TV Series as a Value Barometer of Image Media

Lyu Sin' Lecturer; Department of Mass Communications; Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 9 Ostrovityanova str., Moscow, 117198, Russia dk-liu@hotmail.com Other publications by this author

           Introduction to the problemThe formation of media communication in the era of mobility and digital technologies is accompanied by the expansion of media opportunities and contributes to the growth of their influence on the audience.

One of the conceptual functions of television is the formation, support, promotion and correction of social and human values, the creation of a unique and universal conceptual sphere. With the help of television broadcasting, a set of values is demonstrated in order to spread them and unite the audience through the inclusiveness and digitalization of television media communication.

The transition of television to digital and mobile platforms has allowed it to become attractive and expand its audience. Modern television production, due to its special versatility, accessibility, mobility and attractiveness, actively participates in the transmission of values and checking their congruence.

A multi-part television series shown abroad as an actual product of modern media culture can become an effective tool of "soft power of influence" due to the peculiarities of the value content of its media images.

Theoretical and methodological approachesThe term "mediologie" was first introduced by the French scientist Regi Debre back in 1990 to denote a new teaching about the means intended for the transfer of knowledge and traditions, that is, cultural goods ^{[4, p.32]}.

The need for such an integrated approach to the study of mass media processes in society and culture, according to K.E.Razlogov, is due to "the social aspects of the information society and the prospects for cultural progress in general", since "the problems of informatization lie in the socio-cultural, not the natural science sphere" ^{[29, p.9]}. The leading place in the problem field of the new science is given to the development of media culture, its anthropologically determined genesis, social status, functional transformations, influence on communication processes in society and the world. "One of the main tasks of media studies is to study the diversity and interaction of different cultures in the global media space at the ethnic and artistic levels" ^{[11, pp.17-18]}.

G.M. McLuhan, having revised the entire typology of culture, analyzes the communication channels in the field of culture and explores the daily life of a person in the information society. G.M. McLuhan's 1967 formula "media is a message", which has become an axiom, does not lose relevance today, emphasizing their desire to capture the consumer's consciousness, immersing him in an illusory virtual world ^{[14, p.49]}. The opinion of the French postmodernist R. Barth seems to us extremely important for our research that new media, characteristic of a particular society, take over the consciousness of consumers, introducing them into their "semiological system", within which one can find various cultural schemes, values that form the basis of any society ^{[1, pp.271-272]}. So, media is not just a means for transmitting information, it is a communication environment in which different cultural codes are produced, aestheticized and broadcast [see 22]. Social communication as a process of interchange of meanings has always been based on culture and carried out through intermediaries, "the entire cultural experience of mankind grows on the basis of mediality" ^{[10, p.7]}. Media reality arises as one of the mechanisms of management and social control, which, according to N. Luhmann, acts as a cultural code, "conventions in respect of which must exist in society for the possibility of multiple communications" ^{[13, p.548]}. In modern audiovisual media culture, media reality is constructed on the basis of the symbolization of the code space. Another characteristic feature of media culture is the need of a mass audience to receive an audiovisual product that is closest to reality, which is explained by the uniformity of perception, orientation to mass, rather than individual consumption, in order to cause the audience to have "the same type, the same reaction for everyone" ^{[15, p.40]}.

According to the fair remark of K.A.Scolari, "media reality is collages of images included in a flow symbolic space that creates a virtual reality of a special kind and replaces a specific space and location" ^{[33, p.10]}. Rationing is becoming a particularly relevant parameter of media culture due to the fact that it provides the widest digital spectrum of media socialization of the individual, through which she learns not only social norms and values, experience, knowledge that correspond to a given society, a given social group, but also "customs, traditions, etiquette, law, morality, ideology, that there is a whole range of value orientations that ensure the preservation of society and support its development" ^{[10, p.71]}.

An attractive aspect of media culture is its enhanced gaming component due to the fact that all modern media are an integral part of the entertainment industry. Initially, the culture itself already contains certain game formats, among which the genre of the television series occupies an honorable place. In the process of viewing it, the viewer creates the illusion of complicity in events up to the influence on the surrounding reality. The combination of art and media through the mechanism of "empathy" is able, according to L.S. Vygotsky, "to involve the intimate and most personal aspects of our being into the circle of social life" [cit. po 11, p.73].

On-screen media culture in general and television series in particular open up to the viewer the possibility of experiencing events close to real life, but not affecting real life ^{[24, p.41]}. Thus, the media space is transformed into transmedia, a specific way of producing meanings through a dynamic, constantly changing combination of many formats in the context of genre transformations and convergent mixes ^{[19, p.87]}. According to one of the key ideologists of the new concept, G. Jenkins, transmedia is a new cultural practices of consumers and a specific experience of perception of modern mass media, which allows us to consider this phenomenon as a socio—cultural phenomenon [see 31]. G. Jenkins develops M. De Certeau's concept of practices and strategies of everyday life, in which he considers active communication as a popular discussion and expert commenting is a single multi-tiered communication space hosted on different media platforms [see 31]. In his concept, G. Jenkins postulates that many others are built around the source text, each of them is relatively independent and at the same time adjacent to the main narrative line: these may be micro-stories that are thematically closely related to the main line, or "parallel" stories similar to the main one.

