A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Lingnan Cultural Promotional Videos on Social Media

Abstract

In recent years, more and more directors of culture and tourism have taken part in the promotion of local cultural tourism resources by cross-dressing, talent shows, and pushing their limits on self-media platforms. This study investigates short videos of Lingnan culture promoted by directors general and deputy directors general of the Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism, and Sports Bureau of counties and cities in Guangdong Province on social media by the method of multimodal critical discourse analysis. The analysis of 33 videos shows that Lingnan culture is a domineering and confident culture, historical culture, graceful and elegant culture, and vibrant and active culture. Domineering and confident culture is embedded in the utterances and behaviors of the directors general or deputy directors general in the video. Historical culture is realized through the conversation with historical figures through time travel. Graceful and elegant culture is constructed in the depiction of sceneries and the depiction of characters’ manners. Vibrant and active culture is represented in the depiction of the characters’ actional process and analytical process.