A Rhetorical Analysis On Zhang Yimou’s Impression Series

"Impression Series" is a newly-appeared artistic form in recent years and is setting its foot on the land of China. Many experts in this field are competing with each other in creating similar artistic forms. However, only Impression Series survives at last, and is still developing. This is the basic background of the present study.Much domestic research has discussed this topic from the aspects of economy, politics, culture, tourism, art, and even environmental protection. By virtue of many reasons, none of the research is focused on the perspective of Western Rhetoric, and this is the external factor which prompts this paper.Traditionally speaking, rhetoric is equal to "the art of speaking" and "the art of persuasion." This definition sounds as if rhetoric concerned only the use of language. In fact, it adopts and deals with nonverbal symbolic means as well. Contemporary rhetoric widens the scope of the term "symbol", covering all verbal and nonverbal signs and marks."Impression Series" as an artistic form, produces its effects primarily through non-verbal symbolic means and hence could be rhetorically analyzed. If its success could be interpreted in rhetorical terms, the directors and the audiences would both benefit.Both the definition and essence of rhetoric tell the fact that the relationship between rhetor and audience is one of the most important conceptions of rhetoric. Actually, any rhetorical event stems from the interaction between the rhetor and audience. Essentially speaking, the relationship of directors and the audiences of "Impression Series" is a unique and typical rhetor/audience one. Based on this point, this paper mainly discusses how the directors of "Impression Series" try to persuade the audiences on the one hand by verbal symbolic means (referring to the traditional "exerting pressure" way), and how they adapt themselves to the audiences by nonverbal symbolic means (mainly referring to Burke’s "identification" strategy). A combination of both efforts wins them the trust among the audiences. On the basis of the analysis, the present study exposes a relationship between the manipulating rhetors and the manipulated audiences. It also takes Impression Dahongpao as a representative case for a rhetorical interpretation of the series as a whole. In the light of Western rhetorical theory and practice, the thesis adopts the methodologies of description, induction, horizontal/vertical, diachronic/synchronic approaches. It concludes that making good use of rhetorical resources and strategies explains, to a significant extent, the good artistic effect achieved by the Impression Series, and that enhancing rhetorical consciousness of both the directors and the audience would contribute to the further development of this new form of performing arts in China.