Cross-Cultural Reconstruction of Shang Aesthetics in Creation of the Gods I under the Dual Perspectives of Film and Translation Aesthetics

Abstract

Taking Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms as the research object, this study examines how Shang Dynasty aesthetics is reconstructed through both cinematic imagery and subtitle translation from the integrated perspective of film aesthetics and translation aesthetics. At the image level, the film draws on archaeological materials and historical documents to visualize the aesthetic characteristics of the Shang Dynasty—such as reverence for white, martial spirit, and ritual propriety—through six dimensions of audiovisual design: military affairs, script, costume, music, ritual vessels, and architecture. These are materialized into visual symbols including military formations, oracle bone inscriptions, costume colors, ritual music systems, bronze decorations, and palatial architecture. At the subtitle level, this study applies Liu Miqing’s theory of aesthetic reproduction in translation, Xu Yuanchong’s “three beauties” principle, and Wang Yu’s dual objectives of “cultural imagery reproduction” and “artistic effect reproduction” to analyze the English translation strategies for key cultural terms such as divinatory terminology, the concept of “heaven’s punishment” and father-son ethical maxims. By further integrating multimodal subtitle theory and cross-cultural communication theory, this study discusses the complementary relationship between image and subtitle in the encoding and decoding processes, as well as the risk of “cultural discount”. The research argues that through the dual reconstruction of Shang Dynasty aesthetics, Creation of the Gods I provides a valuable path for cinematic expression of ancient Chinese civilization and cross-cultural communication, while also exposing tendencies toward simplification and “self-Orientalization”.