ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how mainstream social values were constructed and conveyed through film characters in the 1980s, the era of reform when the voices of progress were echoed not only in the special zones and cities but also in the far-flung countryside. This chapter first concentrates on the screen image of reformers in the 1980s. This chapter also explores the all-round characteristics of young people in 1980s films. Similarly, the Chinese countryside in 1980s films serves as a testing ground for both spiritual and material progress. Benefiting from the household responsibility system that solves the issue of survival, the peasants start serious consideration of how to live. In the 1980s, when the belief that “tomorrow will be better” permeated the society, it was precisely the unpredictability of the future and the desire for a better tomorrow that opened up a space for an imagined China in literary and screen productions.
