Abstract:

Recently, the mainstream media in China have launched several anti-COVID-19 documentaries that have been playing a very important role in transmitting positive Chinese stories, building up an anti-COVID-19 spirit, constructing a national discourse, and shaping national image. Therefore, relevant research on these anti-COVID-19 documentaries has gained more attention in academic circles. However, the existing research is mainly confined to the discipline of communication studies, with scant cross-disciplinary empirical research of the intrinsic discourse mechanisms of the construction and communication of an anti-COVID-19 spirit. To address this research gap, this research attempts to construct a working framework based on the analytical framework of the attitude subsystem (affect, judgment, and appreciation) of appraisal theory and the multimodal realization framework of attitudinal meaning to analyze the verbal resources and multimodal visual resources of The Frontline: China’s Fight against COVID-19, an English-language documentary launched by China Global Television Network. The main findings show that the documentary presents an aesthetic spirit of heroism, optimism, collectivism, and idealism. The judgment attitudinal attribute dominates the verbal resources, and affect appears the most frequently in the video resources, which echoes documentaries’ dual functions of cultivating ideal acceptance and sparking emotional resonance. In the era of media convergence, the transmission tactics of the documentary feature “affect-based” empathy communication and “all-media” targeted communication, serving as a conducive move in China’s international discourse formulation and national image shaping.

Keywords: anti-COVID-19 documentaries; anti-COVID-19 spirit; appraisal theory; attitudinal meaning; multimodal construction; media convergence

摘要：

近两年,我国主流媒体推出多部“抗疫”纪录片,为传播中国抗疫“好故事”、构筑抗疫精神、构建国家话语体系、塑造国家形象发挥了重要作用。抗疫纪录片的相关研究备受学界重视,然而,现有的研究仍然集中在传播学领域,对抗疫精神的构建和传播还缺乏内部话语机制的跨学科实证研究。本文以中国环球电视网推出的英文纪录片《中国战疫纪》为研究语料,依托评价理论的态度子系统（情感、判断、鉴赏）和态度意义的多模态实现框架,对片中的文字和多模态符号资源进行了系统分析。研究发现,该纪录片再现了英雄主义、乐观主义、集体主义和理想主义的美学抗疫精神,文字模态主要建构了“判断”态度意义,多模态资源主要表征了“情感”态度意义,体现了抗疫纪录片实现价值认同和情感共鸣的双重功能。在融媒体时代,其传播策略表现为“情感性”共情传播和“全媒体”精准传播两大突出特点,是我国对外话语体系构建和国家形象塑造的有益实践。

关键词: 抗疫纪录片, 抗疫精神, 评价理论, 态度意义, 多模态建构, 融媒体