The Formation And Expression Of Meaning In TV-Ad Discourse From The Perspective Of Semiology

The consumer society is a social mode in human history, originating in the mid-twentieth century. Culturally speaking, the consumerist ideology speeds up the decomposing of meaning. The whole society is filled with signs and images. Rationality and reality, rationality and irrationality begin to fuse with each other. The subject about consumerism has also become a hot topic in academic community.Against such a consumerist socio-cultural context, with relevant theories of discourse analysis in semiology and film narratology, the thesis identifies TV-ad as a kind of discourse system in mass culture, and makes a fairly thorough analysis of it. It tries to showcase a signified process in TV-ad, during which meaning embodied in the pictures and cameras is formed and expressed, and also the ideological characteristic of consumerism infiltrated within.Based on the componential studies of ad-discourse by Guy Cook in The Discourse of Advertising and on the studies about picture arrangement and narrative rhythm in films and dramas by Hao Puning and Li Lifang in Image Narratology, the thesis describes the micro-structure of TV-ad discourse and analyzes each component of the micro-structure in details. Meanwhile, based on the myth-operation studies by Zeng Qingxiang in News Narratology, the thesis reveals the two-level signified process for meaning-formation in TV-ad discourse. Moreover, the thesis selects four wide-broadcasted, prevalent and creative Nokia TV-ads for case studies to reveal the essence in formation and expression of its brand meaning---"High-Tech with A Human Touch".It has been found out that the meaning-formation process of TV-ad discourse, characterized as"materialized, signified, and visualized", participates in"the overproduction of symbols"and"the reproduction of videos and imitations"of consumerism culture. Meanwhile, the expression-process possesses a typical consumerist characteristic. By means of the consumer-id-building in mass audience, it joins in the operation of consumerist culture and consumer society.The findings of the research contribute to improving the theoretical construction of ad-discourse in communication studies, by making it more objective and truthful representation of the signified process with formation and expression of meaning in TV-ad. They also help deepen people's understanding of certain media phenomena in a consumerist socio-cultural context, especially those negative factors and influences, and the construction of harmonious socialist culture. The research also brings valuable enlightenment for TV-ad practice.