang Hanping that America is a young country and its core value is individualistic heroism that is ingrained in its social history(Liang Hanping，2006: 140).

The United States of America in the vast North America has rapidly developed. The ideology of individualistic heroism was strengthened and adjusted in different historical periods. From “All men are created equal.” in the Declaration of Independence to the Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream”, from the “Gilded Age” to the “ Wall Street Legend”, individualistic heroism has been deeply implanted in every aspects of the American’s life.

Individualistic heroism originates from culture in the United States of America. It is the inner spirit of the freedom, democracy and anti- authoritarian. Individualistic heroism not only is the source of culture development of the United States of America, but also promotes the development of the history of the United States. The prevalence of individualistic heroism in the United States has a great extent impelled the United States to lead and dominate the whole world in almost a century.

3.2.2 Culture

As the famous American sociologist Robert Neelly Bellah said, individualism is a core of American culture. The individualism originates from colonial period. As many documents and these settlers have mentioned that cowboy plays an important role in the formation of Individualistic heroism（qtd. in Zhou Huiming, 2011: 90）. According to Li Qing, after the American Civil War, a huge rise of cattle world has formed and developed gradually in the Midwest of USA, and cowboys began to appear in the American historic stage. Although cowboys have already extinguished now in America, their spirit passed on among Americans(Li Qing，2004: 90). The cowboys’ spirits were influenced by the American culture, namely, individualistic heroism. From Analysis the Spirit of Cowboys in America Westward Movement written by Zhuang Qiming, it offers that the spirit of cowboys included independence, optimism and courage. With development of American culture, individualistic heroism has penetrated into American people’s lives as well as the spirits of cowboys. The spirit have inspired American all the time(Zhuang Qiming, 2011:103).

In the 1940s, America suffered economic crisis and World War Ⅱ, which lets American in a deep though: They are not omnipotent. In the face of strong fascist and destroyed economy, American began to have a doubt about the American individualism. At this time, American movies have developed, especially for heroes movies. Individualistic heroism was permeated into the movies and got a further step development. The hero image on the screen is inspired from human’s psychology. “We believe in the dignity and even inviolability of each individual. We think, judge and decide for ourselves, and live in the way as we think suitable. Some most profound problems with ourselves and our society are also closely linked with the individualistic heroism, but we don’t mean that Americans should abandon it, because that would mean to give up the deepest characteristics of our nation(qtd. in Zhou Huiming, 2011: 125).”

After the World War Ⅱ, America became powerful in global economy and politics; meanwhile, its individualistic heroism complex inflated. Individualistic heroism represented American individual hero. Alfred Adler, a famous psychiatrist, said that in order to show themselves more important than others, people would be expected to overcome self-abased psychology, superego and then become a respected hero(Alder, 1960: 56). America is a super country and they actively expand their American culture with the aid of the news media, cultural exchange, Hollywood films and transnational corporations etc. America’s purpose is to create its own image in the world and transfer their value of individualistic heroism culture.

3.2.3. Economy

The Chinese scholar Lu Qian offered in her article from the view of economic development that rapid immigrations make the related various industries develop. It has became the biggest power that the United States was transformed economically from commercial capitalism to industrial capitalism and realized industrialization finally(Lu Qian, 2012: 73). The declaration of independence of the United States clearly wrote that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that they are among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Westward movement had a huge impact on the formation and development of the American national spirits, developing American political and social democratic consciousness, cultivating the American liberty, equality and competition. It had created the American adventurous and courage spirits. At the same time, westward movement trained American’s optimistic characteristic and strengthen the American individualism. The blazers diligently seek a better life. The fearless heroic and persevering strong will has become the successor model of American individualistic heroism when they were confronted with the difficult situation.

Individualistic heroism, on the other hand, is from people’s anxiety in their life. To some extent, the heroes from science fiction movies comfort the audience in the real life. Especially when people have no power to deal with some problems, they often expect that a superhero will appear in most dangerous moment, giving the best support and protection to them. Trough exchanging the heroic roles with screen, every audience achieved their own inside transcendence from individualistic heroism movies, which is easy to understand the reason why the theme of individualistic heroism movies will be poplar all over the world. Furthermore, movie as a kind of economy must cater to the needs of the market. American heroism infiltrates every corner of American films and has an indelible role in every American heart. For example, superheroes in a series of Superman have the super power to save earth, human and fight against evil force. The nature of a hero is embodied everywhere in the movie. The background of the movies is economy crisis that needed a kind of power to defeat the evil force around the world for people’s faith. Therefore, superman as a image of the police who often protect truth, justice and social conscience have accompanied American even the whole world more than half a century by the form of movie. Due to people’s need for heroes, it promoted the development of individualistic heroism movies, which made the movie a blockbuster in the commercialization of the film in the United States. Sponsors were more willing to invest in the film, which formed such a cycle: the more and more American individualistic heroism movies.

