The Construction and Expression of Cultural Identity in Modern Film, Television and Drama Works
Online veröffentlicht: 19. März 2025
Eingereicht: 10. Okt. 2024
Akzeptiert: 29. Jan. 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/amns-2025-0511
Schlüsselwörter
© 2025 Xi Gu, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Identity is a complex socio-psychological process that concerns people's perception of themselves and how they recognize their relationships with others. And the fundamental reason why identity has turned out to be such an important issue in contemporary society is that the issue of identity involves caring about the social and political aspects [1]. However, the intermingling of culture and culture appears or unilaterally exported, and identity and cultural identity coexist. Nowadays, the era wave of cultural globalization provides new opportunities for the export of cultural products of various countries, and the problem of cultural identity has become more drastic [2]. Under the stimulation of sensual and intuitive images of movies, people from different countries and regions begin to have contact with the cultures of people from other countries and regions, and at the same time reflect on their own cultures and cultural identities [3]. The region, folklore, culture and even national ideology shown through movies, TV dramas, plays and other film and television works, while indicating their own cultural forms to various countries, will also invisibly construct their own special cultural identity [4–6]. Among them, cultural identity is an extension of the concept of identity, which mainly refers to the identification of individual subjects or groups with a particular social culture. The national cultural identity constructed in movie and television works also directly affects the image of the country itself and the spread of local culture in the international arena. As identity research is in full swing in the field of culture, many scholars take television as an important way to construct cultural identity. The development of politics, economy and culture in different historical environments can be presented in the form of cultural identity in TV and movies.
The study analyzes the social value and educational significance of the construction and expression of cultural identity in modern film, television and theater works from analyzing the construction and expression of culture in modern film, television and theater works to proposing a clear method of construction and expression, and analyzes the social value and educational significance of the construction and expression of cultural identity in film, television and theater works from shallow to deep. According to the research idea constructed in this paper, combining the literature research method and text analysis method to collect and explore relevant theoretical support, the construction and expression of cultural identity in modern film, television and drama works are empirically analyzed through examples of works, so as to evaluate the influence of drama works on cultural inheritance and dissemination.
Cultural identity has temporality, locality, interaction, diversity and contrast [7]. The locality and temporality of cultural identity in film and theater works are the most obvious features. This is because the expression of popular culture in films influences national ideology and national identity/identity [8]. For example, the literature [9] in the film “Police Story” Chinese Hong Kong culture as the background for the analysis of cultural identity, which shows the city of Hong Kong, China, cultural microcosm, and the strength of the dissemination of its film makes the globalization identified with this layer of cultural identity. The diversity of cultural identity is also a common expression in film and theater works, and literature [10] mentioned that the economic status of an individual’s identity is extremely easy to replace, it can be seen that the differences in economic status between a number of different characters, but also long ago the differences in cultural identity. In addition, language has an important position as the main auditory and visual expression in different film and theater productions. Literature [11] utilized a multimodal semantics approach to identify the self-identity and identity construction of the protagonist of the language expression in the film, which side by side reflects the identity expression and cultural presentation in different languages. And the literature [12] tells the relationship between language policy and national cultural identity, Hong Kong as a city where Chinese, Cantonese and English language expressions converge, the language of its film and television works is to show the cultural achievements and cultural identity of the local history of Hong Kong. This is more a reflection of the temporal and interactive nature of cultural identity, interacting cultures in different languages. In addition, the representation of cultural identity in film and television works conveys the central cultural message of the works on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is a way to promote mutual recognition or mutual critique among various cultural identities. Literature [13] mentions that there is a shift in Chinese women’s cultural identities in American movies, from single to diverse, which is a kind of cultural identity and contrastive. It must also be mentioned that the diversity of film and theater works is actually corresponding to the diversity of cultural identity. And the diversity of film and theater works also includes the representation of minority cultures, such as homosexuality. The identity of homosexuality as a minority group is also a concern among the majority group, and the literature [14] analyzes the identity construction and identity of the homosexual group through the appreciation of a homosexual-themed film. The construction of minority cultural identity in film and television drama works is self-cultural identity in the front and external cultural identity in the back. And the construction of cultural identity is the core idea of a film and theater work.
Defining cultural identity [15] begins with the realization that identity is a reflection of a collective consciousness and that most identities exist with culture, a term that refers to shared beliefs, norms, values, and ways of doing things.
