Discourse Innovation and National Image Construction in CCTV’s “Culture+” Micro-Variety Shows
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/jjw6qe15Keywords:
Culture+ Micro-Variety Shows, National Image, Discourse Innovation, Multimodality, Mobile CommunicationAbstract
Micro-variety shows have become an increasingly visible carrier of cultural communication on mobile platforms. This article examines several “Culture+” programmes released through CCTV’s mobile ecosystem, including A Rich Life, Extraordinary Journey, Journey with ‘Ni’, and Not-So-Young Chengdu. Drawing on broadcasting criticism and multimodal discourse analysis, it argues that these programmes do more than compress traditional cultural content into shorter episodes. They rework the rhetoric of national image building by combining layered voice, image, ambient sound, embodied hosting, and small-scale narrative units. In this process, ecological space is made sensible rather than merely declared, cultural-tourism imagery is shaped through situated experience rather than brochure-style description, and cultural identity is narrated through ordinary scenes that quietly respond to external stereotypes. What emerges is a more grounded and mobile image of China, one built through concrete encounters and locally rooted stories.
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