A Study On The Relationship Between Image Narrative Language And Spatiotemporal Expression In The Case Of The Dianshizhai Pictorial

As the bellwether pictorial in the late Qing dynasty,the Dianshizhai Pictorial owns various image narrative languages.From the perspective of types of image language,it can be classified as representational image language as it inherited basic patterns and techniques of traditional Chinese image language and drew lessons from artistic techniques of western images at that time.Language is the medium of narration.The abundant image language existing in the Dianshizhai Pictorial laid a material foundation for its successful image narration.Since narration is about time and space,narrative image can by no means recount or reappear events without spatiotemporal expression.Therefore,it highlights the two core elements in image narration or narrative image,namely image language and spatiotemporal expression.How do they work together to serve narrative expression?It is the seemingly self-evident relationship between language and spatiotemporal expression that leads to relevant disciplines' ignorance of their real relationship.This thesis manages to study their relationship from the cultural philosophy perspective because both language and spatiotemporal expression are human 's behavioral and existential modes and has profound cultural traits while language itself as the most profound and representative cultural symbol,can reflect people's thoughts,ideas and behaviors.Compared with language system,spatiotemporal expression is more dynamic and it is people's behavioral pattern with plenty of spatiotemporal thoughts and practices.Under the guidance of cultural philosophy,it can be easier to clarify the relationship between image language and spatiotemporal expression.At first,this thesis combs through the cultural context of image narration inthe Dianshizhai Pictorial,which is the common ground for image narrative language and spatiotemporal language in pictorials.Born with the urbanization of Shanghai and the emergence of urban mass culture in the late Qing dynasty,the Dianshizhai Pictorial itself in turn,participated in the mass culture building at that time.The revolution of time-space concept was one of features of urban mass culture in the late Qing dynasty and doubtlessly it impacted spatiotemporal expression.All of these can be demonstrated by pictorials' image language.To clarify the relationship between image narrative language and spatiotemporal expression in the Dianshizhai Pictorial,this thesis mainly uses methods of category analysis,textual close reading and image analysis.The image narrative language in pictorials includes basic morphemes and schemas.Besides,a great number of language characters in images also participate in image narration.Based on the temporal processing methods used in image narration of the Dianshizhai Pictorial,this thesis classifies the spatiotemporal expression as single temporal narration,mixed spatiotemporal narration and lasting multi-images narration.On the basis of combing through image narrative language and spatiotemporal expression in pictorials,this thesis finds that their relationship can be concluded as co-existence and interaction.Co-existence is summarized because image language exists as the medium of spatiotemporal expression while spatiotemporal expression as the rhetoric of image language.And interaction is mainly embodied by the mutual response between schema and spatio-temproal expression and between morphemes and schemas.If the co-existence and interactio between image narrative language and spatiotemporal expression is just a general relationship,this thesis believes that based on Linguistic Relativity,there is another particular one——linguistic relative relationship——in the Dianshizhai Pictorial image narrative language influence and affect thought and behavior(spatiotemporal thought and expression).Such influence can be divided into two aspects,thought and behavior,which are correspond to spatiotemporal expression and visual thinking as well as spatiotemporal expression practice in the late Qing dynasty respectively.In conclusion,as one of the cultural phenomena of the late Qing Dynasty,Dianshizhai Pictorial is,to some extent,a reflection of the conflict and blending of traditional Confucian culture with that of the western's.It shows that the subtle change,functioned as enlightening and reshaping,happened of the traditional Chinese concept of "the Union of Heaven and Man" which believes the hemispherical dome cosmology;and that the relationship between image narrative language and spatiotemporal expression is not only coexistence and interaction,but also linguistic relativity which underscores the significance in the aspect of cultural philosophy:image narrative language,as a symbol,is a a highly representative of culture,reflecting the cultural phenomenon behind the overall human,i.e.,somehow the inherent relationship between cultural form and society.