An integrated study of visual metaphors in Chinese editorial cartoons
Conceptual metaphor theory highlights that metaphor is a matter of thinking. This assumption indicates that
metaphors exist not only in language, but also in other modes. This study examines uses of visual and visual-verbal metaphors in
50 Chinese editorial cartoons conceptualizing serious haze problem, with the intention of eliciting implicit meaning conveyed by
visual signs alone or together with verbal texts. Both conceptual and critical discourse analysis of the metaphors are conducted.
The study finds that the way a metaphor is realized visually and verbally in a cartoon determines the features mapped onto the
topic, and further implicitly expresses a critical stance toward the topic under discussion. The metaphors in the cartoons evoke a
general understanding of haze problem by activating the war scenario and familiar cultural or social context in viewers. It is
found in this corpus that visual fusion and visual replacement are the most frequent kinds of visual metaphors. The study further
affirms that visual metaphors are better in conveying rich and implicit conceptual and affective meaning, and can be direct
manifestation of the conceptual metaphor without the mediation of language. In sum the study suggests the need for an integrated
approach to visual metaphoric representation in multimodal analysis.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Literature review
- 3.Method
- 4.Analysis
- 4.1Target domain: haze
- 4.2Target domain: victim
- 4.3Target domain: stakeholders
- 4.4Target domain: control action
- 4.5Others
- 5.Discussion
- 5.1War scenario
- 5.2Visual techniques and verbal messages
- 6.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
-
References
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