


































Communication, Society and Media 
ISSN 2576-5388 (Print) ISSN 2576-5396 (Online) 

Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm 

41 

 

Original Paper 

Body Narrative and Affective Translation: An Exploration of 

Humanistic Discourse Identity in Postwar Science Fiction Films 

Ruifeng Wu
1*

 

1 
Faculty of Drama, Film and Television, Jilin University of Arts, Changchun, China 

* 
Ruifeng Wu, Faculty of Drama, Film and Television, Jilin University of Arts, Changchun, China 

 

Received: July 12, 2025         Accepted: July 24, 2025       Online Published: August 10, 2025 

doi:10.22158/csm.v8n2p41                       URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/csm.v8n2p41 

 

Abstract 

In the post-World War II era, when film technology has been undergoing rapid innovation and society’s 

concern for human survival and ethical and moral issues has been increasing, science fiction films 

have been widely favoured by audiences because of their attitude towards survival and imaginative 

power. Such works present a profound exploration of body narrative through visual effects, based on 

humanistic discourse and care, and using the advantages of body expression to closely link affections 

in physical and metaphorical space, thus facilitating the translation of affections and reshaping the 

in-depth dialogue with the audience. At the same time, through the video narrative that conveys 

aesthetic meaning, provokes profound cultural reflection and builds human consensus, it satisfies and 

expands the value of social significance. By analyzing how post-war science fiction films effectively use 

humanistic discourse to achieve social communication and identification with the audience, the article 

provides a new perspective for similar film creation and theoretical research. 

Keywords 

post-war science fiction cinema, body Narrative, affective translation, humanistic discourse, identity 

 

1. Introduction 

Physical expression and Affective communication are important factors in the construction of 

audio-visual elements of film, and through the intervention of humanistic ideas, the expression of story 

and plot around the characters will become a necessary means to attract and link the audience. In the 

1960s, scholars of film theory in the Western world carried out in-depth discussions around textual 

narrative and semiotics, and formally opened up the study of film narrative while integrating the 

elements of film expression. The study of film narrative was formally opened while integrating the 

elements of film expression. As an important genre of film art, the formation and development of 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

42 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

science fiction film is closely related to the evolution of film narrative theory and the innovation of 

filming technology. It is worth noting that the humanistic ideology embedded in this genre can be 

traced back to its origins—Georges Méliès directed the first science fiction film in the history of 

cinema, A Trip to the Moon (1902). In the process of narrative evolution and development of pre-war 

science fiction films, a number of landmark works were gradually formed. Metropolis (1927) 

profoundly reveals the predicament of human society under industrial civilisation, and innovatively 

incorporates the visual metaphor of the body element; with the gradual infiltration of the humanist 

trend in the narrative, science fiction films with pessimistic colours, such as King Kong (1933) and 

Frankenstein (1931), began to emerge, and through the narrative motifs of the loss of control of the 

body caused by scientific experiments, these works refract the body’s loss of control, and reflect the 

humanist concept of the body as a whole. These works reflected the deep concern of the society about 

technological alienation through the narrative theme of the loss of control over the body caused by 

scientific experiments. During the post-war boom era of science fiction films, phenomenal works such 

as 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968), Star Wars (1977), and Wandering Earth (2019) condensed visual 

effect technology into a unique audiovisual grammar through the extreme exploration of physical 

aesthetics, relying on an efficient industrialised production system. This not only set the tone for the 

industrialised production of science fiction genre films, but also pushed the humanistic core of science 

fiction films into a new era of deep development through groundbreaking narrative innovation and 

worldview construction. Nowadays, in the process of transmutation of academic theories, research 

scholars are trying to clarify the interaction and identity relationship between works and audiences 

through the extension of research thresholds and transformation of research perspectives. Some 

scholars of aesthetics research, through the continuous exploration and expansion of the function and 

structure of film narrative, have worked out a set of theoretical paradigms for film narrative and 

reception aesthetics, that is, on the basis of bodily representation, they have systematically summarised 

the laws of bodily narrative and summarised the methods of translating emotions in the process of 

conveying them, and systematically integrated them into the framework of humanistic discourse. Based 

on the ontology of classic science fiction films, this study will integrate interdisciplinary social science 

theoretical approaches to carry out systematic analyses, providing a novel observation perspective and 

useful reference for film theory or industry practitioners. 

