Food Cultural Meme Construction of A Bite of China from the Perspective of Attitude System

Abstract

Documentary is an art form based on real life that integrates various social semiotic resources. A Bite of China has been well-received for its perfect combination of local Chinese cuisines with related stories. This research selects this documentary as the research object and the attitude system of Systemic Functional Linguistics as the theoretical framework, and from the perspective of interpersonal meaning, it investigates the meme construction in A Bite of China through the analysis of semiotic resources of affect, judgement, and appreciation, the three subsystems of the attitude system. The study adopts a combined qualitative and quantitative approach, focusing on the semiotic and meme construction of the documentary series. The theoretical framework provided by the attitude system theory, coupled with the utilization of the analysis tool UAM 6.2 for data annotation and statistics, facilitates a detailed exploration of the configuration of semiotic resources. Results show: Firstly, in the affect subsystem, the un/happiness resources are the highest among the four types of affect resources. Through the selection of affect resources, the documentary producer portrays the complex emotions of ease and unease that people experience because of food. Secondly, in the judgement subsystem, the quantity of social sanction resources is much less than that of social esteem resources. From the choice of judgment resources, the documentary presents the qualities of Chinese people in the context of food culture, such as wisdom, resourcefulness, cleverness, diligence, resilience, honesty, generosity, and responsibility. Thirdly, in the appreciation subsystem, reaction resources account for more percentage than composition and social-valuation resources. With the retrieval of appreciation resources, the producer depicts the characteristics of Chinese food culture and outlines the intimate and harmonious relationship between people, food, life, and nature. Research indicates that this documentary reveals the three core memes: the culture of Chinese food, the emotion of home, and the cultural heritage. Theoretically, this study supports Systemic Functional Linguistics as an applicable linguistics. Practically, it offers a new perspective for interpreting cultural memes depicted in documentaries.