An Approach to the Construction of National Identity in The Wandering Earth From SFDRT Perspective

School of English Studies,Beijing Language and Culture University,Beijing,China Email:455159053@qq.com

Long Yun①

College of Foreign Languages,Guizhou Medical University,Guiyang,China Email:648714996@qq.com

[Abstract]This paper is a further tentative step of exploring the textual quality of film discourse based on the framework proposed by Janina Wildfeuer(2014).We intend to focus on how the unique national identities are depicted and presented through the unfolding discourse structures in China’s first science fiction blockbuster film The Wandering Earth(2019).This paper finds two main points:(1)The construction of national identities can be realized by rhetorical structures of the discourse;(2)The international identity,indigenous identity,and general identity can be constructed by different relations(result-relation,parallel-relation,and narrative-relation),as well as subordiantions and dependencies of the structures.By exploring how the national identities of China are constructed in this film,this study hopes to contribute to the discussion of how a country can maximize the use of films to build its national identities and enhance international influence in the global community of today.

[Keywords]The Wandering Earth;national identity construction;SFDRT

Introduction

With the advancement of globalization,how to uphold the unique national identity under the impact of multiculturalism has been an urgent issue.Current studies on the construction of national identity focus on exploring the lexical choice,discursive strategies,and intertextuality from the perspective of critical discourse analysis; analyzing the use of metaphors in foreign reports and how metaphors can help to achieve national identity construction from the perspective of critical metaphor analysis; examining how the interaction between multimodal resources in the magazine covers can serve for the national identity construction from a multimodal discourse analysis perspective.However,only a few scholars pay attention to studying the construction of national identity in film discourse from a linguistic perspective.To fill this gap,by adopting Segmented Film Discourse Representation Theory(SFDRT),this paper attempts to explore how the narrative structures can help to realize the construction of national identity by analyzing China’s first large-scale science fiction film--The Wandering Earth.

Research Methodology and Theoretical Framework

A combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis is adopted in this paper.All the analyses made in this paper will follow a formal and logical approach.

The Segmented Film Discourse Representation Theory(SFDRT)proposed by Wildfeuer(2014)is the main theoretical framework that is employed in this paper to explore the national identity construction.Based on the notion of SDRS proposed by Asher and Lascarides(2003),Wildfeuer gives a formal explanation of how to transfer the visual and auditory resources within shots into discourse referents,and further construct the particular SFDRS box-style notion.Drawing from the sets of relations outlined in the studies of Asher and Lascarides(2003)for verbal discourse,Wildfeuer(2012,2014,2018)specifies several film discourse relations:Narration,Elaboration,Explanation,Result,Background,Parallel,and Contrast.The crucial factors for inferring the relations are default axiom and meaning postulate,which are demonstrated as follows respectively(Wildfeuer,2014,p.61).

(?(α,β,λ)? some principles)>R(α,β,λ)

? R(α,β)conditions(α,β)

The syntax of the formal language for film discourse interpretation,which is demonstrated as follows,is essential to depict wholly specified discourse structures(Wildfeuer,2014,p.76).

A(film)discourse structure or S(F)DRS is a triple,where:

●A is a set of labels π,π1,π2,...

●LAST is a label in A(intuitively,this is the label of the content of the last discourse segment that was added to the logical form);and

●? is a function that assigns each member of A,a member of ?,the set of well-formed SDRS-formulae(Ki)assumed for the interpretation.

Research Question and Procedure

The following two questions play an important role in the process of analysis:

(1)What kinds of national identities can be constructed through the distinctive ideology and culture conveyed in this film?

(2)What are the respective narrative structures of the selected extracts,in other words,how the textual logic of the film can help to realize the construction of national identity?

The research procedure includes four steps.The first step is to identify and determine what kinds of national identities are constructed in this film according to Wodak’s discursive strategies for national identity construction.The national identities conceptualized can be specified as international identity,indigenous identity,and general identity.By international identity,it means a responsible partner seeking cooperation.By indigenous identity,it means an ancient nation with a deep sense of attachment to home.By general identity,it means a developing country embracing socialist culture.The second step is to break the film up into 5 ranks:Stage,Sequence(Plot,Phrases),Scene,Shot(Mise-en-scène),and Frame,according to Iedema(2000),Bordwell and Thompson(2001).We identify three typical scenes from Stage II Complication and Stage III Resolution,which are shown in the climax of the whole film:executing the manual unlocking task,people falling into despair in Beijing No.3 underground city,and the scientist Li Yiyi assigning the three-step task.They are in accordance with the national identities we specified above.The third step is to select the samples of shots within the scope of the three scenes.We set to capture the filmic shots every 0.2 seconds by virtue of the software QQ Player,and then delete the repetitive and indiscernible images through the manual works in order to get the final shots serving for our analysis.The fourth step is to abstract the logical forms of these shots and further construct the overall Segmented Filmic Discourse Representation Structure(SFDRS)of the discourse to elucidate how the textual coherence can help to construct the national identities.