In the situation of the expansion of the global media sphere, almost every media text influences public opinion and becomes an image formation tool. The state image is an emotionally colored image formed in the mass consciousness as a result of its functioning in the media space. A.I. Solovyov emphasizes that "the image of the state is based on the traditions of perception of this country, based on the experience of many generations" ^{[21, p.69]}. I. Y. Kiselyov points out that "the previously existing stereotypes are still they remain in the subconscious of the audience" ^{[12, p.256]}. E. Galumov notes that "it is the objective, real characteristics of the state that are the basis for the formation of the country's image" ^{[2, p.86]}. The globalization of the media sphere has led to the image significance of all state media resources and media products promoted abroad, including television production. As a socio-cultural phenomenon, the series has great opportunities to demonstrate all the components of the state image highlighted by A.P. Pankrukhin: official symbols (coat of arms, flag, anthem, orders, verbal symbols) and informal symbols (historical and mythical personalities, the most characteristic plants and animals, distinctive products of export and domestic use) ^{[17, p.87]}.

Among the models of the image of the state, the possibilities of the series are most productive with the branding approach, which was developed by A.N. Chumikov and M.P. Bocharov, who considered the branding of the country as "a type of activity aimed at creating stable representations in the minds of consumers about the object of the surrounding world" ^{[28, p.156]}. The branding model of A. N. Chumikov and M. P. Bocharov considers the possibility of building a brand of the state as a "great power" [See ibid.] based on the integrativity of the country's existing positive symbols-brands. Among the brand symbols, of course, there may be a TV series saturated with cultural values and traditions.

The ideas of another theorist in the field of state branding, W. Ollins, that "a national brand should demonstrate national characteristics in an effective and attractive way" ^{[16, p.64]} also confirm the promising role of the series in supporting the state image abroad. It is also significant that the image model of E. Galumov, which divides the image into internal and external, considering them in an inseparable unity, works in relation to the series, which is equally significant for both citizens of the state and for foreign society. Within the state, the series performs the task of checking national and cultural values and priorities, and abroad - their demonstration. In the process of showing the series, he answers many image-relevant questions formulated by E. Galumov: Where is the country? What is interesting about it (in the field of cultural, historical and natural attractions)? What are the people of the country (mentality, spiritual characteristics)? What does the country produce (know how to do)? What are the aspirations of the people? ^{[2, p.88]} From the answers of the series to these questions, a multi-sided media image is formed in the mass consciousness of foreign society: political-geographical, natural-resource, civilizational-cultural, sociomental, industrial-economic and national-value.

In the global "media village", the processes of mutual collisions of cultures, beliefs, lifestyles, etc. began to be accompanied by their interpenetration, expansion of access to the social or other experience of other peoples. The series becomes the main mechanism of such cultural expansion, which was mentioned by A. Gramsci in his theory of cultural hegemony [see 23]. It is the series that can become the most effective component of the "soft power of persuasion", the concept of which was proposed by Joseph Nye due to the fact that the "hard force of coercion" has lost its effectiveness. "Soft power" is based on culture and values, ideas, symbols, myths, that is, exactly those components that are the basis of the ideology of the TV series. The concept of "soft power" by J.Naya implies "promoting one's interests and approaches by persuading and attracting sympathy for one's country, based on its achievements not only in material, but also in spiritual culture and intellectual sphere" [cit. po 18, p.18]. As correctly emphasized by J.Nye, "in the modern world, the outcome of a political struggle is determined not by whose army wins, but by whose history wins" ^{[32, p.69]}. In this sense, the series is considered as such a narrative, the history of which can contribute to the support of a positive image of the state abroad.

The classical understanding of value is contained in the philosophical dictionary, which defines it as "specifically social definitions of objects of the surrounding world, revealing their positive or negative significance for man and society (good, good, evil, beautiful and ugly, contained in the phenomena of social life and nature)" ^{[25, p.646]}. The founder of research in the field of axiological linguistics was V.I.Karasik, who was the first to pay attention to the embodiment of values in linguistic consciousness and communicative behavior ^{[8, p.118]}. Values are necessary for society as a regulator of social relations, the activities of the individual, society and the state, "moral guidelines for life" ^{[30, p.3]}, "meaningful preferences (patterns, ideals, norms) that certain people, communities or societies adhere to" ^{[3, p.128]}.