 

2. Body Narrative: Dimensional Expansion of Discursive Space in Science Fiction Film 

In the narrative development of science fiction films, from the fantasy of human exploration of the 

unknown in the early 20th century to the reflection and criticism of human nature in the 1980s to the 

rise of post-humanism in the early 21st century, from A Trip to the Moon (1902) to 2001: A Space 

Odyssey (1968) to Her (2013) and so on, these works have always been centred on the themes of 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

43 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

human survival and humanism. The humanistic discourse emphasises the dignity, value, potential and 

self-actualisation of the individual, among others, thus chaining together the individual evolution of the 

human race (Maslow, 2021). In the creation of video art, individual dignity, value realisation and 

potential development have achieved the construction of the spiritual field and the extension of the 

symbolic system of symbols through the dual perspectives of physical narrative and affective 

representation, while science fiction films, through the insightful observation of the future landscape of 

human civilisation, organically link the humanistic discourse system in a more artistically tense form, 

and reveal the penetrating power of philosophical thinking in the weaving of light and shadow. The 

science fiction film, through its profound view of the future of human civilisation, organically connects 

the discourse of humanism in a form of greater artistic tension and reveals the penetrating power of 

philosophy in the weaving of light and shadow. 

2.1 Narrative Schema Roaming and Resonance 

In terms of the conceptual construction of body narratology, research scholars have formed a theoretical 

system with empirical validity through multi-dimensional exploration and practical verification. Based 

on the theoretical framework of classical narratology, Daniel Punday, a renowned researcher in 

narrative theory, has keenly revealed the subtle difference between the individual body and the 

universal body through the systematic explanation of the construction mechanism of narrative image 

and narrative mode. He has skilfully placed this discovery on the dual layers of history and storytelling, 

and deeply explored its spiritual and cultural connotations, successfully linking the complex social 

contexts and diversified socio-cultural influences of his time with the unique responses of the body in 

different situations. In his book Narrating the Body: Towards a Narratology of the Body, he mentioned 

that “in order to make the body meaningful through narrative, it is necessary to systematically 

distinguish it from non-bodily things. This initial, non-semantic distinction is the basis for all 

subsequent narrative choices”. The source of all this is the drive of the living body to pursue its desires 

and explore its results. People are not interested in bodies that have lost their lives, but the reason why 

meaning still exists in these bodies is the significance they are given to participate in the thrilling story 

in order to achieve their purpose (Wang, 2023). The film 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968) has a great deal 

of body narratives and manages to break through the superficial body meanings to explore more 

derived meanings. The birth of the Star Child at the end of the film is the climactic stage of the film’s 

body narrative representation, in which director Kubrick expresses confidence in human evolution and 

the infinite possibilities of an ideal future. From the beginning of the film orangutan’s unconscious 

body behaviour, and thus transferred to the space satellite evolutionary process, fully demonstrated the 

power of the human species leap forward show, the audience can deeply feel the full awakening of 

self-consciousness, marvel at the pace of human rapid and determined, until the end of the Dave in the 

state of witnessing their own bodies at various stages, and then to the creation of the star child, a new, 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

44 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

beautiful longing for the survival of the space once again For the audience to bring the hope of desire, 

in the journey of exploring the unknown constantly looking for mysteries and opportunities, 

performance of the film to bring the audience of historical reflection and future reference. The film 

Wandering Earth (2019) vividly tells the magnificent epic of mankind, who, faced with the desperate 

situation of the destruction of the solar system, joins hands to launch the Earth Wandering Plan and 

bravely pursues a new world of existence. In the film, Liu Peiqiang defended the future of mankind 

with his life with fearless courage and firm conviction, and his heroic choice before his death was like a 

bright star that illuminated the journey of hope. This scene not only adds a profound affective colour to 

the whole story, but also inspires and satisfies the audience’s infinite feelings for life, courage and hope, 

leading them to step into this interstellar adventure together, and to feel the magnificence and shock 

that transcends life and death. 

