Building Own National Image By Videos-Comparative Analysis Between Chinese And American National Publicity Videos

The national image is an important part of a country’s "soft power", it reflects theinfluence of the nation. In the recent era, competition in national’s image has been thefocus among countries, whose significance and usage has been expanded andemphasized. This dissertation, based on propaganda video clips of both People’sRepublic of China and the United Sated, tries to analyze how to create national image inperspective of content analysis. Also based on the result of analysis, some advice tocreate national image of China has been proposed.This dissertation is made up of six parts. Introduction will explains researchbackground, related problems, aim of research and detailed methodology. The secondpart focused on re-definition of national image from its three dimensions includingdiplomatic national image, media national image and public national image, in order tointroduce three forms of creating national image: building by external media, thenational media and both. Also it suggests the importance of video communication increating media national image. The third part considers three essentials in creatingnational image: soft power of media, national culture and globalization. This partcompares the US with China in aspects of their soft power in media and dominantculture to analyze the importance and necessity of creating national image in the era ofglobalization. The fourth and the fifth part is the main part, which analyze the twovideos China’s national publicity film_character articles and Welcome: Portraits ofAmerica. Relying on Roland Barthes’s theory two semiological systems this partanalyze both express meaning and implicit meaning of these two propaganda videos todefine national images of these two countries and analyze the paradigm from culture,the demands of the Role Orientation and performance practices. The final part suggestsan appropriate way to create national image is to strengthen media power via videocommunication and to develop its own dominant culture based on its own position.