Representing Chinese Cultural Identity in Lay Zhang's "LIT" Music Video: A Roland Barthes Semiotic Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37826/spektrum.v14i2.1249Keywords:
Cultural Identity, representation, Music Video, Chinese Culture, Roland Barthes, Semiotic, Lay ZhangAbstract
Music videos are a form of mass media that are accessible and popular. Music video also often used to convey a messages, ideas, or represent the culture of their creators. This study aims to analyze about how Lay Zhang represents Chinese culture in his music video "LIT" using Roland Barthes's semiotic theory approach in a qualitative method. Data were obtained from specific scenes within the music video that display visual symbols such as cultural symbol, costumes, settings, expression, and colors. The results of this study indicate that Chinese culture is represented through traditional symbols such as the lotus flower, dragon, hanfu, as well as the use of red, gold, and black colors, which carry meanings of power, prosperity, and strength. The representation presented in this music video constructs meanings of glory, pride, and the revival of Chinese culture. “LIT” represents Chinese culture as dynamic and adaptive while remaining rooted in traditional values despite being presented in a more modern context. This research contributes to the fields of communication, semiotics, and cultural studies by demonstrating that visual media can be reconstructed to produce ideological meanings within popular media, as well as showing that visual communication media can function as a form of soft power in introducing culture.References
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