Multimodal metaphor (re)framing : a critical analysis of the promotional image of China’s Hubei Province in the post-pandemic era on new media

Liu, Yufeng and Li, Dechao (2024) Multimodal metaphor (re)framing : a critical analysis of the promotional image of China’s Hubei Province in the post-pandemic era on new media. Social Semiotics, 34 (2). pp. 269-288. ISSN 1035-0330

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Abstract

This study presents multimodal metaphors as (re)framing tools in the analysis of a 10-minute promotional video of Hubei Province produced by the Chinese government and circulated on new media platforms like YouTube, Douyin (Chinese Tik Tok) and WeChat Channels. The video introduces Hubei Province to the world in the pre-pandemic, pandemic and post-pandemic stage to erase the prejudiced “Wuhan virus” and “China virus” painted by Western media. Drawing upon MIPVU (the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universitei), multimodality of metaphors, and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this study analyzes how the Chinese government attempts to reframe Hubei as a place of courage, prosperity and humanity via metaphors like WAR, BRIDGE, HAND and BACK. The benefits and drawbacks of such metaphor usage are also discussed with appropriate contextual and socio-cultural relevancies. The study provides a hands-on practice of the CDA-based analysis of multimodal metaphors and justifies the feasibility of integrating translation, metaphor and semiotic studies through the sociological theory of framing.