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.