ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the mainstream values of society in the films of the 1980s. Films at that time not only depicted the different kinds of lives and social realities of China, as well as speaking to the mainstream values of society in the 1980s, but also broadened the space of imagination for the future of China after the Cultural Revolution. People’s living conditions during the 1980s can be observed in films where everyone strives to constantly learn and innovate, always pursuing the Four Modernizations and the national rejuvenation, creating a unique social space of the 1980s and providing an environment for the liberation of individuals and their freedoms. The pursuit of the freedom to love became a typical theme in films of the 1980s. More importantly, after the Cultural Revolution, Chinese people once again observed their own blind obedience and behaviors. They began to develop a more sober understanding of the servile tendencies deep in their hearts. It was because of these realizations that eliminating servility and establishing human powers of self-assessment characterized the main cultural trends of the 1980s.
