From intertextuality to translandscaping: A new approach of geocriticism

Abstract

Building upon the tradition of intertextual criticism, this article proposes and develops “Translandscaping” as an expanded geocritical analytical framework. Defined as a triadic model integrating materiality, spatiotemporal embodiment, and digital mediation, Translandscaping moves beyond the closed focus on textual relations by situating spatial practices in literature and film within a dynamic, co-constitutive field. It emphasizes that literature and film not only represent local significance but actively generate a sense of place and collective memory through interactions among terrain, perception, and technological circulation. Taking the film Kaili Blues (路边野餐) as a case study, the paper examines how local cultural imagery, viewers’ embodied experiences, and platform-based algorithmic systems collaboratively participate in constructing “translandscapes.” Drawing on a dataset of ninety-one Xiaohongshu posts, the study combines textual analysis with platform-sensitive interpretation to show how spatial meanings are amplified, circulated, and selectively foregrounded through digital visibility regimes. Through analyses of landscape stratification, spatiotemporal embodiment, and algorithmic mediation, the study demonstrates how contemporary media environments reshape spatial meaning through recursive interactions among text, place, and technology. The proposed framework responds to geocriticism’s concerns with field-ness and mobility while offering a more integrated methodological approach to understanding how landscapes are produced, experienced, and contested in digitally mediated contexts.