Education, Science, Technology, Innovation and Life
Open Access
Sign In
  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. Media and Communication Research
  4. Vol 6, Issue 4, 2025

A Study on the Poetic Expression of Chinese and Foreign Co-Produced Documentaries

Download as PDF

DOI: 10.23977/mediacr.2025.060413 | Downloads: 15 | Views: 237

Author(s)

Jianxin Diao 1, Huai Wang 2

Affiliation(s)

1 School of Journalism, Tarim University, Alar, Xinjiang, 843300, China
2 School of Journalism and Communication, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Yubei District, Chongqing, 401120, China

Corresponding Author

Jianxin Diao

ABSTRACT

Long-term documentary research and practice have revealed that documentaries possess two inherent qualities: poetic and narrative. Poetic expression requires reducing narrative elements, while forming a complete narrative chain necessitates diminishing poetic expression. There indeed exists a tension between the narrative and poetic aspects of documentaries, yet this does not imply their being mutually exclusive contradictions. Narrative encompasses stories and plots, where narrative strategies, structures, and forms may fail to resonate with some audiences, whereas poetic elements can evoke their imagination of "poetry and distant horizons," sparking emotional resonance. Thus, there might exist a tacitly compatible "secret space" between the two. Through exploring the possibility of their mutual compatibility, it is discovered that Sino-foreign co-produced documentaries utilize poetic expression to reveal deeper truths obscured by daily logic through imagery, metaphors, or fragmented narratives. By employing rhythm, music, and visual metaphors, they awaken audience emotional engagement and effectively tell China's stories through threefold approaches of shared understanding, mutual appreciation, and cultural integration.

KEYWORDS

Poetic Expression, Chinese and Foreign Co-Produced Documentaries, Narrative, Poetics, Cross-Cultural Communication

CITE THIS PAPER

Jianxin Diao, Huai Wang, A Study on the Poetic Expression of Chinese and Foreign Co-Produced Documentaries. Media and Communication Research (2025) Vol. 6: 114-123. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/mediacr.2025.060413.

