Visual Grammar and Cultural Meaning in Festive China: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This study examines how the English-language documentary series Festive China constructs and communicates cultural meaning through visual semiotic resources by focusing on the role of visual modality in shaping cultural narratives. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics and visual grammar, the study adopts a multimodal discourse analysis approach to investigate twelve episodes of the series. Using ELAN 6.0, over 1,800 segments were annotated across six visual categories: process types, symbolic meaning, perspective, social distance, framing, and color. The findings reveal that Festive China places strong emphasis on material and existential processes to represent tradition as dynamic and embodied. Symbolic elements are consistently embedded within narrative structures to express values like continuity, reverence, and harmony. Variations in gaze, angle, and shot distance shape audience engagement, while compositional features such as soft framing and culturally marked color schemes enhance visual coherence and meaning. The study suggests that such visual strategies not only reinforce national identity but also serve as effective resources for multimodal pedagogy. By highlighting how visual modality can mediate cultural experience, this research contributes to the growing field of visual discourse analysis and offers pedagogical implications for the use of documentary media in language education and intercultural learning.