Research on the cultural representation and international narrative process of Chinese rural images

As an important form of artistic expression, film plays a key role in guiding and disseminating values. In recent years, Chinese films have consistently assumed the crucial function of "going out" and representing Chinese culture. In the new era, they have entered a stage of robust development, achieving leapfrog progress in various aspects. However, amid the increasingly fierce competition in the international film industry, Chinese films are confronted with a communication status of being "cold outside and hot inside." In this context, the rural image, as a significant genre representative of Chinese films, has been somewhat neglected in both the internationalization of its creative techniques and its importance in the process of cross-cultural communication. Like a cultural gene flowing in the blood of the Chinese nation, rural images traverse the changing times and social development, gradually becoming a collective memory and cultural representation. Contemporary rural image creation not only continues and reforms Chinese local culture but also adeptly utilizes international narrative means in terms of image creation techniques. This forms an image style with both the atmosphere of Chinese local culture and the distinctive characteristics of Oriental living. This paper explores the history of rural image formation, the evolution of rural image forms in the new century, and the internationalization of contemporary rural images. It analyzes the representation connotation of Chinese rural image culture and the international narrative process, re-examining the value of rural images in the cross-cultural communication process of Chinese films "going out."