A Multimodal Discourse Analysis Of City Identity Construction

With the continuous development of information technology,the way people accept information is no longer limited to verbal mode.Information is presented in multimodal form such as sound,image,color and so on.Multimodality plays an increasingly important role in meaning construction,which also greatly enriches the communicative mode and semantic expression of language.In this context,multimodal discourse analysis provides a new research perspective for city identity construction.Visual narrative theory is the latest development of multimodal discourse analysis.Based on Kress & van Leeuwen’s single image analysis framework,it proposes a meta-functional framework for systematic analysis which is composed of multiple images.This thesis takes multimodal discourse analysis as the research perspective,relies on visual narrative and intersemiotic complementarity as the theoretical basis and takes the video of Beijing 2022 Representation of Pyeongchang Winter Olympics as the research object,focusing on solving the following three questions: 1.What are the multimodal features in the video of Beijing 2022 Representation of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics? 2.What kinds of city identities of Beijing do these multimodal features construct? 3.What are the social functions of such city identities?The research results show that:(1)the video of Beijing 2022 Representation of Pyeongchang Winter Olympics mainly uses visual mode,auditory mode and verbal mode.The combination of images and verbal words clearly expresses the core points of this video.The reasonable using and matching of images and colors not only highlights the theme of ice and snow,but also shows a festive and vibrant atmosphere.The combination of images and music makes the atmosphere livelier and real-time commentary enables the audience to better understand the expressed meaning,the conveyed emotion and the transmitted culture of the image.(2)From the four aspects of capital city,international city,cultural city and livable city,these multimodal features have constructed Beijing’s new city identity,namely the world city.The rapid development of science and technology has further enhanced Beijing’s international exchanges;the unique oriental culture has made Beijing occupy a commanding height in culture;paying attention to the development of environmental protection and developing convenient living facilities make Beijing more livable.From the two aspects of material construction and spiritual and cultural construction,the identity of an international sports center city is also constructed.Beijing’s sports industry is developed and Beijing often holds influential international sports events;sports venues and equipment facilities are developed;sports are integrated into the lives of citizens and Beijing has a good sports atmosphere.(3)While building Beijing’s city identities,these multimodal features also present a different image of China to the world.The content enriches the internality of the national image,and the city identity is an important part of the national image;the form enhances the acceptance of the national image,and multimodal visual culture brings a more intuitive aesthetic experience;the communication promotes the influence of the national image and promotes the integration of national and international culture.This study puts the theory of visual narratives and intersemiotic complementarity into practice and analyzes the city identity construction in the video of Beijing 2022 Representation of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics,which provides a multimodal perspective for city identity construction.At the same time,this thesis provides a new appreciative perspective for the video of Beijing 2022 Representation of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and helps to improve the viewers’ dynamic video reading ability.