This thesis analyzes the evolution of Chinese images from the point of ideology. And ideology is a set of conscious and unconscious ideas that constitute one’s goals, expectations and actions, and also a way of looking at things in several philosophical tendencies. The essay will be analyzed from the perspective of Edward W. Said’s Orientalism. This research vows to help Chinese learn about the tendency towards and the factors that contribute to the evolution of Chinese images in Hollywood movies, thus taking measures to help establish a good Chinese image.

After the introduction part, literature review will talk about theoretical basis, the importance of Orientalism in studying Chinese images in Hollywood movies, previous studies about Chinese images and problems remaining to be solved. Then, an analysis of the evolution of Chinese images in Hollywood movies will be presented. After-words, factors that contribute to this tendency will be illustrated. At last, the overall evolution of Chinese images in Hollywood will be summarized. And suggestions to help establish a good Chinese image will be put forward.源-自/优尔+,论^文'网]www.youerw.com

.2. Literature Review

Edward W. Said’s Orientalism treats western and eastern culture differently and neglects the association between the two cultures. And the concept that the west is superior while the east is inferior is widely accepted, which indicates cultural hegemony and power politics. Therefore, Orientalism regards the orient as a way for the occident to control, rebuild the orient (Said, 1999: 8).

Generally speaking, the orient created by the west is definitely not objective. It is somewhat orientalized by the west. Orientalism means the imposition of western value system on the orient in the western imagination. The west is rational and logical while the orient is on the contrary. The orient is the substitute for western power and desire. Therefore, in face of western cultural hegemony, the orient is in a state of aphasia and expressed by others. As a result, Chinese images in Hollywood movies are distorted to some degree. Since the study of orientalism has an obvious tendency towards the analysis of ideology and criticism of power and it studies the “exotic other” created by western discourse and the imaginary lie created by the west, Orientalism is a good entry point to explain western power relations against orient under Orientalism discourse system by means of analyzing the evolution of Chinese images in Hollywood movies from the perspective of ideology.

At present, many domestic scholars analyze different Chinese images in Hollywood movies. Two kinds of critiques are often employed, namely, journalistic appraisement and academic critics. And most of the studies about Chinese images are limited to specific periods in Chinese history and specific groups in Hollywood movies. For instance, The Other Looks: Interrogating Chineseness in Hollywood Cinema 1980~1999 by Li Yufeng discusses about Chinese images, discourse mechanism behind the scene and his questions about culture during this period from the perspective of the post colonialism. And The Image of The Other: Chinese Women in Hollywood Films by Sun Meng explores the features of the evolution of Chinese female images and their relationships with the time, culture, environment and history by analyzing Chinese female images from the end of the 19th century.