In contrast to narratological theories in a general sense, Punday considers the body to be part of 

narrative and narratology (Wang, 2023). Firstly, he delves into the ways in which the body is integrated 

into the story and how it acts as a strong narrative endogenous force that drives the plot forward 

progressively. Secondly, he explores in detail how the body narrative theory assists the audience to 

understand the expression and deconstruction of the body in the narrative. In short, this theory provides 

the audience with a profound and valuable perspective of narrative interpretation. It is in this way that 

Punday constructs a different way of research from classical narratology, opening the door to 

post-classical narrativism. In contrast to the previous structured character paradigm, he insists that 

characters are grounded in the level of storytelling, and uses the body as a research incision to analyse 

the current and historical environment. After reconstructing the structural iconography of the characters, 

the characters become more full-bodied, their affective expressions more delicate and diversified, and 

their polysemous qualities become more and more obvious. The film Double Body (2022) tells a story 

of cloning that transgresses ethics. After Sarah receives the news of her terminal illness, she decides to 

clone herself using the then sophisticated cloning technology, aiming to alleviate the pain of her loved 

ones and friends, but after the miraculous recovery, the realities of the two existences have changed 

drastically. The clone gradually brings goodwill in terms of affective value to her boyfriend and mother, 

and the gradually imbalanced ethical environment in which the clone makes up for the flaws of her 

own body and conspires to murder it, becoming the survivor. The changes and dislocations of the body 

in the story make the audience worried about the survival environment of the original body, and the 

clone’s complete sense of making up for the defects also puts both bodies into a whirlpool of human 

rights and affective struggles. The open ending of the film is a reasonable explanation for the 

breakthrough of the narrative paradigm, and the survival of whatever body triggers speculation about 

its various endings. Harvey Dent, the righteous prosecutor in the film Batman—The Dark Knight 

(2008), represents social justice, but after suffering a series of blows, he gradually falls into darkness 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

45 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

and becomes a contrasting double-faced man. Director Nolan’s elaborate design here is for the body 

image design of the character in the play, half of the burnt out horrible facial bones and the other half of 

the intact face, forming a sharp contrast. The multiple meanings of the character’s image are well 

sketched out, and his inner struggle and rebellion show the subtlety and delicacy of the character’s 

design. 

2.2 Symbolism and Metaphor in the Discursive Space of Body Narrative 

Film discourse space is a narrative environment constructed around the time and space of characters’ 

physical existence, characters and relationships. In the film’s narrative environment, it is impossible to 

detach from the character’s internal and special cultural background controlled by the ideological 

elements, and different elements also carry different expressive meanings, such as the character’s 

reaction under exploration, loneliness, dilemma, captivity, and freedom. For this reason, the director 

constructs a virtual space with symbols, metaphors and other ideological functions to interact with the 

viewers through the means of visual and auditory media. In his book Story and Discourse: The 

Narrative Structure of Fiction and Film, renowned theoretical scholar Seymour Chatman innovatively 

divided the narrative structure into story and discourse, and for the first time clarified the basic concept 

of “discursive space”. His theory is mostly related to the actual or fictional space where the narrator is 

located in the spatial field, and includes the consideration of perspective and location, still in the 

environmental factors, the influence of the nature of the environment on the existence of the 

environment, and indirectly conveys the shaping of the environment on the characters of the story and 

its symbolic and metaphorical role to the viewer, indicating the narrator’s narrative care for the viewer 

(Chatman, 2013). The film The Butterfly Effect (2004) tells the story of Evan, a male protagonist on a 

time-travelling journey, who constantly alters the events of the past in an attempt to free himself and his 

sidekick from a bad fate. Through the superpowers of the main character, Evan, the audience is able to 

witness him build a whole new parallel universe in a spectacle perspective. In the midst of his 

travelling through the past. The body as a medium of time travelling is a metaphor for the fact that 

human development cannot escape the influence of the past, and as the protagonist, his arrival in the 

world will bring irreversible effects to his family and partners. Just like the title of the film, the 

Butterfly Effect, when Evan discovers that he has to fold his own arms in order to reduce the effects to 

a negligible level, his body seems to be intertwined with his destiny at the moment, which makes the 

audience think about the free will under the unfairness of destiny. A central theme in the film Blade 

