Abstract In the past years, lots of disasters have happened in the world. These disasters touch people’s hearts. More and more people are concerned about the natural disasters and human’s future. Based on this kind of psychology, disaster movies 2012 and Aftershock were produced. From cultural perspective, this paper makes a contrastive study on the values of catastrophic movies 2012 and Aftershock, aiming to find out the cultural roots for the similar and different values reflected in the two movies. This research can undoubtedly help people from different cultures understand each other better. What’s more, this paper hopes to provide some new thoughts and enlightenments for the people troubled by the cross-cultural shocks.53668

Key words: disaster movies; 2012; Aftershock; values; similarities and differences

摘要近年来，我们的身边发生了很多的灾难。这些灾难牵动着人们的心弦。越来越多的人开始关注自然灾难和人类的未来。基于这样的心理，电影《2012》和《唐山大地震》产生了。论文从文化的角度对比两部中美灾难电影《2012》和《唐山大地震》，找出影片反映出的异同价值观，并探讨异同的文化根源。本论文能帮助中美人民更好地了解对方，为那些陷于跨文化冲击中的人们提供一些新思路和启示。

毕业论文关键词：灾难电影；《2012》；《唐山大地震》；价值观；异同

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Disaster Films 3

3.1 History of Disaster Films 3

3.2 Synopsis of 2012 and Aftershock 4

4. Similar Values Reflected in 2012 and Aftershock 5

4.1 Parents’ Love to Children 5

4.2 Family Concepts 6

4.3 Team Spirit 7

5. Different Values Reflected in 2012 and Aftershock 7

5.1 Future-oriented versus Past-oriented 7

5.2 Inpidualism versus Collectivism 8

5.3 Interests versus Righteousness 9

6. Conclusion 10

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

In recent years, tsunami, earthquake, floods, hurricanes and volcanic explosion have taken place all over the world frequently. The unusual weather and the emergence of new virus have made people pessimistic about the future. Faced with this situation, a lot of people are worried about the future. This situation has also prompted people to look for ways to express their concern about the living environment and to deal with the various natural disasters. People express their concern in multitudinous ways. Among them, the film, as an effective art form, can not be ignored. According to a research on the film made by Cai Shengqin, “… young adults spend nearly 50% of their leisure time watching films and videos. In the past one hundred years the films has become a vitally important part of contemporary culture, which is becoming increasingly started by visual media today. We are called to acknowledge and analyze our greatest sources of entertainment and information as they influence the warp and woof of our lives.” (Cai Shengqin, 2013: 1)

Disaster films, in a direct and intuitive way and with the astonishing sound and devastating scenes, give the audiences great psychological shock and arouse their concern about natural disasters throughout the world. The popularity of disaster films in recent years is not without reasons. Firstly disaster films are an objective reflection of people’s ecological consciousness. Secondly, disaster films are in agreement with the aesthetic needs of people. Among all the disaster films released recently, 2012 and Aftershock should be mentioned because they have caused the trend of the frenzy of disaster films.