Etymologically, the word Identity is derived from the Latin word idem, and when it is transformed into English Identity, the main lexical meaning that constitutes it is wholeness individuality independent existence. The basic meaning of the word points to inner unity, certainty and stability, and the original word is obviously closer to the definition of identity individuality in Chinese. It should be pointed out that, depending on the context, cultural identity will present different dimensions, ethnic or national, racial, gender, class, and so on.
In the context of globalization, it is recognized that the so-called unchanging essential existence of cultural identity is only a constructed illusion. In the context of the increasing globalization of culture, local culture is particularly important. Cultural globalization is the diversification and plurality of cultures, which refers to the shift in the consumption of cultural and artistic products from the original diversity that existed in different geographic spaces to the diversity in the same space, so that one kind of culture and art after another that is produced in a specific geographic space and in a specific ethnic culture in a specific region is enjoyed by all mankind.
The construction and expression of cultural identity is a potential cultural soft power, and the soft power it can generate is manifested in cultural cohesion, cultural projection, cultural control, cultural assimilation and cultural creativity. The construction and expression of cultural identity can be regarded as the glue that unites the strength of the nation, and is an important manifestation of the country's cultural soft power.
Cultural soft power [16] mainly refers to the amount of culture corresponding to the economy, military and other hard realities, which is also an important basis for measuring a country's comprehensive strength. Film and television drama as a kind of cultural performance, mainly in a subtle way to influence the audience's aesthetic interest, value judgment and way of thinking, especially in recent years the development of the drama industry, promote the progress of the cultural industry, highlighting as a cultural soft power of the drama culture also has a unique and can not be ignored the power of dissemination.
Film and television theater culture has the following values: Dissemination and inheritance of national culture As an important part of cultural soft power, theater is responsible for the dissemination and inheritance of national culture. Drama, which is both ideological and cultural in nature, has always been focused on expressing a correct value orientation through short and concise stories, which is inseparable from China's long-standing creative concepts of “teaching by words” and “teaching for fun”. With the advancement of science and technology and the dissemination of media, the development of drama has gone from a one-way symbolic output stage to a two-way interactive stage, especially the market spreading and shooting of costumes, props and many other fields, which extends the symbolic nature of drama. Shaping national image Drama unites the cultural tradition and national spirit of this nation, and its unique way of expression is also an important aspect of the national image. National image is a comprehensive, all-round, complex, diverse and pluralistic image, which is not only undertaken by a single force of the government or the media, but also a comprehensive reflection of the country's cultural soft power, cultural values, historical heritage and ideology, and an overall presentation of the country in all aspects of politics, economy, society and culture. As a mode of cultural communication, theater brings aesthetic enjoyment to the audience while conveying the creator's judgment of good and evil reflected in the work. Cultural identity value In the context of globalization, different cultures and values intersect and collide with each other. Drama is more likely to generate a sense of identity because its characters show similar or comparable thinking patterns, language, customs and values to those of Chinese audiences. This sense of identification with the drama can prompt Chinese audiences to identify with Chinese culture, generate a sense of belonging to Chinese society, and then generate cohesion within the fan club group.
In addition, film and television drama culture also has an educational function: Ideological educational function Drama works can convey the author's thoughts. In the drama production, according to their own life experience and value orientation, through the drama role to express their thoughts and opinions. As a branch of audio-visual art, drama generally does not rely on profound theories for simple preaching, nor does it forcefully intervene or guide the audience, but relies on its own unique way of artistic expression to achieve the purpose of education. This unique way of expression, because of its exaggerated artistic imagination and artistic way to get a strong artistic influence, so that the audience in the subtle acceptance of the author's point of view, agree with the author's values. Moral education function As a kind of popular art close to the masses, drama has an obvious function of moral education. A theater work with intense dramatic conflicts can easily present the truth, goodness and beauty with the false and ugly. Science and superstition, democracy and feudalism, advancement and backwardness, elegance and vulgarity are all things that are glorified or criticized in dramatic works. These contradictory things are shown to the audience with witty and humorous narratives, so that they can accept the correct concepts and produce emotional and intellectual resonance in a subtle way.
Without a concrete history, identity would not have symbolic resources for us to reconstruct it. Without diverse languages, identities would not have the ability to speak, and all identities would have to clearly identify the similarities and differences between themselves and other things. It follows that three factors are closely related to the construction of identity: a specific history, a diverse language, and similarities and differences between oneself and other things. Therefore, this paper will discuss the ways of constructing cultural identities in theater works from three perspectives: history, discourse and difference.
