A Cultural Comparative Analysis Of Chinese And American Automobile Advertisements From The Perspective Of Receptional Aesthetics

The concept of Receptional Aesthetics was jointly put forward by German literary aestheticians,literary historians Jauss and Iser.The theory emphasizes reader-oriented,realizes the conversion from text to reader and highlights the reader’s subjective position.The Receptional Aesthetic theory mainly includes implied readers,horizon of expectations,fusion of horizon,response-inviting structure,etc.At present,Receptional Aesthetics has been applied in many fields such as cross-culture study,translation linguistics and literature,which actually is also used in advertisement.As an important part of advertisement,automobile advertisements are endowed with specific cultural connotation to some extent,conveying certain aesthetic culture and cultural values while delivering product information.The advertisement has a text response-inviting function,and consumers are expected to accept the advertisement text;focusing on the target audience,that is,implied readers,in order to satisfy the consumer’s aesthetic expectations and stimulate the desire to purchase the product.Owing to the different social and cultural environments in which different implied readers are,there are differences in their aesthetic expectations for the same product advertisement texts.A comparative study of automobile advertisement from the perspective of Receptional Aesthetics will help to enhance the influence of automotive products,increase consumers’ recognition and cause aesthetic resonance.The paper consists of six parts.The first part is the introduction,including research background,research significance and research structure.And then,the following part,the literature review,illustrates the origin,application and development of Receptional Aesthetics and puts forward the research trend and significance.The third part is the theoretical framework,which mainly expounds several important theories of Receptional Aesthetics: horizon of expectations,implied readers,fusion of horizon and response-inviting structure.The fourth and the fifth parts are the main body of the thesis.First of all,it analyzes the collected advertisements from the perspectives of horizon of expectations,implied readers,fusion of horizon and response-inviting structure,and uses the cultural exposition,critical reading and comparative analysis methods to identify the cultural difference between Chinese and American automobile advertisements.Then,the fifth part explores Chinese and American automobile advertisements from the political,economic,and social aspects,and analyzes the reasons for these cultural differences.Finally,it summarizes the main research findings and limitations of the paper.Studies have shown that the cultural differences between China and the United States lead to aesthetic differences in automobile advertisements and the advertising text should take into account the expectations of the target audience,aesthetic psychology and other factors.The conclusion puts forward the practical significance of the research to automobile advertising design and provides reference to the Chinese automobile companies that make efforts to expand the overseas markets.