A Corpus-Based Study of Chinese Animation Image in Nezha: From Foreign Moviegoers’ Perspective

Abstract

This article sets out to investigate the Chinese animation image in the Chinese animation blockbuster Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child (hereinafter Nezha) from foreign moviegoers’ reviews on famous movie websites. Methodologically, this research adopts a corpus-based approach to examine discursive mechanism through keywords analysis, collocation analysis and concordance line interpretation. Corpus findings present the mixed attitudes of foreign moviegoers towards Nezha on three major themes, namely general impression, movie details, and story reception. The findings of positive image are discussed in relation to the successful animation production together with the conceptual transformation of character shaping and storytelling, whereas the negative image to the immaturity of Chinese animation industry as well as the cultural and ideological differences among countries.