Discursive Discussions

International Identity

According to Wodak et al.(1999,2009),one of the strategies of national identity construction is the“presupposition of/ emphasis on positive political continuity(at state/national level)”(Wodak et al.,2009,p.37).In this film,the filmmaker highlights China’s positive political continuity--the idea of a community with a shared future for mankind to establish an international identity as a responsible partner seeking cooperation.The scene we select is when executing the manual unlocking task(1:39:13-1:39:43),which describes that a large number of rescuers from different countries join the manual unlocking task in Sulawesi No.3 underground city to reignite the Earth engine.

Nine different eventualities can be specified:report-light up-prepare-push-move forward-push-move forward-push-connect,which are the foundation for the formal construction of textual unfolding.The coherence is established by Result-and Narration-relation of which the formal accounts are given as follows:

(?(α,β,λ)? CauseD(α,β))>Result(α,β,λ)(Wildfeuer,2014,p.70)

(?(α,β,λ)? occasion(α,β))>Narration(α,β,λ)(Wildfeuer,2014,p.62)

The following formula depicts the corresponding discourse structure of this scene.

In this equation,all the labels π0-π9 given in A are involved in the interpretation process.? assigns these labels to the FDRS Kπ1-Kπ9.The coherence is established by Result- and Narration-relation,which reflects the dynamically unfolding structure.

The Segmented Film Discourse Representation Structure(SFDRS)box-style notation is given in the following table.

Table 1.Segmented Film Discourse Representation Structure of scene I

This formal description shows the semantic representation of the overall SFDRS of scene I as the formalized structure π0.There is only one subordinate SFDRS box notation named π’,which represents a series of shots showing the“pushing”action.In the actual context,what follows the“preparing”event is the rescuers’pushing action and the engine’s movement.This subordination shows clearly the continuity of the events.The overall coherence is realized through the alternateNarration-relationandResult-relation.Narration-relation mainly reflects the spatiotemporal consequence between two particular events.Result-relation expresses a cause-effect relationship between discourse segments.During the“pushing”process,the alternation between these two relations indicates that the joint efforts of people from all countries bring about the achievement of the task.This process enhances the idea of community with a shared future for mankind.Our international identity as a responsible partner seeking global cooperation is thus highlighted.

Indigenous Identity

As suggests by Wodak et al.(1999,2009),the strategies of imposing a specific version of national identity can be“presupposition/emphasis on intra-national sameness/similarity,including the strategy of‘we are all in the same boat’”(Wodak et al.,2009,p.37)and“emphasis on unifying common features/ shared sorrow or worries”(Wodak et al.,2009,p.38).The construction of indigenous identity as an ancient nation with a deep sense of attachment to home builds on the common history here,especially on our Chinese nation’s shared sorrow or worries-the despair of survival.Through appealing to our collective memory,the filmmaker reminds the audience of“we”,a homogenous nation,share,thus further emphasizes the intra-national sameness.In order to explore how this kind of national identity can be constructed here,we choose the scene that reflect people’s despair of survival,that is,people falling into despair in Beijing No.3 underground city(1:15:18-1:15:53).This depicts that despite of the joint efforts made by all countries,Earth will inevitably breach Jupiter’s Roche limit and inevitably begin the disintegration process.After hearing this news,people fell into despair.

The abstract representations of the semantic content of corresponding shots can be presented through ten eventualities:draw-destroy-shout-drag-look around-slouch-snatch-cry-bind up-drink.Result-and Parallel-relation are held between discourse segments.

(?(eπ1,eπ’,λ)? causeD(eπ1,eπ’))>Result(eπ1,eπ’,λ)

(?(eπ2,eπ’’’’,λ)? causeD(eπ2,eπ’’’’))>Result(eπ2,eπ’’’’,λ)

Since eπ3-eπ10 are all structurally and semantically similar,the most plausible relation here is the Parallelrelation,of which the default axiom can be specified as follows:

(?(α,β,λ)? semantic similarity(α,β))>Parallel(α,β,λ)(Wildfeuer,2014,p.73)

The formula in the following shows the corresponding discourse structure of scene II.

This formula specifies the labels which represent the different logical forms of the discourse segments.Here,π 10 is the label which has been added finally to the formula,which means that the parallelism between the shots can be inferred until this extract ends at the corresponding shot.

The formula provides a syntax for the construction of the final Segmented Film Discourse Representation Structure(SFDRS)of scene II.This is illustrated in the following table.

Table 2.Segmented Film Discourse Representation Structure of scene II

The extravagant structure in scene II demonstrates more subordinations.The different subordinations specified in the complete SFDRS display the multilayered organization of the scene.SFDRS Kπ’’depicts the destruction and chaos in the underground city.SFDRS Kπ’’’represents the announcement of MOSS,telling people the imminent disaster and persuading them to accept the fate of death.These two structures unfold synchronously on different diegetic levels,which highlight people’s loneliness and helplessness.The coherent narration in scene II is mainly maintained by text structuring relations such as Parallel-relation,which maintains the thematic and emotional consistency,enabling viewers to feel the despair as the characters do without many cognitive efforts.The parallelism of people’s reactions assumed on the screen gives viewers a holistic view of people’s loneliness and helplessness when their beloved homes are at stake.Since this kind of emotion has been passed from generation to generation for thousands of years in China,and the outpouring of loneliness and helplessness exactly embodies this long-standing attachment,our indigenous identity as an ancient nation with a deep sense of attachment to home is thus enhanced.

