A Study On Micro-narrative Mechanism Of Thematic Discourse Construction In Character Documentaries

Documentaries is an art form which selects materials from real life and combinates audio and vision to represent events in real time and space.Through the joint action of the cameras,the directors and the subjects,documentary realizes the hidden discourse production.With the continuous enrichment of video expression,the discourses of documentaries gradually presents various forms,such as thematic discourse,elite discourse,public discourse and etc.The thematic discourse therein has the function of guiding society’s mainstream ideology.In the background of social transformation,the rational participation of audience is becoming an obvious trend.The questions of what kinds of discourses documentaries use to tell stories,how to express mainstream issues,how to change the audiences from passive reception to active acceptance have been challenging the traditional concepts of creation.Using the theory of discourse analysis,the article focuses on the thematic discourse expression of character documentaries and attempts to understand the macro structures and micro meanings of the documentaries’ discourses.Taking the graduation work and a representative sample of documentaries as the research objects,the article introduces the micro-narrative strategies to the discourse analysis of documentaries.By the analysis of thematic contexts,narrative perspectives and discourse roles in documentaries,the article is dedicated to discussing the discourse construction mechanism of micro-narratives.Observing the performance of documentaries’ images,voices and edits,the article tries to explore the presentation of micro-narrative aesthetics in character documentaries.Integrating the analysis of discourses and aesthetics,the article summarizes the methods of telling Chinese stories at the micro-level and the“Chinese Dream”of ordinary people,expecting to put forward feasible suggestions for expressing the grand themes and presenting the era issues.The author’s graduation work bases on Su Zhijun who is the folk river chief in Guangzhou Chebei,takes the fifth anniversary of River Chief System as the era theme background and records his efforts in the areas of river managements,cultural conservation and voluntary public welfare.The documentary attempts to explore the methods of telling the mainstream theme stories well through the folk river chief,and explains the effect of the River Chief System policy implementation from the individual practice level.