History is a narrative, and a narrative history inevitably produces narrative identities, which are given an original status by the people. Cultural identities are always constructed from the memories, fantasies, narratives and myths that history brings to people.
Cultural identities constructed through the narratives of history are highly self-serving. Historically constructed cultural identity can be realized by tapping into the origins of history. Emphasizing historical origins is a prerequisite for emphasizing the continuity and timelessness of cultural identities; fixed historical sources are always associated with the character of a particular group of people, and character does not change no matter how history changes. Because history and culture are specific, it has led the West to associate people in specific histories and cultures with specific identities, and specific cultural identities with specific hierarchical standards.
In constructing cultural identities, history matters because history produces not only symbolic results in the human mind, but also real, material results in practice Hall points out that the historical construction of cultural identities can also be achieved by reproducing tradition, which stems from the ambiguous relationship between tradition and history. Collective identity is closely related to tradition and the tradition of creation. But in reality tradition, while historical, is not the whole of history. It is both derived from historical facts and created by historical narratives.
The idea that identity is constructed by discourse, where discourse, identity and social practice form a mutually constitutive set in time and space, is linked to the cultural politics of identity and the constitution of human beings as a form of life. Discourse is both a means of dissolving and reconstructing essential cultural identities. Identity emerges in intersecting discourses, which means that different discourse systems produce not essential identities, but identity in relation to position. The fundamental reason why different discourse systems compete for identity in the process of representation is to capture the power relations in identity. Discourse co-constructs cultural identity through representation from both internal and external levels. Cultural identity should be thought of in the context of colonialism because cultural identity is a product of the construction of colonial discourse. The construction of knowledge systems by colonial discourse is an external construction, for example, Said points out that Western colonialism constructed the East as a negative knowledge system, shaping a negative and demonized object from the outside.
Difference consists of two main modalities: one is the difference of alienation, which is a postcolonial perspective on the construction of meaning by othering. One is heterogeneous difference, which is the deferred difference in Derrida's sense and corresponds to homogeneity for producing meaning and distinguishing things. Alienation and heterogeneity are two forms of difference, which produce negative and positive effects of difference, respectively.
Positive difference is productive in the construction of cultural identity, recognizing that cultural identity is non-essential, dynamic, and a complex unity. Negative difference is destructive in the process of constructing cultural identity; it divides different races and ethnicities into rigid dichotomies such as high and low, superior and inferior, through a simplification of meaning, while recognizing that cultural identity is essential. Difference is thus both needed and dangerous. On the one hand, difference is needed because it is only through the contrasting meanings of difference that meaning can be generated, and it is only by analyzing the positional power relations of difference that they can be revealed. On the other hand, difference is dangerous because there is always a power relation in oppositional difference. Not only does the other's difference construct a negative and destructive difference for the disadvantaged, but mirroring also induces the disadvantaged to accept and internalize this rigid oppositional difference. It follows that the difference of linguistic contrast, the difference of sociological othering, the difference of anthropological position, and the difference of psychoanalytic mirroring are all borrowed for cultural studies and reduced to two difference-like patterns, heterogeneity and alienation. It is argued that the Othering approach to identity construction is primarily achieved by generalizing the characteristics of the other as being different from oneself.
The difference of the other is constructed in two main ways: By alienating the represented object, such as the demonization and vulgarization of the Orient, to create a simplified dichotomy from the outside. Constructing the object from within by gazing, by observing oneself from the perspective of the other. Characterizing the object as the other, establishing a simplified difference between me and him by excluding and submerging the complex heterogeneity between the subject and the object, and thus establishing a binary relationship in favor of me is the ultimate goal of the construction of the Othering of cultural identity.
This paper utilizes many theories of cross-cultural studies based on the study of the construction and expression of cultural identity in modern film, television, and theater works. The theory of cultural identity, which is used in Western cultural studies, is utilized to analyze and discuss the building of cross-cultural images in modern Chinese film, television, and theater works. Among the research methods utilized are:
Collect a large number of related periodicals, master and doctoral dissertations, related works and related reports, classify and summarize the literature, analyze the text, summarize its characteristics, analyze its shortcomings, and extract the theoretical and practical significance of the literature on the topic of this paper to support the conclusions and views of this paper to support the theoretical and practical support.
