Naslov
The linguistic anatomy of a villain

Autori
Maržić, Dea ; Drljača Margić, Branka

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
Language and culture (Knjižica sažetaka) / - Rijeka : Centar za jezična istraživanja, Filozofski fakultet u Rijeci (online), 2021, 83-83

Skup
CLARC 2021: Language and Culture

Mjesto i datum
Rijeka, Hrvatska, 24.06.2021. - 26.06.2021

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
villain ; discourse ; Disney’s animated films

Sažetak
Villains have been at the forefront of human imagination since the earliest forms of storytelling ; however, not much research has been devoted to a potential discourse of villainy, that is, how language is used to create villains as recognizable cultural types. The tendency to make such characters appear as “Other” (Kjeldgaard- Christiansen, 2015), especially through language, has been corroborated by several analyses of portrayal in children’s entertainment, with Lippi- Green (1997) and Dobrow and Gidney (1998) finding a strong correlation between negatively coded characters and foreign or non-standard language varieties. With the aim to describe the language used to develop villainous characters, this study examines nine of Disney’s animated films from one of the company’s most critically and commercially acclaimed periods: the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s. The study comprises two parts. First, building upon previous research, the accents of 123 clearly positively and negatively coded characters in the films were analyzed, using broad categories of SAE (Standard American English), NSAE (Non-standard American English) and FE (Foreign English) to explore the link between Otherness and villainy. Second, the nine primary antagonists were analyzed more thoroughly, with particular attention paid to the shared elements of the discourse of villainy, especially in terms of the characters’ relationship with power or lack thereof. The tendency for villains to be shown as foreign, visually as well as linguistically, was confirmed. Negatively coded characters used foreign accents to a greater extent: a correlation which was especially strong for the nine primary antagonists. Conversely, SAE was found not only to be the baseline accent for most characters, irrespective of their characterization, but was also strongly associated with the films’ primary protagonists. One surprising finding, however, was the stronger link between non-standard varieties and positively coded characters. Furthermore, the discourse analysis of the primary antagonists revealed a complex nature of their relationship with power. On the one hand, villains tended to present themselves as benevolent and sympathetic to the heroes ; on the other hand, their language revealed an obvious power imbalance, showing them as authoritative and menacing figures. This deceptive duality, coupled with visual and linguistic elements of the villains’ demonic and foreign nature, brings about a number of implications about the framing of villainous behavior in contemporary culture, especially considering the wide reach and influence of Disney’s animated films.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

POVEZANOST RADA