Violence aesthetics first appeared in the comments of the works of Hong Kong film director John Woo。 It originated from the United States violent films, and became mature in Hong Kong。 Quentin Tarantino and John Woo are two masters of violence aesthetics films。 论文网

With 20 years history of development, violence aesthetics has become mature and has been widely used。 It is not only used in films, but also in literature, cartoons, games, paintings and so on。 Chinese Nobel Laureate Mo Yan has numerous depictions of violence in his novels, such as Red Sorghum Clan, Big Breasts & Wide Hips and Sandalwood Death。 He uses aesthetics to depict violence, uses the form of violence to restore the truth of history and folk。 “Violence Aesthetics” can be a great spectacle in Mo Yan’s novel (Li, 2015)。 Apart from literature, the application of violence aesthetics in cartoons is also beyond count。 The representatives are Happy Three Friends, Black Lagoon and Black Rock Shooter, etc。。 Games like Prototype, Max Payne and Ninja Gaiden are very popular。 In the field of painting, Yang Shaobin’s Red Violence and Zhao Nengzhi’s Goost are modern works of violence aesthetics。 Violence aesthetics is widely used in different kinds of art forms, while the film is still the most direct and powerful carrier。 Therefore, this paper chooses films as the object of study。 

2。 Violence Aesthetics Films

 Violence aesthetics films use aesthetic techniques to beautify the bloody and violent scenes in the films, so as to make sure that the audience can accept the violent contents and thus appreciate the unique function of violence aesthetics in the film。 To better understand violence aesthetics films, the following part will introduce the definition of violence aesthetics and the development of violence aesthetics films。

2。1 Definition of Violence Aesthetics文献综述

When it comes to violence aesthetics, it should be stated that violence aesthetics and violence are two different concepts。 Violence is a much broader concept。 It can be pided into three types: self-directed violence, interpersonal violence and collective violence and violent acts can be physical, sexual, psychological and emotional。 In violence aesthetics films, the directors usually use aesthetic techniques to beautify those physical violent acts。 In order to clearly understand the relationship between violence aesthetics films and humanity, the definition of violence aesthetics should be stated firstly。 Hao Jian, associate professor of Beijing Film Academy, defines violence in “Violence of Aesthetics and Violence Aesthetics--New Theory of Attraction Montage” as follows: violence aesthetics has its conventionally specific meaning。 It mainly refers to the fact that the formalism taste for violence in films and works related with violence aesthetics have common characteristic--turning the violent or bloody things into a pure form of pleasure。 It mainly explores the sense of form of gun play, martial arts actions, killing or some other scenes of violence, and develops this form aesthetics into a glaring beauty, ignoring or weakening the social ethics and moral persuasion effects (Hao, 2002)。 This shows that violence aesthetics provides pure aesthetic judgments, and it makes violent scenes acceptable and appreciative for the audience。 Margaret Bruder states that the aestheticization of violence in film is the depiction of violence in a stylistically excessive, significant and sustained way in which audience members are able to connect references from the play of images and signs to artworks, genre conventions, cultural symbols, or concepts。 Directors use quick and awkward editing, canted framings, shock cuts, and slow motion, to emphasize the impacts of bullets or the spurting of blood。 She argues that aestheticized violence is not merely the excessive use of violence in a film (Margaret, 2004)。 Films such as the popular action film Die Hard 2 are very violent, but they do not fall into the category of aestheticized violence because it is not stylistically excessive in a significant and sustained way (Margaret, 2004)。 From the above statement, violence aesthetics can be understood as a kind of film language。 It uses aesthetic methods, poetic images, and even imaginary scenes to show the violent scenes。 The audience often marvel at the artistic forms of expression, and they don’t feel that uncomfortable with the violent contents。 While emphasizing violence, it also has aesthetic tendency and aesthetic purpose。 It should be stated that violence aesthetics is more than violence。 Because of its unique aesthetic function, violence aesthetics makes the contents of violent films less bloody and it also helps advocate the anti-violence theme。