Research On Documentary Picture Symbols And National Image Construction In 40 Years Of Reform And Opening-up

From 1978 to the present,the national appearance of China has changed dramatically in the past 40 years,and the national image of China has achieved a qualitative leap.Joseph Nye once put forward the concept of "soft power",and showed that the game between countries in the world today comes more from the competition of soft power such as culture,values and so on.As the core of soft power,"national image" occupies an important position.How to shape the national image in the rapid development of the integration era and show the face of China in the new era on the international stage has become a major strategic issue.The successful construction of the national image can not only enhance the international influence of the country but also play an important role in increasing the national self-confidence and bringing together the national centripetal force.Documentary,as a mass media,has natural advantages and benefits in constructing the national image.The most important feature of documentary is reality.It is more persuasive and credible to record the development of a country in different periods by documentary film.The documentary is based on the real life and takes the objective world as the object,but behind the real image is the expression of the subjective emotion,which is the embodiment of the creator's subjective initiative.Each lens not only shows the specific image of all aspects of social life to the audience,but also presents the hidden meaning and cultural connotation,as well as the national image reflected to the audience.The function of the symbol is used to express the meaning,the documentary creator uses the symbol to transmit the humanity connotation and the time value behind the image,and use screen symbols to record the development achievements in different fields of politics,economy and culture since China's reform and opening up so that the audience can feel the change of China's national image through documentary films of different subjects.This research is supported by the relevant semiotic theory.Through the analysis and interpretation of a large number of excellent domestic documentaries that have emerged in the past forty years,the author finds that there is a relationship between the national time background,the national image shaping and the picture symbols of documentary.The development background and policy situation of the country in different periods will affect the image of the country in politics,economy,culture and so on.In order to highlight its distinctive characteristics,when the documentary reflects and shapes the specific image of the country,the editors will choose the most representative symbols to encode.In the past 40 years,China's national image has undergone great changes.Documentaries of different historical developments and different subject types will choose different angles and use different symbols to encode the national image.Through the induction and research of these symbols,the author summarizes the characteristics of the three symbol types in the construction of the national image,and proves the positive constructive role played by specific symbols in presenting a certain aspect of the image of the country.The first chapter is mainly to define the related concepts involved in this paper and to sort out the theoretical basis of this study.It mainly includes the explanation and definition of the concepts of "symbol","documentary symbol" and "national image",as well as sorting out the semiotics theories of Saussure,Peirce,Barthes and Jakobson.In the second chapter,The author sorts out the development of documentary and the change of national image in the past 40 years of reform and opening up.The four decades from 1978 to 2018 are divided into four periods: the 1980 s,the 1990 s,2001-2010,and2011-present..Studying the characteristics of the development of the times,the form of documentary creation,the main representative works and the national image constructed by them.Finally,it is concluded that with the development of the times,China's national image has undergone a process of change in openness,secularity,tolerance and self-confidence.In the third chapter,the author first analyzes the construction of the national image from the perspective of the character symbol,which is divided into three sub-sections.Each section also specifically describes which character symbols are used to encode the documentary in the construction of the country's political,economic,and cultural images.Combined with specificexamples of documentaries,we conclude that historical figures,national leaders,and military personnel are selected as the main characters in the construction of political image;In the construction of economic image,we selected the contradictory individuals under the impact of transformation,financial figures,and the ordinary people who have the dream of becoming rich.;In the cultural image,the cultural ancients,masters and craftsmen are the symbols.The fourth chapter analyzes the national image from the point of view of scene symbols.Through watching a large number of documentary works,We conclude that in the past 40 years of reform and opening up,China's documentaries mainly choose Hong Kong and Macao SAR,build stadiums,grassroots reform windows to build a national political image.;When constructing an economic image,the main scene symbols include manufacturing companies in the early stage of reform,state-owned companies under institutional transformation,and smart factories led by innovation and technology.In addition,the documentaries chose ancient ruins,Chinese architecture,and civilized families as scene symbols to construct a national cultural image.The fifth chapter analyzes the creation of national image by props symbols,and summarizes the characteristics of props symbols in the construction of national politics,economy and culture images.It summarizes that the documentaries use military weapons,national imprints,and silk road facilities as props to construct the national political image;Constructing the national economic image with modern civilization products,national science and technology projects,and green energy manufacturing;In shaping the national cultural image,the editors chose the national treasure,the non-legacy art,and the Chinese diet for coding.