Runner 2049 (2017) is the profound descriptions and metaphors of the body. For example, the 

protagonist K, a chain 9 replicant, is given a normal human lifespan and false memories, yet his 

emotions are deliberately suppressed. However, as the plot develops, K gradually awakens and begins 

to show his true emotions and self-awareness, and he learns to rebel against human control and make 

humane choices at critical moments. By depicting the physical differences between real humans and 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

46 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

replicants, the film subtly introduces a deeper reflection on human self-identity, freedom and the 

meaning of existence. The controllability and limitation of physical functions not only reflect the 

control of humans over the replicants, but also metaphorically represent the human race’s exploration 

of self-identity, free will and the value of existence. Through this series of metaphors, the film shows 

the pursuit of human beings for the realisation of their self-worth and the possibility of their way of 

existence, and triggers the audience to reflect deeply on the nature of human beings and their future 

development. 

 

3. Affective Translation: Affective Indications in the Juxtaposition of Communication and 

Reception 

Science fiction film provides a unique video narrative field for the construction of humanistic discourse. 

The body, as a figurative representation of individual existence, and emotion, as an endogenous quality 

of the subject of consciousness, together constitute the core ideological elements in the narrative 

system of science fiction films. In the smooth communication and acceptance of emotion, the image as 

the only and key field, how to successfully communicate the story and the director’s intention into the 

affective mode that the audience can accept and enjoy seeing, and to become the affective factor that 

makes the audience moved, has also become a question worth exploring in the process of 

“communication - acceptance”. 

3.1 Concrete Conveyance of Intent and Emotion 

André Bazin states in What is Cinema: “The objectivity of photography endows the image with a 

compelling power that no painting can have ... Photography is uniquely able to reproduce the object as 

it is in its facsimile. The most realistic painting can give us a better idea of the original appearance of 

the depicted object, but, however eloquent we may be, it will not, in the end, have the extraordinary 

power of photography to win our complete confidence” (Bazin, 2017). Through a careful comparative 

study of painting and photographic imagery, Bazan gained a keen insight into the unique fascination 

that images exhibit in conveying affective and meaningful values. This charm is reflected in the fact 

that images possess a special infectious power, which can easily win the trust of viewers and make 

them uncontrollably devote themselves to the story world constructed by the images, eager to unveil 

the mystery hidden behind the pictures. Bazan’s discovery provides a new perspective for us to 

understand the deep value of video art, and also has a profound impact on the field of video creation. 

The famous film theorist Jean Mitri once mentioned in Aesthetics and Psychology of Cinema, in 

response to the viewpoints of literature and image on the conveyance of emotion: “Cinema is first of all 

(by nature) a means of expression ... We can express concepts through emotion and by using this 

emotion, while in the language of words in the language of words, we are using concepts and 

expressing emotions through them”. In short, the characters and things that are placed in the frame of 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

47 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

the scene by the director are determinants of ideality (Mitry, 2012). The film Mars Rescue (2015) 

constructs a story of rescue interwoven with the social ethics of real human beings in a spectacle 

perspective. In the film, Mark Watney playfully refers to his “farmyard manure” plan when he is 

planting potatoes, and this optimistic attitude continues throughout the film, conveying the message 

that even in the toughest of times, humans can still maintain hope. In addition, NASA scientists 

succeeded in bringing him back to Earth through innovative plans and tireless efforts, and this 

transnational co-operation also demonstrates the spirit of unity in the face of common challenges. Due 

to the realism of the film’s scene reproduction and the assumed visual environment, Matt Damon, 

through his highly immersive expression, allows the audience to almost immerse themselves in the film, 

resonating with the protagonist’s burgeoning hope for survival. The film is closely centred on survival 

in extreme environments, teamwork and cross-cultural and cross-border support, and demonstrates the 

great power of human social emotions. The film Batman—The Dark Knight (2008) is a superhero-style 

expression of the exploration and desire of human nature under the real social status quo, setting the 

characters tightly around the social background, showing the grasp of the environment on human 

nature and change, so that the viewer is plunged into the inner vortex of the human nature crisis. 

