Released in 2009, the Hollywood film 2012 embodies the deep concern for human beings’ past and future. It has a tremendous impact on the world disaster films because the glaring scenario settings look so real that audiences believe they have experienced the disasters in person. Audiences are addicted to this kind of destructive film; thus the directors from other countries begin to follow and make more disaster movies. 

Domestic disaster movies can be numbered. The disaster movie Super Typhoon takes “Saomai” landed in Wenzhou in 2006 as the prototype. The blizzard, happened in 2008 has left a deep impression on people’s mind. This blizzard also shocks the hearts of literary and art workers, so the movie The Next 11 Days is produced. Wenchuan Earthquak in 2008 also brought back the Chinese memories of Tangshan earthquake in 1976, in which many Tangshan people lost their families. All things there were in a mess. People who could not save their children would live with self-accusation and compunction in the rest of their life. That is what Aftershock is about!

2. Literature Review源'自:751]'论-文'网"]www.751com.cn

Disaster films attract the audiences. At the same time, they also trigger the scholars’ interest to make a further study. Both domestic and foreign scholars have written research papers on disaster movies. 

Tang Jinxian, from Southwest University of Science and Technology, wrote an essay about Aftershock: “The movie is moving because of the kinship it presented; the movie is touching because of motherhood it depicted. I think the deep affection between family members is unforgettable. To those who survived the earthquake, it is also a test for their bravery and perseverance.” (Tang Jinxian, 2011: 32) Wang Hui of Nanjing University once expressed his view about Chinese disaster films. He thought Chinese are not good at producing prophetic and warning science fiction disaster movies because the technology of visual effects in China is limited. Besides, the disaster consciousness expressed in disaster films is not consistent with the Chinese view of pursuing peace and stability. Chinese disaster films are, basically, depiction of the disasters that have happened in the past. 

The studies of disaster films, especially of the Hollywood disaster films have started since long time ago. Disaster films in the United States have a long history. Some disaster films usually render soul-stirring disasters so as to stimulate the audience’s sense of fear. And others preach irrational region. As the studies of films grow more and more mature, foreign scholars tend to study and analyze the disaster films. American scholar Vyalkovo compared disaster films to the bugs in the carpet. According to him, the disaster movie has appeared for a long time and has formed a formula of its own. It should be treated as a genre of film rather than a flashing trend. Moreover, Northrop Frye, a famous cultural critic, explained the reason why so many people are crazy about disaster films. In his book, The Great Code, he wrote, “In human’s subconscious, there always exists the thought of doomsday, which either in the form of the fallen apart of the sky and earth, or in the form of the disaster caused by biochemical wars.”(Frye, 2002: 18)