A multimodal analysis of storyline in ‘The Chinese Professor’ political advertisement: narrative construction and positioning in economic hard times

This article analyzes a political advertisement known as ‘The Chinese Professor’ and related artifacts from popular culture and news media. This advertisement aired in the midst of the worst economic downturn the US had experienced since the 1930s. The advertisement is set 20 years in the future and uses a fictional Chinese professor to deliver a lecture about the reasons why the US became a fallen empire. Using perspectives from social semiotics, multimodality, and positioning theory, the authors identify five storylines indicative of the ideologies that frame the advertisement and several forms of positioning. The authors demonstrate how micro level design choices position viewers within aesthetic experiences across these storylines and ultimately reflect the macro discourses framing ‘The Chinese Professor’. The authors conclude that these structures work together to create a ‘malignant positioning’ between viewers and ‘The Chinese Professor’.