Harvey Dent was originally the symbol of hope in Gotham City, known as the “Knight of Light”. 

However, after his girlfriend, Rachel, is killed by the Joker, he falls into madness and becomes a 

“two-faced man”. His transformation allows the audience to see that even the most righteous person in 

a dark society can go dark under extreme circumstances, and successfully reveals the fragility of human 

nature and the complexity of morality, thus firmly grasping the audience’s thinking, the accumulation 

of emotions and the connotation of human nature in the film in a montage-style audio-visual approach 

to bring the plot to a climax, and ultimately to the “last-minute rescue” mode to mobilise the audience. 

“The complexity of human emotions is constantly visualised and conveyed in the language of images. 

The complexity of human emotions is constantly visualised and conveyed in the language of images. A 

number of ingenious ideas have also demonstrated director Nolan’s intention for the script to reflect on 

society. 

3.2 The Audience Reception Concealed within the Affective Perspective 

In the long process of the evolution of film theory from classical to modern, the continuous shift of 

research objects reveals the broadening of the dimension of film aesthetics, and affect theory is one of 

the theoretical foundations of this shift. The affective theory serves the potential audience of a work, 

and how to transform the implicit affect into a reasonable degree of acceptance is precisely the 

reasonable answer of the image to the audience’s acceptance. The theory was first proposed by the 

theorist Spinzano, who understood the affective movement as the strain of the body, which would result 

in the strength and limitation of the power of physical activity. Later, Deleuze further elaborated the 

affectus as a philosophical concept of subjectivity generation and gave the basic definition of “affectus”: 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

48 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

the continuous flux of the force of being or action, i.e., the flux of emotions in human behaviour, 

cognition and social interaction. Deleuze refers to the concept of the affective-image in Motion-Image 

and distinguishes it from the perceptual-image and the action-image. Through close-ups and 

subconscious zooming in on faces, different faces convey one or more affects, each individual has its 

own affective “specificity”, which is expressed with fluidity, such as gestures, words, attitudes, and so 

on, and this creates an “ambient atmosphere” that suggests an affective movement. The “ambient 

atmosphere” created in this case shows that the affective movement is not visible in itself, but it is felt 

by us in the transmission of emotions (Kai, 2024). In the film Cosmic Exploration Editorial (2021), 

stemming from the inner impulses and desires dissected by his daughter’s suicide, Tang Zhijun’s thirst 

for cosmic exploration becomes more and more obvious. In this seemingly absurd journey of 

exploration, the constant breakthrough of common knowledge allows for the externalisation of 

emotions and gives the audience the ability to generate affective feelings, transmitting the inner world 

of the group of characters through subconscious behaviours, which results in affective and collective 

upliftment and resonance. The affective core of the film Star Trek (2014) is the story of love and 

commitment between a father and daughter. In the film, Cooper’s actions are always driven by his love 

for his family and his daughter, whether it is travelling through a wormhole or exploring a new planet, 

in order to be reunited with his daughter. The depth of human nature in the film through the expression 

of emotions that transcend geographical limitations, focusing on exploring the greatness of human love 

and affection between the intersection of space and time under the vision of science fiction. In the 

unknown space of the universe, emotions are indeed transmitted, and on Cooper’s journey to explore a 

new future, Cooper in the parallel universe looks far away from his daughter in reality, erecting an 

affective corridor in the two unseen spaces of the universe. 

The continuous improvement and expansion of affective aesthetics has provided important theoretical 

support for the development of receptive aesthetics. Reception aesthetics is still an important research 

shift in film studies, which establishes the audience’s central position in film art and gradually becomes 

the main body of film interpretation and re-creation, which provides certain theoretical support for 

postmodernism and the transformation of art cinema and even commercial cinema since the new 

century. In “Literary History as a Challenge to Literary Theory”, Robert Yao Si firstly put forward the 

entry angle of “anticipatory vision” to the reader-centred aesthetics of reception. The audience at the 

receiving end naturally needs to form a certain cultural foundation, which also depends on the current 

development of a particular cultural society. In today’s global socio-cultural development and the 

integration of film culture, we are witnessing a wave of discussion around avant-garde themes, rapid 

technological advances, and the gradual development of cultural diversity and inclusiveness. As the 

audience’s cognitive and learning abilities increase, their acceptance is steadily growing. In response to 

the ever-expanding aesthetic preferences of young viewers, directors are working to make notable 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

49 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

efforts in the innovation of subject matter and the updating of technological tools (Yaoes & Holaber, 

1987). The film Inception (2010) adopts a non-linear narrative structure with a relatively complex 

timeline, constructing a suitable narrative environment for the design rationality of multiple dreams. 

