Space Characters Symbols—A Narrative Study of Children's Films in the New Era

: With the promotion of rural revitalization policy, films about the theme of rural revitalization have become a new media hotspot. This paper takes the new era children's theme film "starry road" as an example and analyzes the narrative innovation of its film in terms of space, characters and symbols. The movie uses real space to construct emotional representations, portrays ordinary characters to highlight the group portrait of the times, and triggers collective memory through diverse symbols. At the same time, the film highlights three points of revitalization, one is cultural revitalization, building the cultural influence of modern sports. The second is the revitalization of talents, writing about the hard work of educators. The third is spiritual revitalization, reshaping the spiritual home of the left-behind children.


Introduction
In 2021, the children's movie "starry road" was broadcast by Guangzhou Radio and Television Station in Guangdong Province.The movie won the Best Children's Film Award at the 33rd Chinese Film Golden Rooster Awards.This paper tries to analyze the narrative mode as well as the communication impact of the film from the spatial, character, and symbolic perspectives.The film "starry road" highlights a unique aesthetic advantage for rural revitalization-themed films, conveys modern rural concepts, and builds a brand-new rural blueprint.

Spatial production: emotional representations of the real countryside
According to French neo-Marxist philosopher Henri Lefebvre, space is not a reflection of society, but a manifestation of society.[1]Space is no longer an abstract geographical concept, but a concrete symbolic point and form that influences people's thoughts, emotions and discourse.The space produced by the movie is no longer just a reflection of the essence of geographical location, but a representation of emotional construction.The narrative of space is a process of transformation between the material and the symbolic, a process in which historical memory, people's memory, and emotional memory continuously emphasize ideology through space in a specific field, just as the discovery of media science is how a physical state produces a non-physical effect.[2]Therefore, the audience in the process of watching the movie not only exists in the physical space, but also produces non-physical effects through the narrative of the media space, and feels the entertainment and spiritual and cultural power brought by the movie space.For example, the new-age children's movie "starry road" truly restores the geographic space of the countryside, from the fields, ears of rice, tiled houses, mountain roads and so on, all presenting the local flavor and humanistic feelings.In the midst of this fertile land, Mr. Feng remains firm in his conviction to stay and teach; Mr. Du insists on founding a rope skipping team; and the children still love this land, all of which reflect the emotional representation of the production of the rural space.The true story of Guangzhou and the simple Chinese rural space form the emotional power of this movie that touches people's hearts.

Characterization: a group portrait of ordinary and great characters
Characters are the carriers of images, and character narratives are the reason and source of power for promoting the dissemination of images.The new era children's movie "starry road" builds up a group of ordinary but great characters.Mr. Du is a dedicated and committed teacher.For the sake of the children's competition, he takes the initiative to raise funds and creates his own unique training method, just like the starlight accompanying the children; Ms. Feng, a teaching teacher returning from the big city, still chooses to stay and grow up with the children in the face of the harsh environment, and spills her youth on the countryside.The three-dimensional expression of the glory of these characters triggered the emotional resonance of the audience, and their tenacity and persistence brought spiritual shock to the audience.Therefore, the image building of the characters becomes the key to the vivid story, and the audience feels the heaviness and sincerity of the countryside, the vitality of life and the power of struggle from the depiction of the characters, and builds a group portrait of ordinary but great characters.

Rural Symbols: Collective Memory of Cultural Identity
Rural symbols are symbolic expressions of the natural environment, history and culture, living customs and social relations in the countryside, as well as a true record of the general lifestyle and state of the countryside that has been formed through accumulation over a long period of time.[3] The movie "starry road" constructs a new image of the countryside through visual symbols, emotional symbols, identity symbols, etc.In the symbolic form of the movie, the audience can feel the culture of the countryside, which triggers collective resonance and emotional memory.For example, the movie shows the beautiful and quiet rural scenery, lush countryside forests, and yellow rice paddies, constructing a new image of the countryside from these visual symbols.On the emotional side, the enthusiastic interaction between Mr. Du and Mr. Feng with the children, who, under the guidance of their teachers, eventually win the championship after hard training, breaks the stereotype of rural children and shows the hard work and unconquerable spirit of the rural people's map.With the advancement of rural revitalization policy, the rural symbols in the film "starry road" are gradually enriched and diversified, mapping out the great changes in rural life in terms of visual presentation, emotional interaction and identity, triggering the audience's collective memory and collective resonance in terms of rural symbols, and sketching out a beautiful rural revitalization map.

