The landscape narrative system of Yellow River–themed documentaries: a case study of The River Flows Day and Night

Taking the Yellow River–themed documentary The River Flows Day and Night as a case study, this article draws on the theoretical frameworks of the production of space and cultural memory to examine how documentary filmmaking employs landscape-based narration to transform the Yellow River from a natural geographical object into a mediated space that carries historical experience and local identity. Centered on the relocation of floodplain communities in Shandong Province (1996–2021), the film constructs a narrative chain of space, memory, and affect through the presentation of environmental risk in physical space, the visual reconstruction of cinematic space, and the encoding of meaning in symbolic space. In doing so, events such as flooding and resettlement are translated into shared collective memory, enabling the contemporary reconstruction of local identity within a context of modern governance. The study demonstrates that the Yellow River landscape functions not merely as a narrative backdrop, but as a key communicative mechanism that links macro-historical processes with everyday life and drives the reproduction of social memory.