General Identity

The specific national identity can be constructed by resorting to the strategy of dissimilation/exclusion,that is,“presupposition/emphasis on(state-internal and state-external)inter-national differences”(Wodak et al.,2009,p.38).Highlighting the differences between nations can be an important way of portraying national identity.As Billig(1995)claims,it is impossible to distinguish national“we”without a foreign“other”.Fixing differences is crucial since it enables to demarcate the national identities a country represents from the foreign ones other countries represent.National self-glorification is a notable nation-affirming strategy targeting at“gluing”the in-group through offering distinctiveness and uniqueness(Hall,1996).Here,we hold the view that in contrast to the western ideology,the filmmaker ofThe Wandering Earthimposes a particular version of Chinese national identity through presenting our distinctive socialist culture which triggers people’s emotional resonance and cultivates cultural affinities.In order to explore how the general identity as a developing country embracing socialist culture can be embodied,we choose the scene that portrays the positive image of the scientist Li Yiyi who is assigning the three-step task(1:20:25-1:22:03).This scene depicts that when almost everyone gives up,Li Yiyi comes up with a solution.On their way to the Sulawesi No.3 underground city,Li Yiyi explains the task and assigns it to everyone.

Ten eventualities can be identified here:announce-explain-explain-remind-explain-assign-explain-assignwarn-conclude.All the eventualities in this sequence are in a temporal succession and share the common topic,so the relation fitting here is Narration,of which the default axiom can be formally depicted in the following:

(?(α,β,λ)? occasion(α,β))>Narration(α,β,λ)(Wildfeuer,2014,p.62)

Given that there is no other meaning postulate which offers a clue for the inference of another rhetorical relation,Narration-relation here is the default and preferred discourse relation in the current context.

There are sub-events in eπ2(explain),eπ3(explain),eπ4(remind),eπ6(assign),eπ7(explain)and eπ9(warn).The separation of sub-events indicates that there are two narrative structures at the diegetic level.The first structure describes the explanation and assignment of the task.The corresponding explaining and assigning events are inferred by the verbal content of the audio track.The second structure depicts that everyone is listening carefully when Li Yiyi is talking.The listening event is indeed not identified through the auditory information,but inferred by virtue of the visuals.These two structures alternate with the story line developing,unfolding in parallel.Since it is difficult to find the similarities from both structural and semantic perspectives,the two structures can be regarded as operating at different diegetic levels,without influencing each other.In a broad sense,they are of course‘parallelized’to some extent,but they can not be related to each other via the film discourse relation.In other words,the meaning postulate and the default axiom for the Parallel-relation cannot be realized in this specific context.

The corresponding discourse structure of scene III is shown in the following formula.

The formula gives a formal basis for the construction of the final Segmented Film Discourse Representation Structure(SFDRS)of scene III,which is illustrated as follows:

Table 3.Segmented Film Discourse Representation Structure of scene III

What is different from the SFDRS in the previous two scenes is that in scene III,the sub-SFDRS Kπn appears within one particular SFDRS Kπn,which means that there are sub-events that can be specified within some specific events.Since scene III mainly depicts Li Yiyi’s explanation and assignment of the whole task,the speaking and listening sub-events highlight Li Yiyi’s active role in assigning the task,and others’passive role in performing the task.The coherence of scene III is maintained byNarration-relation,which indicates Li Yiyi is explaining the task step by step.His leading position is thus highlighted.Since the successful shaping of the positive image of a scientist is the embodiment of the socialist culture,the general identity of China as a developing country embracing socialist culture is thus enhanced.

Conclusion

After a detailed examination under the guidance of SFDRT,we find that different national identities relate to different rhetorical structures to a great extent.The discourse structure in scene I presents the cause-effect relationship and temporal consequence,which are upheld by the Result-relation and Narration-relation respectively.The alternation of these two relations indicates that each achievement of an arduous task needs to invest time and energy,and the joint efforts of people are the key to success.The international identity as a responsible partner seeking global cooperation is further embodied.The preferred discourse structure in scene II shows two unfolding structures that run in parallel.The dynamic process relates the semantically and structurally similar discourse segments via Parallel-relation,which not only gives viewers a holistic view of the chaos of the underground city but also maintains the emotional consistency when viewers empathize with the characters.This narrative pattern helps to show people’s helplessness and fear in the face of losing their homes,which to some extent highlights the indigenous identity as an ancient nation with a deep sense of attachment to home.Scene III exemplifies the speaking and listening sub-events,which indicate Li Yiyi is best qualified to make the plan when dealing with the catastrophe.The verbal content of his voice supports the separation of individual eventualities and provides a clue to the inference of Narration-relation.It demonstrates that Li Yiyi is at the core of this operation,establishing a positive image of him.Since building a positive image of scientists is one way to show the socialist culture,the general identity as a developing country embracing socialist culture is thus enhanced.

Acknowledgements

This project is supported by the Major National Social Science Project(19ZDA041).