Cobb is a dream thief, and the film tells a story of dream thievery and self-redemption from the 

perspective of a science fiction spectacle. Director Nolan embeds a resonant world of great aesthetic 

interest and mystery through rational imagination and adaptation. In the curved and folded world, in the 

weightless layering of dreams, the explanations and reasonable confessions of different environments 

all allow the audience to successfully and unobtrusively enter into this visually-realised dream world. 

The love story between Cobb and his wife Mel runs throughout the film. Their love has both a deep 

affective foundation and complex emotions arising from misunderstanding and guilt. Cobb eventually 

achieves inner redemption by completing his mission and facing his past head on. The theme of love 

and redemption paired with a quest that crosses reality and fantasy inevitably makes one’s heart ripple. 

The film upholds the audience’s curiosity and imagination about dreams, and under a rational 

worldview, the body becomes the central vehicle for harnessing dreams. The amorous nature of human 

nature, the fight in the dream, the slip into the edge of the subconscious, the fall to awaken the previous 

layer of the dream, etc., all of these are to meet the audience’s “vision of expectation” under the 

intersection of dream and reality, the human nature and the psychology of the repeated game and full of 

science and technology and the future of the reasonable imagination. The remarkable affective match 

has created enough attraction for science fiction art, which coincides with the audience’s expectation. 

 

4. Identity Construction: The Referential Meaning in the Mapping of Humanistic Thought and 

Social Discourse Diversity 

In the interactive field of physical narrative expression and affective kinetic transmission, the process 

of identity construction, as the core dimension of science fiction film art expression, constitutes the 

core mechanism for science fiction films to achieve interaction with the audience and complete the 

transmission of value and affective resonance. Freud pointed out in his early research on children that 

“identity is the process by which an individual psychologically and affectively imitates and assimilates 

the traits or behavioural patterns of others and makes them part of his own personality” (Freud, 2011). 

In fact, identity can also help individuals to establish affective connections with others, learn social 

norms and behavioural patterns, and gradually improve the ego to achieve the process of 

self-construction. Since then, the famous theorist Althusser has proposed the theory of interrogation 

mechanism in ideology theory, which influences the individual’s self-perception and self-regulation of 

social behaviours through the process of summoning or questioning in the form of “material practices” 

or media. Repetitive and characteristic symbolic systems, such as cinema, are important forms of 

interrogation of the individual. Michel Foucault, a renowned theorist of the same period, also had a 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

50 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

theoretical articulation that intersected with post-structuralism and philosophy. In his article “The 

Utopian Body”, he mentions that body identity is the basis of self-knowledge and that utopian 

environments can also cause alienation of the individual (Michel Foucault, 2016). Contemporary 

science fiction films focus on the reconstruction of human values in a heterogeneous space, showing 

the adaptation of the body to the cyber environment and the fusion of consciousness and the 

mechanical body. These works explore the conflicting dilemmas of technological alienation and 

humanistic ethics through the existential field of blending reality and fiction, persistently knocking at 

the core proposition of civilisation evolution. The film Avatar (2009) tells the story of Jack Salek’s 

identity crisis on the planet Pandora and his dilemma of identity, while as a human, he has to make a 

difficult choice between his own body and the identity of the alien race, the Na’vi. The film Divergent 

(2014), on the other hand, constructs a human world equally divided into five factions, with the 

protagonist Tristan having an infinite struggle after discovering that he has lost his factional identity. 

