Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Two English Learning Visual Advertisements Essay

It was not until the advent of â€Å"new media age†, which by definition involves prevailing digital-mediated communication modes and substantial usage of multiple semiotic resources combined in the realization of discourses, did the mainstream preference of monomodality unprecedentedly challenged (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001). Language, as one of the semiotic resources, is by no means the only carrier to realize discourses. Diversity should be acknowledged in the current age when visual, audio and other kinds of semiotic resources are convenient and efficient in delivering the abstract discourses concept into expressions (Kress, 2003). The present study will base its analysis primarily on the multimodal discourse analysis framework and visual grammar proposed by Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996, 2001), as an application of their theoretical framework into practices. Since the multimodal discourse analysis (hereafter MDA) theory has been established only within this recent decade, an d it is relatively hard to find solid references to support this theory, flaws and limitations are therefore unavoidable. As MDA is considered the subdivision of Systemic Functional Linguistics (hereafter SFL) which focus on social semiotic approach of critical discourse analysis (hereafter CDA), this present study should be considered as an experimental attempt of utilizing MDA in incorporating social culture and ideology into discourse analysis[1]. Firstly, the rationale underneath this present research is based on Kress and Leeuwen’s four-layered meaning rendering domains known as â€Å"strata† (Kress & Leeuwen, 2001), as well as their theoretical construction of visual grammar, which is an outspread, or more specifically generalization of verbal grammar (Kress & Leeuwen, 1996). Basically, the theory of strata gives an overall account of meaning-making in multiple articulations among discourse, design, production and distribution, the first two of which being associated with content and the latter two with expression. The basic meaning making flow is conceptualization (from discourse to design), materialization (from design to production) and reproduction (from production to distribution). In this research, only the first phase of meaning articulation will be dealt with, because the data analyzed here are visual advertisement posters on the internet without tangible material texture such as paper or stone, which made the analysis less complex and more focused. According to Kress and Van Leeuwen (2001, pp.21), the process of design involves three things simultaneously: (1) a formulation of a discourse or combination of discourses, (2) a particular (inter)action, in which the discourse is embedded, and (3) a particular way of combining semiotic modes. This threefold process has at least two implications: (1) the realization of social communication by encoding the abstract discourse into a specific design and (2) deliberate choice of communication media through which the meaning could be more effectively delivered, such as the combination of music, image and sequence in films. For the second implication, this present research only involves visual mode of semiotic resource which further reduced the complication of analysis. The first implication is actually the central focus in this research paper. If the process of designing is, to some extend, a process of encoding, then using the visual grammar to analyze this design is exactly the reverse process, namely decoding. That is to say, this paper is aiming at using visual grammar as a tool to decode the visual image so that to find out the hidden social constructed discourses underneath the poster. The similarity between visual grammar and verbal grammar lies in their system underlying the language-use, the ubiquitous fundamental elements of linguistic rules (Chomsky, 1972). This generative grammar lends validity to the set of rules Kress proposed suitable for analyzing visual literacy or visual language. This present analysis will primarily follow Kress’ framework of visual grammar, divided into three levels: representational, interactional and compositional. The representational grammar is heavily associated with ideational meaning in SFL, which basically deals with the internal relations between the depicted participant s and a setting of circumstances in which they occur[2]. The representational grammar is basically realized by vectors which could exhibit the interrelations between the participants or between the participant and the viewer. In advertisement 1 (see appendix), the participant is a young white-collar employee who desperately gazing towards the reader/viewer. From the perspective of the representational grammar, this is a non-transactional reaction, characterized by a gazer but without a phenomenon appearing on the poster. The non-transactional process is characterized by a vector extending from the gazer’s eyes towards directly outside the poster or to the reader/viewer who looks at the poster. Similarly, advertisement 2 (see appendix) also shows a non-transactional reaction. But the gazer—a caricature figure of ancient Chinese historical character Zhuge Liang—does not extend his eye-line vector directly towards the reader but to somewhere else without specified phenomenon. Moreover, the second advertisement has, though implicit, an action vector: the feather fan in the cartoon figure’s hand indicates a manner of waving. Although this action vector is also non-transactional, it is stronger than a reaction vector. If comparing these two posters from a representational level, the first one is completely reaction vector with clear pointing angle to the reader. That is to say, the reader/viewer here is actually the phenomenon of the gazer. The second one has both action vector and reaction vector, though both non-transactional. The action vector adds to the poster’s agentive quality and centralized its salience on the movement of waving feather fan. The interactive grammar is concerned with social relations between interactants and the represented world of text (readers/viewers). There are four major systems: contacts, social distance, attitude and modality (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 1996, pp.43-118). The following part will analyze the two posters within each system. In the first advertisement, the interactive participant, or that young male white-collar imposes a â€Å"demand† contact towards the viewer, which is a direct eye-line vector towards outside the poster. Contrastively, the gazer on the second poster presented an â€Å"offer† contact, which is characterized by no direct eye contact (though imaginary) with the viewer. The distinction between demand and offer significantly distinguished these two posters. The mood represented in the first one is more engaged, direct and intensive. The young male looks directly to the reader as if interrogating the readers if they had been through the same desperation and suspicion on the fact whether Chinese could ever learn English well. He seeks the recognition and resonances from the reader towards his own feelings. His demanding eye-line attracts the reader’s counter-directional reaction vector, and the reader will feel passively being gazed and therefore a tense feeling and obliged inward self-inspection: â€Å"whether I am just like him who cannot learn English well.† However, the mood in the second poster is more disentangled, aloof and carefree. The cartoon character looks at somewhere else as if intentionally avoiding eye contact with the reader. This manner of â€Å"offer† invites the reader to cast reaction vector towards him. By showing a confident manner of â€Å"already discovered the secrets of learning English†, this advertisement uses the absence of contact as a strategy to arouse viewer’s interest in discovering â€Å"what exactly is the secret that this ancient sage has†. Similarly, under the social distance system of analysis, the first poster is very intimate/personal, characterized by a close shot, yet the second one is relatively impersonal under a medium shot. From the perspective of attitude system, the first poster is presented from a front, eye-level angle which represents heavy involvement and equal status with the viewers. The designer of the poster intends to create a young man who could be anyone of those young white-collar who has problems learning English. The second one is also presented from a front, eye-level angle. Yet it is noticeable that due to the disproportion of its body and the small proportion between his eyes and the entire face, it is very likely to get an illusion that it is a low angle, which signifies the represented participant’s power. The compositional grammar primarily deals with the way in which information or value is transferred from the represented participants towards the viewers. Since the two posters both adopted a centered circular position which presented their central characters in the very core of the composition, there is very little to compare in the aspect.