ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how the silver screen reproduced knowledge and intellectuals in an era of unprecedented intellectual activism, and the cultural meaning it conveyed. Regarding the limited number of films about intellectuals and knowledge in the new period, they reveal different value orientations. There was no identification with intellectuals in terms of values, which is why Lu Wenting and Zhao Shuxin were portrayed as bent screen archetypes, but those seemingly glamorous intellectuals in later years, such as Zhao Yaoshun in The Troubleshooters, were instead the targets of mockery. However, pragmatically, the film shows the affirmation of knowledge. This is most evident in the relationship between youth and knowledge, which has become the label of the youth of the times. It is the knowledge that is linked to the youth’s desire to change their destiny. But, at this time, knowledge should more be embodied as a diploma, thus revealing a strong pragmatism in the pursuit of knowledge. But, when On Their Own announced the demise of the myth of the diploma, the myth of knowledge in the pragmatic sense was also bankrupt, as knowledge does not necessarily mean power. Not only is the fate of intellectuals being challenged, but the future of knowledge is also being tested at a time of sudden change, and the future of university students’ paths in life is, therefore, obscure.