There are a number of classifications that divide values into material and ideal (spiritual), and in terms of content they distinguish groups of religious, moral, aesthetic, social, economic, and political. All of them are internally interconnected and form a system that determines people's attitudes ^{[6, p.19]}, form a value picture of the world, which is a "complex unity of priorities that determine world perception and behavior", reflects social attitudes and ideas about the norm ^{[7, p.230]}. E.F. Serebrennikova comments on this situation as follows: "With the help of language, the subject himself orients himself in the world of his values and orients other subjects, exerting a regulating influence on their states and actions" ^{[20, p.30]}. The main method of identifying the value potential of socially significant information when it is broadcast to society is an evaluative comparison, reconciliation of value as such and information content. The concept of evaluation is based on a person's need for value markers, which make it possible to determine the degree of "importance, weight, value, necessity, usefulness, expediency, aesthetics, ethics, etc. (in a word, about the significance) of something for a person" ^{[5, p.76]}.

If N.V. Chernikova believes that it is the socio-cultural connotation that has a mobile character and can change depending on extralinguistic circumstances ^{[27, p.147]}, then today it is obvious that all other aspects of life also strongly influence the value picture of the individual, society and the state. The subjective nature of the media image is determined by its very nature. Its formation is determined by the parameters of the reflection of the object, which include archetypes, stereotypes, beliefs of the individual. "Due to a wide range of epistemological, psychological, cultural, psychosocial and psychoethnic "filters", starting with the personal position of the journalist and the political guidelines of the publication and ending with the axiological attitudes of society, the object is modified in the human mind" ^{[26, p.12]}.

Research resultsThe integration of media culture is based on the network exchange of information, which contributed to the unification of national, regional and local cultures, the search for common human values.

Television as a mass media also tends to transform into a means of mass communication, and television series are becoming one of the clearest manifestations of the new transmedia possibilities of broadcasting. It is the TV series that is aimed at the widest possible audience coverage, it seeks to use all possible media channels. The concept of on-screen reality, which previously referred only to cinema, with the development of television increasingly shifted towards communication, opening up for the audience the opportunity to feel like an active participant in on-screen events. Through emotional and sensual understanding of what is happening, the audience began to master the value picture of the world, and digital technologies have made this mastering easier, more convenient, and therefore more effective. The convergence of these components further contributes to the design of a single media stream, open for completion and conversion. The actors approach the audience as carriers of public opinion, influencers.

The basic plot of the series involves the personal characteristics of viewers (worldview, personal preferences, skills, views, imagination), technical capabilities, contextual interaction and participation, meaning that the opinions, reactions and assessments of the audience really affect the development of narrative material. One of the leading functions of modern mass media is the identification, maintenance and verification of social values, on the basis of which public opinion is developed in relation to events, phenomena and personalities. Journalism is impossible outside of the value scale, since in the process of informing any journalist feels the need to affirm value orientations that unite society in making decisions and forming attitudes to new information.

Values, regulating a person's attitude to the surrounding reality, are fixed in his consciousness and become the tuning fork of his relationship with the outside world.  The most fundamental are the values of a moral character, as well as values that reveal belonging to a particular culture. It is cultural identity that makes it possible to compare the values of different cultures, identifying similarities and differences. Values are the essence of culture as the most important mechanisms for its preservation and development. These are moral and moral values, aesthetic and legal values, as well as the values of scientific knowledge, human history and social theories, values related to human nature and the meaning of his life. Value should be considered as ideas, feelings, or sensations that are of particular importance to an individual, a separate social group, or an entire nation. The value system of each level should reflect ideas about the norm (value) and deviations from it. Sets of values may partially coincide, overlap. There is also a universal set of so-called eternal values, to which the authors of media texts most often appeal.

Deep representation of values requires an audiovisual format, which is provided by modern television, whose programs allow organizing a full-fledged contact of the audience with the historical, cultural, spiritual and value experience of humanity, peoples, nations, nationalities. Nationality belonging to a certain type of society, the peculiarities of mentality and cultural specificity determine the specifics of a set of values and, most importantly, the semantic subtleties of their understanding, interpretation and interpretation. So, some values remain eternal and are universal for all time epochs, all territories and peoples inhabiting them. The interpretation of other values turns out to be more specific and conditioned by the peculiarities of national-cultural, social and socio-political factors. Finally, there may be unique values belonging to a particular nationality, formed under the influence of special conditions of its existence. The value paradigm can change along with social transformations, historical, economic and political changes, including the information and digital technological revolution.

The archetypal orientation of value positions allows filling each component of the media image with a significant impact force. This is especially important for television series that form the ideas of the mass audience about the country in the context of which the plot takes place. The media image represents the real world in three incarnations. The first is a reflection of the visible, perceived world, the second is the level of transformation into a sign system, and the third is the image of the world perceived and appreciated by the recipient of the media message, depending on personal or collective characteristics. This allows a person in the information space to feel a picture of the world adequate to his ideas and values, which allows him to determine the meaning of life and design an effective life scenario. Any media message becomes a value-oriented message. Actually, the entire infosphere can be perceived as a value space. An effective media image is both a reflection and a transformation of reality based on understanding and mastering the entire human value potential.