REFERENCES

[1] Chen Qian. Influence, Acceptance and Construction [D]. Supervisor: Jing Xiuming. Zhejiang Normal University, 2014.
[2] Wang Qingfu. The Historical Evolution of Documentaries in Shaping the "Credible, Adorable, and Respected" Image of China [J]. Audiovisual Theory and Practice, 2025, (01):83-89.
[3] Chen Yi. Documentary and National Image Communication [M]. Beijing: China Renmin University Press, 2019:5.
[4] Zhou Xian. On Spectacle Films and Visual Culture [J]. Literary and Art Studies, 2005(03):18-26+158.
[5] Zhang Guojie. The Path to Poetic Dwelling [D]. Advisor: Zhang Xikun. Jilin University, 2010.
[6] Xu Dai. "Poetic Reflections on Art: An Interpretation of the Poetic Quality in Art" [J]. Journal of Southwest University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), 2007, (01):22-26.
[7] Liu Shilin. "Poetic Sensibility" and "Poetic Rationality": A Poetic Cultural Interpretation of the Aesthetic Spirit of China [J]. Journal of Shanghai Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 2009,38(01):14-20.
[8] Cao Chengli. Poetic Studies on Film and Television Language [D]. Advisor: Li Maomin. Shandong Normal University, 2011.
[9] Zhang Wei. Poetic Philosophy and Philosophical Poetics [J]. Journal of Sichuan International Studies University, 2001,17(3):19.
[10] Vico, The New Science (Second Edition), translated by Zhu Guangqian [M]. Hefei: Anhui Education Press, 2006:43.
[11] Liu Yu, Tarkovsky. Carving Time, translated by Chen Ligui and Li Yongquan [M]. Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 2003.an and Qiu Zihua. The Aesthetic Implications of Giambattista Vico's "Poetic Thinking" [J]. Journal of Central China Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), 2002, (01):86-92.
[12] Chen Yan. Five Characteristics of China's "Poetic Culture" [J]. Theoretical Journal, 2000, (06):115-120.
[13] Wang Dongdong and Lin Zihao. Analysis of Pasolini's Poetic Cinematic Language [J]. Contemporary Cinema, 2013(12):117–121.
[14] Huang Wenda. "What is Poetry-in Tarkovsky's Cinematic Vision" [J]. Journal of Shanghai University (Social Sciences Edition), 2007, No.01:35-40.
[15] Bill Nichols. Introduction to Documentary (2nd Edition), translated by Chen Xihuo and Liu Yuqing [M]. Beijing: China Film Press, 2015.
[16] Niu Guangxia. Narrative Discourse and Aesthetic Expression in Poetic Documentary Films [J]. Film Art, 2019(03):123–127.
[17] Nie Xinru. Documentary Studies [M]. Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2010:145.
[18] Nie Xinru. Thinking about the Poetic Nature of Documentaries [J]. China Television, 2015, (09):41-46+1.
[19] Liu Min. The Poetic Style in Visual Documentation and Its Formal Expression-From Early Documentaries to the Evolution of Poetic Aesthetics in Contemporary Poetic Films [J]. Art Baijia, 2015,31 (S2):189-193.
[20] Yang Hui. Poetic Documentary Studies in the Silent Film Era [J]. Contemporary Cinema, 2016(01):174-176.
[21] Xu Guoyuan, Wang Qiang. "The Photographic Writing of Poetic Geography and Its Dilemmas" [J]. China Television, 2011, (07):26-31.
[22] Zheng Wenjie. Exploring the Poetic Nature of Film Through Literary Analysis [J]. Film Literature, 2020(18):41-45.
[23] Ma Chizhu, Sun Jingang. The Distinguishing Between Host and Guest: On the Multiple Relationships of Poeticization in Documentaries [J]. Modern Communication (Journal of Communication University of China), 2019, (12):112-115.
[24] Niu Guangxia. Imagery, Emotion, and Symbolism: Poetic Expression and Constructive Poetics in Narrative Documentary Forms [J]. Contemporary Cinema, 2023(01):76-81.
[25] Yang Zhiyuan. The "Alchemy" of Images: On the Semiotics and Rhetoric of Poetic Documentaries [J]. Modern Communication (Journal of China Media University), 2019, (02):114-118.
[26] Cheng Bo, Yuan Daowu. The Flow of Poetry and the Surge of Reality: Aesthetic Presentation and Exploratory Strategies of Recent Poetic Documentaries in China [J]. Journal of Hangzhou Normal University (Social Sciences Edition), 2019,41(04):82-88.
[27] Hao Bing. Poetic Narrative Analysis of the Documentary "Ben Cao China" [J]. Guangjiao Publishing House, 2018, (01):78-80.
[28] Han Yue. The Evolution and Development of International Co-productions in New China Documentary-From the Perspective of Cross-cultural Adaptation [J]. Modern Audiovisual, 2020, (04):51-55.
[29] Jin Danyuan, Zhou Xu. From Cultural Subjectivity to Intertextuality-A Cultural Reflection on Contemporary Sino-Foreign Co-productions [J]. Contemporary Cinema, 2015(01):117-121.
[30] Hartmut Rosa. Uncontrolled [M]. Zheng Zuoyu and Ma Xin, trans. Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2022:7.
[31] Yang Mei. A New Communication Model Built on Physical Presence, Immersion, and Sensory Resonance [J]. China City Journalists, 2024, (08):59-61.
[32] Tian Weigang & Song Wenzhi. The Power of Emotion: A Study on the Subject-Object Relationship in Realistic Documentaries under the Internet Context [J]. Contemporary Communication, 2022(01):67-70.
[33] Lu Shaoming and Li Zhou. Spatial Rhetorical Strategies in Memory Representation: A Case Study of the Berlin Jewish Museum [J]. Journal of Tongji University (Social Sciences Edition), 2023,34(03):88-97.
[34] Zhang Qian. Research on Cultural Identity Construction in China-Laos Co-produced Documentaries from the Perspective of a Community with a Shared Future [J]. Film Review, 2022(12):34-39.
[35] Zhan Xiaomei, Wang Shimin. Political Identity in the Perspective of Cultural Identity [J]. China Social Sciences, 2013, (09):27-39.

All published work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright © 2016 - 2031 Clausius Scientific Press Inc. All Rights Reserved.