Cultural revitalization: the communication construction of the cultural power of sport
As an important part of rural revitalization, cultural revitalization can provide intellectual support and spiritual impetus for rural revitalization.As a carrier of socialist literature and art, movies can meet people's cultural needs and enhance their spiritual strength.With the integration and promotion of rural revitalization strategy, there are more and more films on rural revitalization.Films integrate rural characteristics, humanistic feelings and colorful culture into audio-visual language, enhance people's cultural confidence, and continuously "shape the soul" for rural revitalization.The children's film "starry road" reflects the revitalization of sports culture.As a part of culture, sports culture has a special spiritual value and function, adding a colorful touch to cultural revitalization.And the movie presents the sport of jumping rope.In the film, at first, Fang Xiaoqin's father, Ren Yuxiang's father, the principal and other people are against rope skipping, their knowledge of sports is not comprehensive enough, and then, after the coach's efforts, they finally realize that rope skipping is not only a kind of sport, but also a kind of honor, a kind of cultural and spiritual empowerment.The film takes rope skipping as the main narrative thread, promotes sports culture in all aspects, and shows the exploration of the path of Guangdong's film to help revitalize the countryside, setting up a new film paradigm in the space of realism and imagination.Therefore, the children's film "starry road" embodies the sports culture helping rural revitalization, enriching cultural carriers, establishing a new cultural style, constructing the people's spiritual outlook in the new countryside, and improving the civilization of the rural society.

Talent revitalization: educators writing from the heart
Rural revitalization is talent-oriented, and talent is a key element in achieving rural revitalization.In the movie, Mr. Du, a physical education teacher and coach of the rope skipping team, did not dislike the children's clumsiness, but used a unique method to bring the children to train day after day and eventually won the world championship; and Feng Yuxin, a teacher from the big city, initially disliked the poor conditions in the mountainous areas and resigned, but eventually stayed behind to teach by Mr. Lai's persistence and the kindness of the children.Hegel mentioned in the "Aesthetics", the heroic figure of the national character dispersed in many people's qualities gloriously concentrated in himself, became a living individual subject.And rural revitalization workers are precisely our heroes on the road to rural revitalization.The children's movie "starry road" embodies the heroic spirit of dedication and selflessness of education workers through the depiction of some character details.For example, Mr. Lai rides his motorcycle at 5:30 every day and turns on his headlights to light up the road ahead for the children.Mr. Feng takes the initiative to help his twin brothers with their homework.These detailed characterizations outline three-dimensional and rich characters, presenting the guideline that when talent thrives, the village thrives.At the same time, Fang Xiaoqin's father, Ren Yuxiang's father, etc., the change in their attitudes, from ignorance to awakening, from passive to active, they take the initiative to change their perception of sports and education, highlighting that the revitalization of talents is the key to the revitalization of the countryside.

Spiritual revitalization: the spiritual rebuilding of left-behind children
Spiritual revitalization is the root of rural revitalization, and it is necessary to stimulate the people's endogenous motivation and awaken their spiritual awareness in order to bring about a comprehensive revitalization of the countryside.Spiritual revitalization is an essential part of rural revitalization.In the movie, the children's spirit of defiance reflects the spirituality of the countryside.They work in concert and win championships in competitions such as the Guangzhou City Tournament and the World Championships.This team spirit and hard-working spirit actually reflects the new image and outlook of the countryside children.Under the encouragement and leadership of the coach, they build up the spiritual map of striving for strength and hard work, and set up a correct world view, outlook on life and values.From the perspective of the children, the film reshapes the image of the left-behind children and builds a new people's picture of rural revitalization.

Conclusion
The new era children's film "starry road" shows cultural revitalization, talent revitalization and spiritual revitalization in terms of space, characters and symbols, highlighting the spirit of rural revitalization in Guangdong and highlighting the unique style of Lingnan.On the road of rural revitalization, the film "starry road" focuses on the production of audio-visual content, conveying novel values and concepts, and these strategies will promote the new development and new forms of rural revitalization, realizing new actions in the countryside and highlighting the new landscape of the countryside.