Tony Stark in "Iron Man" is held hostage, but he is able to escape the desert with homemade armor while seriously injured and watched by militants. When Thor, the son of the main god in "Thor", was almost dying by the destroyer on earth, Mjolnir flew to his side again, and the deprived divine power was restored, and the dying Thor was revived. Superhero movies represented by "Captain America" highlight a kind of individual survival value, heroic characters are just the extreme embodiment of the self-existence of the American people, the fall of heroes may lead to the crisis of the country, and the demise of the individual means the end of the entire life, life is the premise of creating all value, death is also to make their life value more visible, but compared to death, American culture pays more attention to the meaning of life and the realization of personal value.
The ending of "Captain America" is gratifying to the audience, because no one wants to watch the heroes they worship turn into ashes, the appearance of heroes is the hope of citizen survival, and the hero does not die can add more security to the people's psychology. Steve's return in "Captain America" is destined to make it a legendary idol worshiped by the American public, while the nameless swordsman in "Heroes" will be forever lost in the long river of history, and the arrangement of one life and one death seems to be purely a movie need, but it is actually the result of cultural undercurrents.
Compared with the hopeful ending of "Captain America", the ending of the humanoid arrow mark in "Heroes" highlights the silence of death. In the second half of "Heroes", Nameless pressed the hilt of his sword against King Qin's waist and said: "This sword, the minister must stab, stab this sword, many people will die, and the great king will live, and the dead people ask the great king to remember the highest realm." When the broken sword proves its love for Feixue with death, and Feixue also responds with death, the heavy tone is accompanied by the yellow sand of the sky dancing in the wind, whether it is national hatred, family hatred or children's love, individual value is compressed to a minimum, die for lovers, die for the country, die for the world, the film focuses more on showing the tragedy and desolation at the glorious end of life.
The nameless revenge Xiaozhi is sublimated into a patriotic ambition at the end of the movie, and the sacrifice of the few in exchange for the peace of the majority is the general consensus under the influence of traditional Chinese culture. The heroes in China's early anti-Japanese war movies have this typical characteristic, the well-known Dong Cunrui and Huang Jiguang, the proud Liu Hulan, the tortured Jiang sister, and the five heroes of Langya Mountain who would rather die unyielding, etc., the heroic sacrifice of the character is the main object of praise, the value of the character who voluntarily gave up his life is infinitely amplified, and the value perception created by the dead is disseminated.
American-style heroes have the consciousness of taking the initiative to assume more responsibilities, and the realization of personal value and the assumption of social responsibility are often heroes in one, so living can better pursue the perfect unity of personal value and social value. Heidegger, the pioneer of contemporary Western existentialism, believed that death is a way of human existence, which shrouds, covers, and runs through the entire process of life, and determines the content, connotation, value and responsibility of life. For the understanding of death, Western culture represented by the United States generally regards it as a conventional existence as life, and the meaning of death is not necessarily greater than life, but whether it is life or death, the choice can maximize its own value is a common standard. The West emphasizes that all men are equal, and every individual is irreplaceable, so the perfection of the individual is the source of human survival, while China pays more attention to collective values, individual interests always give way to collective interests, small is to take care of the family, large is loyal to the country. From the perspective of the traditional Chinese Confucian concept of benevolence and righteousness, life and death emphasize whether they are in line with group attributes and ethical attributes, and whether they can meet the requirements of social responsibility. Chinese sees death as a link in the transition to life, where children and grandchildren are a clan chain, and "I" is a link in the chain of responsibility, which has a connecting effect.
The verse "Kill Xia Minghan, and the descendants" was not written out of thin air, and the slogan "for the advancement of new China" was not made up nonsense, the ancient precept of "Benevolent people with lofty ideals, do not seek survival to harm benevolence, kill oneself to become benevolent" ("Analects of Wei Linggong") has always indoctrinated future generations, and values such as benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and faith that transcend life have become more valued through death, which is also the expression purpose and cultural root of the capitalization of sacrifice in some Chinese film works.
Since ancient times, there has been no shortage of heroic characters and deeds, and it is not uncommon to resort to the expression of film form. Films born in different cultural backgrounds have strong cultural penetration and dependence, and this cultural factor is expressed through specific film scenes and details.
