A Semiotic Study Of Nostalgia Reviving1930s Shanghai In Shanghai Vive (双妹) Advertising

Accompanied with the revival of traditional Chinese culture in recent years such asKunqu Opera craze is the revival of the culture of Republican Shanghai. Nostalgia asa social phenomenon has received much attention from both media and the academicworld. In fact, the emergence mechanism of nostalgia decides that it is the product ofglobalization and intercultural communication between the east and the west, the pastand the present. However, the study on Shanghai nostalgia still remains few, not tomention being approached from an intercultural communication perspective. That’swhy the author wants to take the initiative step in this field.Shanghai Vive (双妹), a cosmetic brand that enjoyed large popularity in RepublicanShanghai, holds back splash of attention when it reenters into market after overhalf-century’s silence. Despite that Republican Shanghai’s flavor is still traceablefrom the body of the two ladies in the new advertisement; the femininity seems to beintentionally effaced, quite different from the1930s version. What kind of socialmessage does this change carry?Intercultural communication, in this paper, does not mean communication betweenpeople of different groups at the same time; instead it is embodied in the changes offeatures in Shanghai Vive’s old and new advertisements and the interaction of the twocultures within. With semiotic analysis and power and nostalgia theory, the authorfinds that Shanghai people, especially Shanghai women are actually conducting anintercultural dialogue between the culture of the1930s Shanghai and thecontemporary culture and a dialogue between the east and the west during which theiridentity and mentality is gradually shaped accompanied with the flourishing ofconsumption society.