A Study of Animal Imagery in Chinese Cinema (1930–1949)

Rooted in traditional Chinese culture, animal imagery in early Chinese cinema served as a crucial vehicle for conveying national consciousness. Such imagery played a significant role in character construction, depiction of living conditions, and manifestation of the national spirit. Focusing on film production between the 1930s and 1940s, this paper explores how animal images were presented, what narrative functions they performed, and what values they embodied. Within the historical contexts of national salvation and class critique, progressive filmmakers invested animal figures with social and political appeals, turning them into visual-rhetorical tools for moral judgment, political allegory, and value orientation. These practices vividly demonstrate the deep interaction between artistic creation and ideological expression, underscoring the artistic tradition of “literature as a vehicle for moral instruction” and the social commitment of early Chinese cinema.