Based on the analysis of the scripts and lines created by modernized theatrical works in China in recent years, looking at the cross-cultural history and development of this type of film and television drama in China, analyzing the current situation of cross-culturalism in this type of TV drama, and seeking a way out and a method for the development of the research content of this paper.
Selected modern Chinese film and television drama culture more exploratory film and television works, such as “Tai Ming Fenghua” for detailed content analysis.
By designing a questionnaire to research and analyze the elements that embody the construction and expression of cultural identity in modern film, television, and theater works, the embodiment of the construction and expression of cultural identity in theater works is explored on multiple levels based on the objective evaluations of the investigators.
The ratings of a film or television production reflect how popular the show is with the audience at the moment. This section surveys and counts the ratings of five modern film and television productions on CCTV from 2023/9/16 to 2023/9/25. The genres of the surveyed film and television works include variety, family ethics, suspense, science fiction, and drama, which are recorded as film and television works 1-5 in order.
Figure 1 shows the results of the comparison of the ratings of different movie and television works on CCTV. From the figure, it can be learned that the ratings of film and television work 5 (drama) are significantly higher than those of other categories, and in the 10 days of the survey, the ratings have been above 1.5%, which is 0.182~0.578 percentage points higher than those of other types of film and television works. As an art form, modern film, television and theater works can reflect social issues, arouse public concern, and convey cultural values to the audience through the interpretation of plots and characters. The high ratings of drama works show the audience's recognition of the cultural expression in them, which side by side shows the success of cultural identity construction in drama works.
The ratings of different films are compared to the ratings on CCTV
Through reviewing relevant literature and consulting offline experts related to modern film, television and theater works, the following evaluation system for the construction and expression effect of theatrical cultural identity is designed, and the subjective evaluation system for the construction and expression effect of theatrical cultural identity is shown in Table 1.
The subjective evaluation system of drama culture expression effect
| Primary indicator | Secondary indicator | Tertiary indicator |
|---|---|---|
| A:Cognitive power of drama | A1:Cognitive power of dramatic material culture | A11:Cognitive power of drama |
| A12:Cognitive power of dramatic landscape | ||
| A13:Type of drama | ||
| A144:Cognitive power of dramatic celebrities | ||
| A2:The cultural cognition of the drama system | A21:Traditional ritual cognition | |
| A22:Organizational drama | ||
| A23:Drama moral cognition | ||
| A3:The cognitive power of the drama spirit culture | A31:Cognitive ability of dramatic thinking | |
| A32:Artistic and cultural cognitive power | ||
| B:Dramatic cultural attraction | B1:Dramatic material cultural attraction | B11:Attraction power of drama |
| B12:Dramatic attraction | ||
| B13:Dramatic category appeal | ||
| B14:Dramatic celebrity attraction | ||
| B2:The cultural attraction of the drama system | B21:Traditional ritual appeal | |
| B22:Organize dramatic performance appeal | ||
| B23:Dramatic moral attraction | ||
| B3:Drama spiritual and cultural attraction | B31:The idea of dramatic thinking is attractive | |
| B32:Artistic and cultural attraction of drama | ||
| C:Dramatic cultural behavior | C1:Drama information contact behavior | C11:The average number of traffic in drama information |
| C12:Drama information contact duration | ||
| C13:The number of traditional media types | ||
| C14:Types of new media media | ||
| C2:Behavioral behavior of dramatic technology | C21:The number of drama categories | |
| C22:The number of minutes of drama | ||
| C23:Drama training hours | ||
| C3:Drama culture consumer behavior | C31:The theatre books buy the number | |
| C32:Drama process, souvenir purchase number | ||
| C33:The number of costume purchases | ||
| C34:The number of movie and television works |
In this section, the variables are analyzed by calculating the sample distance and using Pearson's correlation as the interval metric for clustering [17]. The clustering results for the number of clusters of 6 for the theater culture expression clusters are shown in Figure 2. Cluster analysis showed that when the clustering was 6 clusters, the 6 clusters corresponded to the first-level indicators of the communication effect of modern film and television drama culture, "drama culture cognition", "drama culture attraction" and "drama culture behavior". This confirms that the system of theater culture identity construction and expression effects constructed in this study is reasonable. The clustering results also show that the cognitive power and attractiveness in the construction and expression effects of Chinese theatrical culture are relatively robust, while the correlation of the three-level indicators of behavioral power is poor, i.e., the internal consistency of the indicators is poor.