3.3 Individualistic Heroism in American Movies

3.3.1 The popularity of individualistic heroism movies

American movie factory began from the movies The Iron Trail (1924) and Cimarron (1931) in the 1930s, creating more and more vivid and legendary heroes. Especially in 1939, the most typical movie called Stagecoach (1939) is a sign of cowboy hero in Hollywood movies. The movie tells a story of a hero called Ringo who saves a group of people in a car by his own strength. The movie totally reflected American individualistic heroism. Then, individualistic heroism movies emerge in an endless stream. The most classical example in these movies is a series of 007 which is acted by Pierce Brosnan, who plays a role called James Bond in Golden Eye(1995), Tomorrow Never Dies(1997), The World Is Not Enough(1999), Die Another Day(2002). He is handsome and familiar with all kinds of combat equipment and sports entertainment. At the same time, he can speak various languages fluently and save the whole world in each dangerous situation by his own wisdom. Another example is a series of The Terminator; Arnold Schwarzenegger is a protagonist in this movie. His main purpose is to save the world and always on behalf of justice defeating the evil force. From the beginning of 2002, American super heroes have appeared on the screen. They fight against evil forces to protect civilians by their own super power or high-tech equipment. In 2002, the movie Spiderman opened the golden age of American super hero movies. After that, various heroes have joined in, including Batman, superman, Iron man, Thor, Captain America and Green Lantern, etc. Until now, the fever of American superhero movies in the new century has continued.

3.3.2 The reason for the popularity of individualistic heroism movies in America

A series of American individualistic heroism movies made by the American movie factories deeply influenced the whole world, especially teenagers. This is mostly due to the spread of American culture, including positive values：heroism, idealism and justice. Even more, American movie factories always make heroes mythology so that they use developed high-tech into the movie special effects, which gives audience a sense of visual enjoyment. In general, individualistic heroism movies in America not only can let the audience get the psychological solace, but also the sense. Once movies are popular in the type of individualistic heroism, investors would spend a lot of money to invest movies in order to satisfy the needs of individualistic heroism movies. Therefore, the type of individualistic heroism movies emerge continuously every year, although narrative style, character setting and the value of the world still have the exclusive characteristics. The expression of saving the whole world and self sacrifice are the same.

3.3.3. Features of individualistic heroism in American movies

To make the hero mythology is the great secret of Hollywood movie, as well as the root of all kinds of extreme cultural values in Hollywood. As the scholar Li Lizhen concluded several types of American heroes. She said that types of various heroes on the screen are not always the same, their different hero types in different time. In literary and artistic works, they all create a heroic image of distinctive society and national characteristics, it includes: moral hero, civilian hero, super power hero and alternative hero(Li Lizhen, 2012: 73). Although the concept of every heroic movies of American individualistic heroism is different, it could find out that there are some common characteristics in this type of film.

Firstly, individualistic heroism movies have a characteristic of vivid individualism. Americans have a strong concept of self-center, individualism and pursuit personal happiness, which became social consensus. They always put themselves into the core situation, and at the same time advocate the spirits of self-struggle and indomitable fighting. American social system is mainly to affirm human’s freedom, promote the value of individualism, and to encourage themselves relying on their abilities to benefit society and mankind. Eternal aim of heroes is liberalism. Most heroic images in American films are alone; the hero is always a maverick man with remarkable ability. Where there is a disaster, there is a hero. After the scared mission, he would leave alone. The hero Bruce Wayne in the film Batman is always haunting in the dark, fighting all kinds of evil source, he never cooperates with other heroes, even the government and polices. When people cheer for his justice, he left a fade figure in the night lonely.

Secondly, individualistic heroism movies also have a sense of justice. Justice will prevail over evil, win over the majority and the weak overcome the strong. In Hollywood movies, we could always see that the perfect combination form of individualistic heroism and national. The hero is the embodiment of justice, obliging to undertake the important task of saving society. This sense of mission is the embodiment of world view "manifest destiny" since the founding of America. As the movie Captain America, the red skull represented the evil side and he wanted to control the whole world. On the contrary, the protagonist Stephen presented them from dominating the havoc by his own power, which represented the justice side.