In a television series, there is an opportunity to implement several value-significant media images. This is the level of the system of main and secondary characters, in the images of which the most characteristic, typical characteristics are generalized, due to national-cultural and supranational moral and ethical norms. These media images allow us to demonstrate the best features of representatives of society in situations of communication between adults and children, teachers and students, men and women. Another level is the media image of the national culture, within which only the manifestation of the best qualities of the plot characters is possible. Culture is demonstrated as situations in which action takes place: These are food, home interior, nature, architecture, etc. Finally, the third level is an ideal media image of a value picture that affects the worldview of the audience.

The Chinese television series "Symphonic Novel" directed by Liu Junjie is a 46–hour narrative series in which students of the Shanghai Conservatory dream of their orchestra and a career in Paris, achieve success, win competitions, spending their youth thinking about music and love. The plot is based on the formation and professional growth of young musicians, students of the conservatory, and personal relationships between them. There are several love lines in the series. Important social topics are also touched upon: the relationship of fathers and children, negative attitudes towards divorce and single women. The leading leitmotif of the series is the pursuit of a dream. The TV series is saturated with plot motives, in the process of development of which a value picture is formed through the behavior and collision of various characters. The key principle of their demonstration is the method of comparison. In the "Symphonic Novel" values are tested in the comparison of images. So, the comprehension of the values of honesty, diligence, dignity occurs with the help of the images of the main character and another young conductor. The comparison of the images of the main character and his teacher contributes to the understanding of the values associated with the relationship of "fathers and children", "teachers and students" (education, enlightenment, etc.). The values of love and friendship are comprehended against the background of the images of the main character and his girlfriend. The value value of the family is revealed in the comparison of the images of the main character and his father. The values of national culture (food, housing, etc.) - against the background of a comparison of Shanghai and Paris, etc.).

The whole range of values presented in the TV series can be systematized according to several criteria. According to the coverage of the audience, groups of universal, national and personal values can be distinguished, according to the sphere of life support of society – socio-cultural, national-cultural, historical-cultural; according to the impact on human life and society – behavioral, ideal and mixed. It is known that the national specificity of Chinese culture not only has a pronounced character, but also retains its importance for the development of modern Chinese society. A number of cultural features transcend national borders and extend their influence to an international audience, such as Chinese national food, loved by the whole world.

The demonstration of priority national and cultural values to the world community provides China with the opportunity to position its media image as a culturally rich country with its own important individual characteristics. Such a media image is the basis of China's sustainable image. At the same time, its active development and the desire to enter the advanced countries of the world forces us to look for new ways to adjust the image in order to bring it closer to the Western mentality. In the TV series "Symphonic Novel" in this way becomes a cross–cutting leitmotif - classical music, musical works of classical European composers. The sound of classics is not just an illustrative audio material in the TV series. This music becomes the leading value, which as a catalyst manifests all the other values available in the TV series. Such an increase in classical music (KM) renews the understanding of values, changes their category, reveals the new image potential of the TV series and its media images as instruments of "soft power" influence on the world community. Classical music fulfills the high mission of interpreting China as a civilized country that understands and shares the European mentality. It is possible to present the results of the study in the form of a table in which the image potential of each value can be estimated from 1 to 10 points, additional points in connection with classical music – up to 10 points.

Traditional values are arranged in a scale (on the left) in a certain order, which changes after the addition of the "additional price" of classical music:

1. food 1.education

2. family 2.family

3. education 3.education

4.career 4.career

5. education 5.love

6. love 6.friendship

7. friendship 7.food

Thus, when adding the value of classical music, the image potential of enlightenment and education as a category of eternal and supranational values in the world increases significantly, and the value of national food decreases significantly, passing into the category of exotic national specifics.

Conclusions and prospects of the study

Thus, the value paradigm of the television series "Symphonic Novel", generally responding to the key positions of scientific and theoretical approaches to the study of the television series as a symbiosis of socio-cultural and media-cultural characteristics of the national-cultural mentality of the Chinese, at the same time becomes more flexible under the influence of the value of classical music, which as a leitmotif accompanies the disclosure of all other values in the process the development of the TV serial narrative. At the same time, the value of classical music does not distort or detract from other values, but shows their image potential.

The role and place of the TV series as a hybrid genre based on the interaction of art and media communication in the structure of a multi-tiered image strategy is that the media images created in the TV series at the intersection and in the convergent interaction of genre characteristics of artistry and media communication acquire a special value potential that allows influencing the audience and forming its idea of the subject of the media message.