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This paper introduces the background, content, and impact of the film *The Young Karl Marx*, analyzes the techniques used in shaping Marx's image in the film, and points out the shortcomings of existing research. Through linguistic and visual modalities, the film constructs a vivid and authentic portrayal of Marx, showcasing his life, emotions, and beliefs. After its release in Germany, the film attracted a large audience and achieved significant communicative success. From the perspective of multimodal discourse analysis, this paper systematically examines the logic behind the construction of Marx's image in the film, explores the factors contributing to its successful dissemination, and provides insights for the production and international promotion of biographical films in China.

1. Theoretical Foundations

This section discusses the origins and core concepts of multimodal research and their application in constructing Marx's image in *The Young Karl Marx*. With technological advancements and the rise of the new media era, discourses incorporating symbolic modalities such as text, images, and music have become mainstream forms of communication, where meaning is generated through the interplay of all these symbols. From the 1980s to the 1990s, multimodal research based on social semiotics emerged, with scholars from various fields analyzing multimodal phenomena in life from different perspectives. Hartmut Stöckl introduced the concept of "semiotic modality," arguing that modality encompasses three dimensions: signs, media, and sensory systems, with language, images, music, and sound being the most fundamental semiotic modalities. A multimodal discourse is a unified entity composed of multiple semiotic modalities, where different modalities form a "zipper-like relationship" through "transcription," collaboratively generating overall meaning. Sound films are typical multimodal discourses, employing multiple core modalities to activate visual and auditory senses.

From the perspective of linguistic discourse analysis, "discourse" refers to a collection of written or spoken texts on a specific theme, where the knowledge conveyed is a construction or reconstruction of reality based on the needs of discourse subjects, influencing the cognition of social groups. The goal of linguistic discourse analysis is to uncover the socio-cognitive structures that shape language use by examining patterns of language usage. Formulaic expressions are projections of socio-cognitive structures onto the surface of discourse and have the potential to reinforce established knowledge. Investigating formulaic expressions in discourse helps identify the traits assigned to individuals or objects, and the aggregation of these traits constitutes an image.

Academic research has extensively explored formulaic expressions in language use patterns, a textual modality. Language use patterns refer to recurring combinations of discourse units in specific linguistic segments, which can indicate additional characteristic patterns in media. These widely disseminated and repeatedly occurring additional characteristics gradually evolve into stereotypes held by certain groups about related subjects/individuals. Typical, recurring language use patterns make the media portrayal of specific subjects/individuals traceable within a group.

Friedemann Vogel developed a linguistic image analysis method (LIma) for media images based on the study of language use patterns. This method first employs computer-assisted techniques to extract language use patterns related to the research subject from a large-scale media corpus. It then combines contextual analysis to identify the additional characteristics assigned to the subject by these patterns. Finally, by integrating recurring additional characteristics, it summarizes the media image of the subject as presented in the corpus.

Inherent cognitive patterns in the human mind are not only reflected in language use but also in other semiotic modalities, such as images. A study by Sadeghi, McClelland, and Hoffman demonstrated that the research approach of co-occurring entities in visual experiences is equally applicable to the study of visual information. This paper extends the concept of language use patterns to image analysis, defining image use patterns for both static and dynamic images. In static images, image use patterns are "combinations of recurring schemata across multiple images." In dynamic images, viewers perceive individual shots as whole units, with the entire film serving as a complete discourse unit. Each shot corresponds to a single static image (akin to a sentence in linguistic modality), and the multiple schemata within each shot correspond to words in linguistic analysis. Image use patterns in dynamic images can be formed not only by recurring co-occurring schemata within a single shot but also by recurring sequential image elements across adjacent shots. By examining image use patterns in films and other dynamic images, researchers can identify the additional characteristics assigned to a subject/individual in the visual modality, thereby summarizing the image of that subject/individual as presented in the film's visual modality.

2. Research Design: Deriving Multimodal Images from Formulaic Expressions

This section explores how analyzing formulaic expressions in semiotic use can reveal the characteristic meanings assigned to subjects or individuals in multimodal discourses or discourses on specific themes, thereby tracing their image construction. The study focuses on the multimodal construction of Marx's image in *The Young Karl Marx* through the analysis of linguistic and visual modalities. Due to the film's multilingual content, the researchers selected the Chinese translation as the research corpus. Using AntConc software, they extracted dialogue segments containing "Karl" or "Marx," imported them into MAXQDA for KWIC (Key Word In Context) analysis, and coded Marx's image. For the visual modality, the study employed image use pattern analysis to summarize the additional characteristics assigned to the young Marx in the film. Given technical limitations, image information was first annotated for schemata in MAXQDA, and the code map function was then used to analyze co-occurring schemata combinations to derive image use patterns.

3. Research Findings: Marx's Image in *The Young Karl Marx*

This chapter analyzes the multimodal construction of Marx's image in *The Young Karl Marx* using the proposed research methods. The study finds that the film shapes multiple images of Marx through textual and visual modalities, with "Marx surrounded by companions and supporters" and "the youthful and passionate Marx" being the most prominent. In the textual modality, Marx is portrayed as a creator wielding his pen as a weapon, while the visual modality emphasizes his exchanges and debates with predecessors and peers, highlighting the intellectual origins behind his works. Additionally, the film depicts capitalists' rejection of Marx and the working class's hopes for him. In the "Marx surrounded by companions and supporters" image, his wife Jenny and friend Friedrich Engels, among others, significantly influence his life and work. The "youthful and passionate Marx" is portrayed through his forthrightness, arguments, and growth process. Through these multimodal techniques, the film constructs a multidimensional, fully realized Marx that resonates with the philosopher's image in public perception.

4. Conclusion

This paper introduces an analytical method based on discourse analysis theory to examine the multimodal construction of Marx's image in *The Young Karl Marx*, exploring how visual and textual modalities collaboratively shape his portrayal. The analysis reveals that the film presents Marx's character development and ideological evolution through images of "Marx surrounded by companions and supporters" and "the youthful and passionate Marx," as well as contrasts between the growing Marx and the creative Marx. The film extensively uses bright lighting to shorten the psychological distance between Marx and the audience. Simultaneously, the director skillfully incorporates widely recognized depictions of Marx, showcasing his reflections on and critiques of predecessors' ideas, as well as his experiences of exile. This analysis offers insights for biographical film production in China, emphasizing the importance of depicting the growth of great figures to foster audience empathy and make their stories more accessible and relatable.

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