Second, the utopian body is also a fantasy and a quest. The film Big Fish (2003) incorporates 

fantastical elements into the expression of love and dreaming, reflecting the main character Edward’s 

fantasies and longings for the good life he aspires to. The film Hunger Station (2019) criticises human 

indifference by setting the setting in a restricted social class, and reveals the limitations of the process 

of physical aspirational pursuits through the lens of science fiction. “In any case, one thing is certain: 

the human body is the primary actor in all utopias” Foucault, in relation to the body for identity and 

pursuit, demonstrates the imagination of a beautiful space and a beautiful existence, while the science 

fiction film successfully hooks up the spatial existence with the imagined identity, pulling the audience 

into just the right setting, and by attaching consciousness to the audiovisual expression, it is perfect for 

the audience. By attaching consciousness to audiovisual expression, it perfectly provides a reasonable 

environment for the construction of discursive bridges (Foucault, 2016). 

The diverse discursive identifications made in science fiction films are not just expressions of ideology 

or desire, but also the export of real-world moral discipline and consumer values tied to the worldview 

constructed in the film. In Discipline and Punish, Foucault proposed the concept of “panoramic 

exhibitionism”, exposing emotions and morals, the body and the environment to natural surveillance, 

which is a kind of potential discipline, and the cinema and the cinema audience seem to be the natural 

place to satisfy the audience’s voyeuristic fetish and complete the discipline under the panoramic 

exhibitionism (Foucault, 2012).The film The Hunger Games (2012) takes place in a fictional futuristic 

world about a new home for mankind after it has been destroyed by a great war. The country suffers 

from harsh authoritarian rule, despite a boom in smart high technology. Each year, 24 men and women 

must be selected from 12 districts to become “contestants” in a life-and-death reality show, as well as 

“consumer goods” for pleasure, fighting each other to survive within a given surveillance area. In the 

film Truman’s World (1998), there is also such a “panoramic view”. “Instead of being self-perpetuating 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

51 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

and wearing away any of its essential features, the panoramic open-view model is destined to spread 

throughout the entire social organism” (Foucault, 2012). In the film, the collective loss of control and 

the resultant punishment form a perfect hidden “prison wall”, which calls on every social participant to 

respect the individual moral discipline and legal order. As a unique art category and propaganda tool, 

science fiction film is a film genre based on the logic of human society, imagining the future and 

reflecting the reality, in which the contradiction is the right to control the body, and through the 

individual’s reaction and expression, it builds a natural place of enquiry for the audience in front of the 

screen. 

The film A Clockwork Orange (1971) tells the story of Alex, a teenage hoodlum who, along with his 

brothers, causes trouble and ends up in prison undergoing rehabilitation and special experimental 

treatments in a morally bankrupt, crime-ridden and violent society set in a specific time and place. 

After undergoing extreme behavioural modification therapy, Alex is forced to develop an internal 

standard of good and evil that is diametrically opposed to his previous one. The film is filled with 

surreal elements and scenes of erotic violence, reflecting director Kubrick’s profound conception of 

dystopian time and space and physical elements. In such an unfettered and chaotic society, Alex moves 

from this “open-air prison” to the real “panoramic prison”. The film is full of unabashed confessions 

about bodies and behaviours, transmitting the most direct and absurd image patterns. Through 

witnessing these extreme behaviours objectively, the viewer’s moral scrutiny and value measurement 

successfully invokes the viewer’s inner self to examine his or her own behaviours and moral concepts. 

The metaphor of social reality is also quite profound. In the real-life Panorama Prison, Alex is 

“panoramically watched” from the moment he enters, handing over his belongings and being 

meticulously physically examined, exposing himself to a field of surveillance and discipline. “The 

force of norms seems to permeate the discipline ... which is both a pragmatic requirement and a result 

of metrics” (Foucault, 2012). As Foucault mentions in his book, normative discipline and normative 

force create formal equality and allow for “normative punishment” to appear more effective. While 

facing the recognition or acceptance of normative admonition under society goes against the original 

order. Through the recognition of the order and the communication of that recognition to the audience 

through the screen, the potential for a reciprocal reaction between the text and the reader’s emotions 

becomes more intense. 