The last characteristic is high-technology. American high-tech contributed to American movies to conquer global competitiveness, even to the extent that American film spread their culture all around the world by modern media. The most important reason why heroes creating by Hollywood movies can have strong power to defeat the force evil is that they have a variety of high-tech. In the movie Fantastic Four, after accepting cosmic ray irradiation, four astronauts were endowed with superhuman abilities. And the other film Spiderman, Peter parker was an ordinary student in high school, but when he was bit by a radioactive spider, he had various abilities: walk on walls and ceilings, as well as emanate webs from his wrist, etc.

4. Individualistic Heroism Reflected in the Movie Captain America

Individualistic heroism is an important core of American culture. They have some common features in the American movies, such as individualism, justice and high-technology. However, the movie Captain America is a typical individualistic heroism movie in America. The following chapter will analyze individualistic heroism in the movie Captain America from the aspects of role, background and plot in detail.

4.1 Role

In the movie Captain America, the protagonist Steve Rogers always has a dream that he wants to join the army to serve the motherland, but because of his poor health, he was rejected many times. His kindness, justice, bravery and loyalty have never changed; therefore, he is the best person selected by the Dr. Abraham Erskine who is a representative of Strategic Scientific Reserve to join the “super solider” experiment plan. In the movie, Steve embodies his own spirit of individualistic heroism many times. In the case of soldiers unprepared, a fake grenade is thrown into the army. Instinctively, solider have to hide at once. But only a person, Steve uses his own body to compress it tightly, preventing the whole army from damage of grenade. The action really reflects the essence of his own encourage heart, regardless of his own safety even sacrifice his life to protect others. When he heard that lots of his comrades were captured in the camp, he determined to save them by himself. Captain America always put other people’s security in the first place without thinking when facing dangerous situations. Johann Schmidt, who is the leader of the red skull, represents the origin of the evil force in the war. Steven uses his wisdom and bravery to defeat him for many times. Captain America is the representation of justice, in the fighting between evil and justice, as people expect, evil can never prevail over justice.

4.2 Background

Man created God in despair and created a super hero in discomfort situation. The evolution of super hero is also a variation of the history in the United States. The movie is based on the World War Ⅱas background. Fascist invaded cruelly all over the world. The other side of the ocean war happened and the value of freedom equality in America was being destroyed. Under the threat of the evil force: the red skull, not only the United States, even the whole world all were drown into the fear and threaten situation. At the moment, it needed justice to contend with evil, and individualistic heroism was most easily accepted by most people in the war. Heroes sacrificed themselves for the national justice and independence, which shook people’s hearts. In the movie, weak human did not have any strong power to fight against the evil force so that they rely on super power. Captain America was their best choice, their super hero to defeat the red skull. Where there was dangerous situation, there was Captain America.

4.3 Plot

It is a more classic individualistic heroism movie, in which, individualistic heroism was reflected numerous times. The protagonist, Steve Rogers succeed in changing his body. He has a strong power, also starts the age of his own individual hero. In the barrack, Colonel Phillips threw a fake grenade into the army to test their courage. It exactly shows Steve’s individualistic heroism: He compresses it tightly so that there is no one who gets hurt. Senator Brandt feels satisfied with his handsome appearance and strong body, let him do propaganda work with beauty cheer team together. Steve is laughed by solider. But his value of individualistic heroism tells him the stage is not his own life goals. Therefore, he makes a decision to intrude enemy camp by himself, not only saving his own friend Sergeant James Barnes, but also the other solider who are captured in it. Through many victory fights, his individualistic heroism has shown vividly. At the end of the movie, Johann Schmidt said to Steve, “You could have the power of the gods, yet you wear a flag on your chest, think you fight a battle of nations. I have seen the future, captain!” While Steve answered that, “There are no flags, not my future!” In the final, the leader of the red skull is defeat by Captain America, which fully embodies that Captain America is fighting for justice, as well as happiness. It contains the human democratic thinking to society for human and a concentrated expression of American culture.

In summary, in the movie Captain America, the protagonist Steve Rogers’s courage, his own self-centered mind and sense of justice, even more the World War Ⅱall reflected individualistic heroism in the movie vividly. Captain America is not only a successful commercial film, but also contains the pursuit of individual value. Although the major background in the movie is the war. The movie reflects traditional culture in America and the value of individualistic heroism (Wao Weihua and Xu Jiangang, 2012: 90).

5. Conclusion

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