Multimodal Cross-Cultural Communication in Black Myth: Wukong (2024)

Abstract

With growing cultural consciousness, Chinese are increasingly exploring traditional Chinese cultural heritage, utilizing rapidly evolving digital technologies for cultural innovation and international dissemination. The “gaming plus culture” transmission model exemplifies this trend. The profound depth of Chinese traditional culture provides expansive potential for game development, and Chinese-produced games are garnering increasing international attention. As China’s first AAA game, Black Myth: Wukong, adapted from Journey to the West, leverages robust gaming resources while incorporating elements from literature, philosophy, music, architecture, and other domains, serving as a paradigmatic example of cross-cultural communication. This study employs Delu Zhang’s (2019) comprehensive framework for multimodal discourse analysis to examine the English promotional videos and main storyline cutscenes of Black Myth: Wukong (2024). The study encompasses three dimensions: cultural-loaded elements, contextual elements, and non-verbal expressions. It investigates the characteristics of translation across these dimensions, the relationships between different modalities, and how these modalities collectively construct textual meaning.