A Multi-modal Approach To Discursive Construction Of City Identity

Identity research has attracted much attention of individuals, groups and communities in the context of globalization and changing time of the21st century, but the employment of Multi-modal Discourse Analysis on the research of city identity is of scarcity. With the video which consists of verbal language, image and sound of Xitang-one of the ancient water towns of southern China as its data, this study tries to answer the following three questions:(1) What meaning making strategies are used in terms of verbal language, image, and sound in this video?(2) What city cultural identity (identities) is (are) discursively constructed through the meaning making strategies?(3) What factors determine the emergence of this new type of identity (identities) of Xitang?In order to answer the first question, this thesis will help to analyze the verbal language with interpersonal meaning of Functional Grammar, mainly including mood, modality and person system; and then to analyze the two chosen images with the theory of interactive meaning of Visual Grammar which consists of contact, social distance and attitude; finally, with the assistance of film soundtrack analysis, this thesis will analyze the sound in the video.Mood and modality in verbal language analysis show the video assigns Xitang traditional local cultural fabrics including“廊棚小弄’’(small lanes),“灰墙墨顶”(black walls),“小桥流水’’(stone bridges),“美食”(delicious food),“童谣’’(nursery rhymes),“民俗”(traditional folk), and adds to them modern global culture factors including’‘风景"(beautiful scenery-the International Miss Tourism),“电影”(film-acted by Tom Cruise), and’‘浪漫”(romances). And the personal pronoun“你”(You) used evokes a conversational mood between Xitang and video viewers.Visual data analysis focuses on two images. The first image presents a long distance and "inequitable" position between viewers and the young woman in the picture, provoking the viewers to rethink about the question“你以为西塘就是小桥流水?”presented to them previously. The second image is related to the first one, it establishes an involvement, equality and solidarity social relations between the Korean traveler and viewers. The nationality of this Korean traveler shows the modern and global identity of Xitang. These two kinds of visual messages demonstrate the hybrid identity construction of Xitang.Background music in this video consists of traditional Chinese instruments including Lute, Pipa as well as Erhu and international modern music of tap dance. A sharp contrast between these two kinds of background music evokes the viewers’ awareness of cultural hybridity. The global electric tweedle, the the ambient sound of children’ laughter and local Yue Opera are combined together in the later part of this video to present the identities of traditional, local and modern, global culture mixture. Therefore, the video discursively assigns Xitang traditional and local identity characteristics as well as modern and global cultural traits.Factors contributing to these features are analyzed from the aspects of globalization and marketization.