“Brides as unaffordable commodities”

Abstract In this paper, we investigate the cartoons of high bride price in China. Through an integrated approach of multimodal metaphor analysis, metaphor scenario analysis, and feminist critical discourse analysis, we focus on how metaphors are discursively employed to convey and resist the practices of high bride price, which reflects the intricate power relations and gender ideologies embedded in these representations. Having examined 105 verbal-pictorial cartoons retrieved from Baidu Images as one of China’s most popular image-search platforms, we find that three metaphor scenarios are often used to represent high bride price practices, including (1) the weighing scenario that compares brides to unaffordable commodities; (2) the burdening scenario that depicts brides as insurmountable pressure; and (3) the demanding scenario that equates bride as insatiable money grabbers. We argue that these metaphor scenarios, despite serving as shorthand for resisting the practice of high bride price, in effect, scapegoat brides(-to-be) and other women in general, as the primary or even sole culprits of the social problem. This discursive representation, therefore, leaves the (neo)patriarchal marriage system and other deep-rooted socio-cultural factors that cause the social problem of high bride price unchallenged. In contrast to the above-mentioned stereotyping representations, we also examine alternative counter-scenarios that positively address marriage and family issues, demonstrating the potential of such counter-discourse to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in contemporary China.