Multimodal Narration and Cross-cultural Communication of Taoist Philosophy: A Case Study of Thai-language Poster for Television Series “Legend of Laozi”
Keywords:
Multimodal discourse analysis (MDA), Poster media, Taoist philosophy, Laozi, Cross-cultural communicationAbstract
This article studies characteristic discourse in the Thai-language poster for the popular Chinese television series “The Legend of Laozi”, broadcast in Thailand in 2017 and garnered a substantial audience, according to systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and multimodal discourse analysis (MDA). Metafunctional meaning of discourse is also considered with five levels of linguistic and visual semiotics: (1) cultural context; (2) situation; (3) semantics; (4) form; and (5) media.
Results are that MDA of Thai language poster is mainly based on linguistic and visual modes, integrating colors, images, and texts, to express the original series ideology, cultural background, and situations. In addition to moderating the series core content, the poster image used visuals to convey wisdom from the Tao Te Ching to Thai audiences. Therefore, this multimodal narrative communication effectively transmitted the essence of Taoist philosophy and provided a model for international cross-cultural communication, promoting cultural exchange and mutual learning between China and Thailand.
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