A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Lingnan Cultural Promotional Videos on Social Media

In recent years,more and more directors of culture and tourism have taken part in the promotion of local cultural tourism by cross-dressing,talent shows,and pushing their limits on self-media platforms.This study investigates short videos of Lingnan culture promoted by directors general and deputy directors general of the Culture,Radio,Television,Tourism,and Sports Bureau of counties and cities in Guangdong Province on social media by the method of multimodal critical discourse analysis.The analysis of 33 videos shows that Lingnan culture is a domineering and confident culture,historical culture,graceful and elegant culture,and vibrant and active culture.Domineering and confident culture is embedded in the utterances and behaviors of the directors general or deputy directors general in the video.Historical culture is realized through the conversation with historical figures through time travel.Graceful and elegant culture is constructed in the depiction of sceneries and the depiction of characters’manners.Vibrant and active culture is represented in the depiction of the characters’actional process and analytical process.

The Media Images of Old Influencers on TikTok:A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis

Drawing on the insights from multimodal critical discourse analysis,this study mainly focuses on two super-gerontic celebrities by selecting 60 videos to elucidate how their images are represented through linguistic(e.g.,captions,and hashtags)and other semiotic resources(e.g.,accessories,semiotic tools,and etc.).The findings suggest that images of the old celebrities are characterized as being attractive,wise,stylish,healthy and young,indicating that they are breaking up the stereotypical images of old people who are unattractive,dependent and senile.The phenomenon of old influencers making themselves visible on the social media suggests that they are moving towards successful aging with the backdrop of aging society in China.This present study suggests that multimodal construction of old celebrities can inform relevant practice to combat ageism in the media and helps to empower the old people in the media discourse.In doing so,the pedagogical implication of present study lies in its education about how we view aging in the aging society.

Oil as narcotic or as medicine:the DISEASE metaphor in political cartoons on energy crisis

The present paper explores how the issue of the current energy crisis in the wake of the Covid-19 and Ukraine war was constructed by political cartoons.Adopting Critical Multimodal Metaphor Scenario Analysis,this paper focuses on the DISEASE metaphor scenario,one of the most recurring scenarios in political cartoons on this topic,and specifically emphasizes how the METHOD OF TREATMENT,one of the structural elements in the scenario,is represented.The analysis reveals that two predominant scenarios cOnstitute the representations of the METHOD OF TREATMENT:NARCOTIC Scenario and MEDICINE scenario.They differ in entailments:one frames fossil energy as detrimental narcotic while the other frames it as therapeutic medicine.By means of the two scenarios,these cartoons convey strong criticism of the major involvers in the energy crisis,namely,the E.U.,Russia,and the U.S.The cartoons make full use of the dynamic interplay of visual and/or verbal metonymy,metaphor,and narrative to elicit associations,assumptions and evaluations in the viewers,helping facilitate understanding and constructing a view of the crisis reality.The present analysis sheds light on the way cartoonists reshape the public point of view in the framing of specific event(s).