Cultural Identity and Realistic Reflection: Commonalities and Differences in Chinese and Korean Disaster Movies

Abstract

Disaster movies, as a classic film genre, aim to present the essence of disasters and the brilliance of humanity through stunning audio-visual effects and a tragic aesthetic core. The commonality between Chinese and Korean disaster movies lies in their focus on "little people" within disasters, emphasizing "soft expression" of emotions and adopting parallel narratives and causal loops in their storytelling strategies. However, due to differences in the film industry systems and ideologies of the two countries, Chinese and Korean disaster movies diverge in thematic expression. Chinese disaster films often feature a strong national main theme and sentiments of patriotism and family, whereas Korean disaster films focus more on exposing human nature and reflecting on society. This paper will explore the commonalities and differences between Chinese and Korean disaster movies in terms of character development, narrative perspective, emotional presentation, and social values.