I AM YU HUANSHUI: SELF-REDEMPTION OF A CONTEMPORARY “LITTLE MAN”

Abstract

Aim. We identify peculiarities of the existence of the concept of “little man” in modern Chinese cultural space, and examine the TV series of modern China, which shows hard life of modern youth in the city. The image of the Chinese movie hero is synchronized with that of a “little man” in the Russian literature, first described by the Russian writer V. Belinsky. A “little man” is a type of a literary hero who appeared in the realistic works of Russian writers at the beginning of the XIX century.

Methodology. The paper relies on the method of linguistic, translational, and linguoculturological analysis of the film text and on the hypothetical-deductive method.

Results. The concept of the “little man” in modern China in the film discourse cannot be isolated from the cultural and historical context. The obtained results are absolutely new and can be used in some areas of applied linguistics (linguoculturology, linguopragmatics, semantics), as well as related sciences (media communications, intercultural communication, cultural studies, philosophy, etc.).

Research implications. Theoretical and practical significance of the research lies in the possibility of using the obtained results to study the new language of cinema and Chinese film discourse, as well as to compare Chinese and Russian from linguistic and cultural points of view and to investigate Chinese- Russian translation. The results of the study are of practical importance in the context of further scientific understanding of the posed problem, and can be applied in such areas of modern science as the theory of film discourse, media discourse and media communication, gender linguistics, etc.