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This paper introduces the background, content, and impact of the film The Young Karl Marx, analyzes the techniques used in shaping Marx's image in the film, and points out the shortcomings of existing research. Through linguistic and visual modalities, the film constructs a vivid and distinctive portrayal of Marx, showcasing his life, emotions, and beliefs. After its release in Germany, the film attracted a large audience and achieved significant communicative success. From the perspective of multimodal discourse analysis, this paper systematically examines the construction logic of Marx's image in the film, explores the factors contributing to its successful dissemination, and provides insights for the production and international promotion of biographical films in China.

1. Theoretical Foundations

The origins and core concepts of multimodal research, as well as its application in constructing Marx's image in The Young Karl Marx, are discussed. With technological advancements and the advent of the new media era, discourses incorporating symbolic modalities such as text, images, and music have become mainstream forms of communication, where meaning is generated through the interplay of all these symbols. From the 1980s to the 1990s, multimodal research based on social semiotics emerged, with scholars from various fields analyzing multimodal phenomena in life from multiple perspectives. Hartmut Stöckl introduced the concept of "semiotic modality," arguing that modality encompasses three dimensions: signs, media, and sensory systems, with language, images, music, and sound being the most fundamental semiotic modalities. A multimodal discourse is a unified entity composed of multiple semiotic modalities, where different modalities form a "zipper-like relationship" through "transcription," collaboratively generating holistic meaning. Sound films are quintessential multimodal discourses, employing multiple core modalities to activate both visual and auditory senses.

From the perspective of linguistic discourse analysis, "discourse" refers to a collection of written or spoken texts on a specific theme, where the knowledge conveyed is a construction or reconstruction of reality based on the needs of the discourse's subject, influencing the cognition of social groups. The goal of linguistic discourse analysis is to uncover the socio-cognitive structures affecting language use by examining linguistic practices. Patterned expressions are projections of socio-cognitive structures onto the surface of discourse, possessing the potential to reinforce established knowledge. Investigating patterned expressions in discourse helps identify the traits assigned to individuals or objects, and the aggregation of these traits constitutes an image.

Academic research has extensive experience in studying patterned expressions in linguistic modalities, such as language usage patterns. Language usage patterns are recurring combinations of discourse units in specific linguistic segments, which can indicate additional characteristic patterns in media. These widely disseminated and frequently recurring additional characteristics gradually evolve into stereotypes held by certain groups about related subjects/individuals. Typical, recurring language usage patterns make the media portrayal of specific subjects/individuals traceable within a group.

Friedemann Vogel developed a linguistic image analysis method (LIma) for media portrayals based on the study of language usage patterns. This method first employs computer-assisted techniques to extract language usage patterns related to the research subject from a large-scale media corpus, then identifies additional characteristics assigned to the subject by these patterns in context, and finally synthesizes recurring additional characteristics to summarize the subject's media image as presented in the corpus.

Inherent cognitive patterns in the human mind are not only reflected in language use but also manifest in patterned expressions in other semiotic modalities, such as images. A study by Sadeghi, McClelland, and Hoffman demonstrated that the research approach of co-occurring entities in visual experiences is equally applicable to the study of visual information. This paper extends the concept of language usage patterns to image analysis, defining image usage patterns for both static and dynamic images. In static images, image usage patterns are "combinations of recurring schemata across multiple images." In dynamic images, viewers perceive individual shots as holistic units, with the entire film constituting a complete discourse unit. Each shot corresponds to a single image in static imagery—akin to a sentence in linguistic modality—while the multiple schemata within each shot correspond to words in linguistic analysis. Image usage patterns in dynamic images can arise not only from recurring co-occurring schemata within a single shot but also from recurring sequential appearances of image elements across adjacent shots. By examining image usage patterns in dynamic images such as films, one can identify additional characteristics assigned to a subject/individual in the visual modality, thereby summarizing the image of that subject/individual as presented in the film's visual modality.

2. Research Design: Deriving Multimodal Images from Patterned Expressions

This section explores how analyzing patterned expressions in semiotic usage can reveal the characteristic meanings assigned to subjects or individuals in multimodal discourses or discourses on specific themes, thereby tracing their image construction. The study focuses on the multimodal construction of Marx's image in The Young Karl Marx through the analysis of linguistic and visual modalities. Given the film's multilingual nature, the researchers selected the Chinese translation as the research corpus. Using AntConc software, dialogue fragments containing "Karl" or "Marx" were extracted and imported into MAXQDA for KWIC (Key Word In Context) analysis, with codes assigned to Marx's image. For the visual modality, the study employed image usage pattern analysis to summarize additional characteristics attributed to the young Marx in the film. Due to technical constraints, image information was first annotated for schemata in MAXQDA, followed by the use of code mapping to analyze co-occurring schemata and derive image usage patterns.

3. Findings: The Image of Marx in The Young Karl Marx

This chapter analyzes the multimodal construction of Marx's image in The Young Karl Marx using the proposed research methods. The study finds that the film shapes multiple facets of Marx's image through linguistic and visual modalities, with "Marx as accompanied and supported by others" and "Marx as youthful and passionate" being the most prominent. In the linguistic modality, Marx is portrayed as a creator wielding his pen as a weapon, while the visual modality emphasizes his intellectual exchanges and debates with predecessors and peers, highlighting the ideological origins behind his works. Additionally, the film depicts capitalists' rejection of Marx and the working class's hopes for him. In the "Marx as accompanied and supported by others" image, his wife Jenny and friend Friedrich Engels, among others, significantly influence his life and work. The "youthful and passionate Marx" is portrayed through his forthrightness, debates, and growth process. Through these multimodal techniques, the film constructs a multidimensional, fully realized Marx that resonates with the philosopher's image in public perception.

4. Conclusion

This paper introduces an analytical method based on discourse analysis theory to examine the multimodal construction of Marx's image in The Young Karl Marx, exploring how visual and linguistic modalities collaboratively shape his portrayal. The analysis reveals that the film presents Marx's character evolution and intellectual development through images of "Marx as accompanied and supported by others" and "Marx as youthful and passionate," as well as contrasts between the growing Marx and the creative Marx. The film employs numerous bright shots to psychologically bridge the distance between Marx and the audience. Simultaneously, the director skillfully incorporates widely recognized depictions of Marx, showcasing his reflections on and critiques of predecessors' ideas, as well as his experiences of exile. This analysis offers insights for biographical filmmaking in China, suggesting that portraying the growth of great figures can foster audience resonance, making their stories more accessible and comprehensible.

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