An Intertextual Exploration Into Chinese And English Cosmetic Advertisements

This thesis analyses Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements from the perspective of intertextuality.The term "intertextuality" was first proposed in 1960s by French semiologist,Julia Kristeva.It refers to the connection between different discourses.Since it was first put forward,numerous scholars pay their attention to it.Their studies can be divided into two fields:literary field and non-literary one.This paper mainly involves its non-literary aspects.With the current improvement of quality of life,people’s pursuits to beauty have also enhanced.Therefore,the flourishing of cosmetic industry is inevitable.Many cosmetic brands appeared.Given this,the design of advertisements is vital to the promotion of products.To arouse customer’s attention,advertisement must convey more convincing information in a short time.Therefore,its text form must be diversified.For this reason,intertextuality can be comprehensively found in advertisement and its proper use adds bonus points for ads.This thesis is based on Han Jinlong’s classification of intertextuality into specific intertextuality,generic intertextuality and cultural intertextuality,which was taken as its theoretical framework to analyze Chinese and English advertisements that have typical intertextual features.The data were collected from famous fashion magazines,Rayli and Vogue.Through tentative quantitative study,we explore the distribution of different types of intertextualities in Chinese and English cosmetic ads.Moreover,the qualitative analysis will also be given to find out the forms and pragmatic functions of intertextuality in Chinese and English advertisements.In addition to this,its operating mechanism,which means how it worked in advertisements are involved.Through the analysis and discussion,the paper demonstrates that there is no significant difference between the specific techniques,distribution of the three types of intertextuality in Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements.However,the various intertextual techniques are slightly different between Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements.Besides,the quantitative analysis also suggests that the intertextual techniques are frequently used in advertisements and the generic intertextuality is used most frequently.However,the specific intertextuality and cultural intertextuality are less applied in both English and Chinese advertisements,which are quite different from the distribution of intertextuality in other kinds’of advertisements,such as food ads.In food ads,the specific intertextuality is used more often.Through qualitative studies,the thesis finds that various kinds of intertextual techniques are frequently used in both Chinese and English cosmetic ads,such as the quotation of testimonials,information achievement and conversational genre.And intertextuality plays a significant role in arousing reader’s attention,improving the value of memory and increasing the quality of artistry.In the meantime,it also contributes to the propagation of advertisement,enhances the power of persuasion and enriches the forms of advertisements.The study not only offers a new perspective to analysis of advertisements,but suggests the customers to obtain a better understanding of numerous ads.Moreover,admen are inspired to design a successful ad,and the translator can take advantage the knowledge of it to translate ads.In addition,the introduction of intertextuality into language teaching may help students better understand the relations between texts.It is sincerely hoped that this study will invoke further research and exploration of Chinese and English advertisements from the angle of intertextuality and other perspectives.