The Consequences of Modernization in Chinese Urban Films Chinas rapid economic growth has brought it higher and higher

on the worlds economic and influential power scale. The fact that prosperity and modernization have benefited the nation is undeniable, but every nation that successfully crosses the line from a developing nation to a world power pays a valuable cost for the transformation. Chinas film industry has not left this unnoticed, especially with the growing portfolio of work from sixth generation filmmakers who often focus on modernism with an emphasis on realism rather than romanticism. My paper focuses on how two of these directors reconstruct and reflect upon Chinas unprecedented social transformation through their films and how their subtly different approaches to social problems have led to different cinematic styles and narrative politics. Zhang Yangs 1991 film Shower deals directly with modernization and the loss of tradition and the past. Shower is set in Beijing and revolves around the impending destruction of a traditional bathhouse and the old community that surrounds it in order to make space for more modern buildings and communities. Zhang compares the loss of the old buildings and the acceptance of change to that of the natural cycle of life and death, with the bathhouse owners death symbolizing the end of tradition. However, toward the end of the film the bathhouse owners oldest son, who has returned from his life in the city, grows to appreciate the traditions and the simplicity of the old neighborhood. His change raises the point that modernization, or change in general, is a natural occurrence but cannot and should not be impeded. Zhang seems to suggest that even though the artifacts of the past can be destroyed, the memories, lessons, and traditions do not have to be forgotten. In contrast to Zhangs emphasis on the inevitability of modernism, Jia Zhangke presents the hardships of an urban society through his 2004 film The World. The film is set in the Beijing World Park and focuses on the lives of workers who live with low wages and social and economic immobility. The reality of their lives is far from the grand performance they put on as international citizens on the stage of the theme park filled with artificial world sites. They certainly do not lack the ability to dream for bigger futures, but they are unfortunately left behind as the world continues to advance without them. The World, like Shower, does not deny that modernization has its benefits, but speaks for the population that does not get to reap the prosperity of modernization and is instead suffering by the increasing gap between the dream of joining the prosperous urban society and the reality of their low economic status. As Shower accepts development and change and The World depicts inequalities and issues in order to get noticed, the path of advancement can be altered to deal with the negative consequences of modernism.