Discourse Analysis Of "Beautiful Body" In The Era Of Media Integration ——With The Example Of Sina Microblog Of People's Daily

With the example of the official account of Sina Microblog(Weibo)of People's Daily,this study aims to make a reflexive discourse analysis of the views on body aesthetics in China,with a focus on the epidemic obsession of the "beauty paradigms" of body along the long march of China's mainstream media towards "in-depth integration of media development" in the era of social media.In the first place,a literature review is conducted as the notion of "body" enters the research fields of aesthetics,of communication,and of mass communication respectively.Following this path of development,human body has witnessed its abdication of subjectivity,and the objectification of itself in aesthetic experiences,along which way the complex and noble values attached to classical body aesthetics have been roughly reduced to the instant pleasure to the eyes.In the rising consumer society,the "standardization" of the beauty of body is championed by multiple industries for the purpose of capital proliferation through the manufacturing and selling of pleasing "beauty paradigms",which is often accompanied by the prominent feature of "male gaze",etc..According to the varying focuses on the value of body in different times,a trichotomy is proposed to facilitate the discussion,namely:functional(physiological)value,aesthetic(spiritual)value,and visual value.The last one can been seen as the link between the former two,as it is perceived based on physiological characteristics to obtain short-term spiritual satisfaction.The distinction between the aesthetic and the visual value is particularly made to address the modern manipulation of the body aesthetic views by various forces to serve purposes other than the wellbeing of human or the body,a common phenomenon in today's society that may be well defined as the "alienation" of body aesthetics.Rising along with the mass media is the overemphasis of the visual value of the body that comes at the price of the recession of the other two,which is in a way the answer to the dilution of the seriousness of news.Next,an overview is provided on the present landscape of the "beautiful body" in the era of media integration,outlining the development of the popular symbol from its emergence to its contemporary representations.The abuse of the popular symbol and its hidden worries are revealed and analyzed.The study observes that the image of "beautiful body" as hotly pursued today can find its root in the rich history of visual centrism in ancient Greek philosophy.It has officially emerged from the modern shift to visual culture,and has largely expanded its circle of influence along with the rising tide of media integration.In the age of new media,the symbol of "beautiful body" often speaks for strong media traffic,which is critical for any media or content to gain value on online platforms in the first place.With the increasing representations of the "beautiful body" in the current media landscape,the symbol is unleashing more and more potential to discipline the practices of individual bodies.Third,the study takes a closer look at the discourse organized around the popular "standards"of the "beautiful body" with the case of the official Microblog account of People's Daily,one of China's mainstream media famous for its brand of news commentary.After a preliminary search,the study targets the search term "thin"(“?”as in Chinese)and collected all posts containing the keyword since the launch of the account to build a small database of 226 valid texts.Several articles of comment linked to the 135-word posts are also analyzed to get a deeper knowledge of the media's basic position on the issue of the beauty of the body.Results show that the views as reflected from the texts are not entirely consistent with one another.On the one hand,People's Daily warns against inappropriate practices to gain thinness with the aim of directing the related discussion of "thinness"towards wholesomeness.One the other hand,however,the content of fitness,healthy diet,etc.is increasingly championed by their immediate effect to lose weight and to "beautify" the body,showing strong suggestion that the possession of a visually beautiful body somehow paves the way to a beautiful life.The myth of the beautiful body is entangled with the narrative of the success of life,a faith further strengthened by reports of personal stories of real-life "counter-attacks" realized through losing weight.Finally,three suggestions are given with the aim to foster more inclusive and wholesome context of body aesthetics discourse.First,firmly stand for the aesthetic value of body that features"health" at its core and "diversity" from its surface,and eliminate all expressions that may have suggested otherwise.Second,innovate the idea of in-depth media integration.It is necessary to produce "integrated" media content that allow full play to the form of words,images and videos at the same time,where "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts".Third,ride on the wind of the public's unprecedented enthusiasm for the aesthetic views reflected from Olympics and traditional Chinese culture,so as to encourage a more diversified,rational and wholesome national view on what,why,and how the body can be beautiful.