世界休閒之都——澳門媒體形象中非博彩元素符號研究

This study attempts to identify the symbolic artifacts shared by Chinese and English media in regard to the city image of Macau beyond its known image as a casino city. By applying Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT) and Fantasy Theme Analysis (FTA), the study aims to provide a new operational method for textual analysis of the city branding of Macau. It examines fantasy themes embodied in media reports, blog articles and promotion materials collected from three types of media, namely earned media, owned media and shared media. The distribution of those non-gambling symbols in varied media is compared. Though the research has identified 11 fantasy themes that have non-gaming elements, none of the themes has formed cultural and historical representations of Macau or valuable semantic field. It is found that the symbolic pictures of Macau represented by different media types are different. Most of the symbolic realities show sensorial experience and vision description which are only presentational and lacking of symbolic imagination on the deep level of value.