The body is not only a carrier of human needs and emotions, but also a carrier of social discourse and 

cultural power. Foucault once mentioned that “the core of the struggle is shaped by the different forces 

of struggle that act on it” (Foucault, 2012). The objectification of the body under today’s reflection is 

also a kind of reverse regulation of the body by the consumer culture of the society, which is the 

embodiment of the diverse communication of the image discourse. In the film Truman’s World (1998) 

with the rise of consumer culture and the growing social demand for entertainment, the public’s 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

52 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

curiosity about the fresh medium spawned a desire to peek into Truman’s life under the film’s 

packaging. The audience in front of the film witnesses the public’s desire to pry into and manipulate 

Truman’s life in the film, and the reflection on the situation and identity generated by the film shows 

that under the affective attack, the society’s “inquiry” for the individual, and in the process of the 

protagonist’s counter-struggle, the strong affective resonance of the power, culture, social morality, and 

media morality is exposed to the sunlight in the eyes of the public, receiving the “call” from the 

individual, and the “call” from the public. In the process of the protagonist’s counter-struggle, his 

strong affective resonance exposes the dark side of power, culture, social morality and media morality 

to the sunlight, and he accepts the profound examination and independent thinking of the “struggling 

force” under the eyes of all, and defends the freedom of the body and the emotion from his own 

position. 

 

5. Conclusion 

After the rapid development of science fiction film since the Second World War, through the discourse 

system centred on the humanistic idea, the innovative intervention of body narrative and the image 

mode of affective interaction, conveyance and identification have been further developed, and at the 

same time consolidated the interactive relationship between the film and the audience, and the affective 

resonance between the two on top of the humanistic discourse has, to a certain extent, pushed forward 

the paradigm transformation and innovative development of science fiction film. The affective 

resonance between the two on the basis of humanistic discourse has, to a certain extent, promoted the 

paradigm transformation and innovation of science fiction films. No matter where we are at home or 

abroad, no matter how the society changes or how the topic is extended, human beings’ pursuit of 

science and technology and fantasy never stops, and with the deepening of the exploration of the 

unknown, people gradually find the physical and affective identity boundaries in the creation of sci-fi 

films, and at the same time try to carry out in-depth excavation and interpretation. Relying on the 

precise weaving of the narrative structure and the organic implantation of common values, the audience 

can touch the temperature of the characters, confirm the value of individual life in the resonance of the 

crossing, and find the spiritual coordinates in the narrative of destiny and commonwealth - perhaps this 

is the ultimate password for science fiction video art to break the communication barriers of human 

civilisation with the light and shadow poems. Perhaps this is the ultimate code for science fiction video 

art to break the communication barrier of human civilisation through light and shadow poetry. 

 

 

 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 8, No. 2, 2025 

 

 

53 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

 

References 

Bazin, A. (2017). What is cinema (Cui Junyan, Trans.). Beijing: Commercial printing house. 

Chatman, S. (2013). Story and discourse: narrative structure in fiction and film (Xu Qiang, Trans.). 

Renmin University of China Press. 

Foucault, M. (2012). Discipline and Punishment (Liu Beicheng & Yang Yuanying, Trans.). Shanghai: 

Sanlian Bookstore. 

Foucault, M. (2016). Lives of the infamous (Wang Min’an, Ed.,Trans). Beijing: Peking University 

Press. 

Freud. (2011). The Ego and the Self (Lin Duan, Zhang Ruomin & Chen Weiqi, Trans). Shanghai: 

Shanghai Translation Publishing House. 

Kai, Y. (2024). Generation and Diffusion—The Concept of Affective Action in Deleuze’s Film Theory. 

Journal of Beijing Film Academy, 211(7), 15-24. 

Maslow, A. (2021). Motivation and Personality (Li Jingwen & Zhu Xingyuan, Trans.). Beijing: 

Cultural Development Press. 

Mitry, J. (2012). Film Aesthetics and Psychology (Cui Junyan, Trans.). Nanjing: Jiangsu Literature and 

Art Publishing House. 

Wang, Q. (2023). Research on the Theory of Daniel Panday’s Body Narrative. Unpublished master’s 

thesis. Liaoning University, Shen yang. 

Yaoes, H. R., & Holaber, R. C. (1987). Acceptance aesthetics and acceptance theory (Zhou Ning & Jin 

Yuanpu, Trans.). Shenyang: Liaoning People’s Publishing House. 