The drama culture expresses the clustering result of the cluster number 6
The linear weighted sum method [18] was used to synthesize the subjective evaluation composite index (teodc) of cultural identity construction and expression effect of modern film, television and drama works, and the synthesis formula was:
Figure 3 shows the subjective evaluation composite index and the index of first-level indicators. From the subjective evaluation comprehensive index of modern film, television and theater culture, the identity construction and expression effect of modern film, television and theater culture in the sampled 10 locations has achieved a relatively satisfactory result, with an average value of 0.782 (out of 1). Among them, the composite index of the effects of the construction and expression of the cultural identity of modern film, television and theater in Region 10 is the highest (0.844), while Region 8 is the lowest (0.703). Among the 3 level 1 indexes, the 10 regional points have the highest drama culture attraction index with an average value of 0.809, followed by drama culture behavioral power index with an average value of 0.781, and the lowest drama culture cognitive power index with an average value of 0.7726. Among the drama culture cognitive indexes, the highest is found in region 1 (0.842), and the lowest is found in region 2 (0.731). In the drama culture attraction index, region 8 has the highest (0.862) and region 10 has the lowest (0.766). In the index of drama cultural behavior, region 4 is the highest (0.839) and region 7 is the lowest (0.724). It indicates that the construction and expression of cultural identity in modern film and television drama is more effective, which helps to enhance the audience's sense of identification with the drama culture and promote the inheritance and development of culture.
The subjective evaluation composite index and the primary index value
As an important mode of cultural production, modern film and television drama shoulders the mission of inheriting civilization, shaping values, and leading fashion. In this section, 100 fans of modern film, television and theater works are randomly selected to analyze the cultural identity representations in the works of Daming Fenghua by using a questionnaire survey. The survey dimensions include linguistic cultural symbols, clothing cultural symbols, behavioral cultural symbols, and spatial cultural symbols, which show the degree of the audience's construction of Chinese cultural identity by counting their recognition of the evaluated dimensions. The survey uses a 5-point scale, i.e., ratings 1-5 represent a low~high level of recognition, in ascending order.
Figure 4 shows the results of the survey on the recognition of the dimensions of cultural identity construction. The data in the figure shows that the modern film and television drama “Tai Ming Fenghua” has a better performance on the construction of theatrical cultural identity in terms of language cultural symbols, dress cultural symbols, behavioral cultural symbols and spatial cultural symbols, with the audience recognition ratings of 4.09, 4.70, 4.33 and 4.01 in order, among which the dress cultural symbols have gained the highest degree of recognition from the audience, which indicates that “Tai Ming Fenghua” has deeply restored the different identities of the Ming Dynasty and has been a great success. This shows that “Tai Ming Fenghua” has deeply restored the characteristics of the costumes of different statuses (officials, soldiers, etc.) in the Ming Dynasty, reflecting the prosperity of the armor casting culture in the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the work shows the behavioral characteristics of different characters in different occasions during the Ming Dynasty, which also achieves high recognition in terms of behavioral cultural symbols. Overall, “Taiming Fenghua” demonstrates the construction of China's cultural identity during the Ming Dynasty to varying degrees, and conveys China's cultural values and spiritual connotations to the audience.
Cultural identity builds the results of each dimension
The first section of the study interprets the basic elements and value functions of cultural identity construction and expression in modern film, television and theater works. Secondly, the methods of cultural identity construction and expression are discussed from three perspectives: history, discourse and difference. Finally, a variety of research methods are used to evaluate the cultural identity construction and expression in modern film, television and theater works on multiple levels.
The ratings of modern film and television drama works are above 1.5%, the highest among the film and television works of the categories used, indicating that the audience is more willing to learn about the composition of cultural identity and expression through drama works. The internal consistency of the cognitive power and attractiveness indexes in the system of the construction and expression effect of theatrical cultural identity constructed in this paper is good, and the average attractiveness index of theatrical culture is the highest, at 0.809. The recognition ratings of the modern film and television drama work Taeming Fenghua in terms of linguistic and cultural symbols, clothing cultural symbols, behavioral cultural symbols, and spatial cultural symbols are between 4.01 and 4.70, which indicates that film and television drama works can convey cultural connotations at different levels.