прагматика и медиа дискурс / Mikhalkova_pragmatics_of_invective_some_corrections

looks and behavior. For example, a comedian complains, that in his childhood he was mistaken for an animal:

“I worked in a pet store; people kept asking how big I would get!” (Dangerfield Tribute).

Or in Comedy Club Pavel Volya interprets the nod from a famous female popsinger as a call for coupling:

“Я думаю, что вот это… Это приглашение самки, да. Обычно в мире животных так говорят” (Воля про Сосо и “Фабрику звезд”).

Another comedian compares himself with a hamster and finds out, that unlike hamster he does not pee in newspapers:

“Почему моя девушка меня хомячком называет? Я же не писею в рваные газетки” (Люди, не будьте животными).

Another accusative basis connects animals with allegoric representations of human vices, for example, in the Russian discourse pig stands for a drunkard: “Как местные власти вас прокомментировали?”—“Свиньей они меня прокомментировали” (Сумо и Репортаж из запоя).

Comparison on the grounds of appearance is also quite common: “Аркадий Укупник, случайно зайдя на чемпионат французских пуделей, выиграл его” (Шуточки от “Комеди Клаб”).

A characteristic feature of the Russian show is blaming actual animals for breaking norms and leaving mess everywhere, like peeing on the floor or barking at night. This invective becomes humorous, when animal behavior is going out of the usual way. For example, a comedian blames his pet dog, that it has a sexual intercourse with his clothes:

“У болонки две функции: под окном гавкать и старые свитера потрахивать” (Люди, не будьте животными).

Russian comedians also use invective to underline, that humans are a predominant species:

“Русский супермен ездит на ягуаре, потому что у него нет машины”

(Бессмертный о русском супермэне),

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“Если бы нас было 30, а уссурийских тигров 140 млн., стали бы они нас спасать?” (Люди, не будьте животными).

A characteristic feature of American show is an image of ambivalent creature, possessing both human and animal traits:

“Perhaps I can explain. My name is Professor Davenport, and I just discovered this woman in the Arctic tundra. She was raised by wolves and has no knowledge of human language or culture”.—“Wait... what does that barking mean?” (O. J. Simpson Jury Selection).

Animal nature is traced in a human, who has the following characteristics: physical features of animals, lack of reason, vices:

“Это еще животные зарегистрироваться не могут. Трудовик, физрук”

(Одноклассники),

excessive sexuality, overlarge genitals:

“А это у вас откуда? От верблюда?” (Подслушал в сексшопе); aggressiveness:

“Daisy bit the UPS man!—Did you do that, Daisy Dog?” (Angry Dog). Another feature of invective is using animalistic images to draw associations

with a cultural or a social stereotype. For example, in Russian prison discourse a rooster has a meaning of a sexually abused prisoner:

“Мыло – не воробей, вылетит – петух” (Случай с гаишником),

The American show uses animal symbolic as cultural allusions, for example a bat is an allusion to Count Dracula:

“Donald Trump: “And I want you to do some fancy graphic thing where I break into pieces like glass, and then every piece turns into a real bat, and every bat flies away!” (“The Apprentice” Promo).

The notion of social status, existing only in the world of people, makes animal images allegoric, but this rule also works in the opposite direction: a human, compared with an animal for certain features, becomes a representation of a whole community. For example, the stereotypical image of a person living near

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the Caucasus presupposes excessive hairiness. In the following joke a top-model at a fashion-show wears an Abkhazian around her neck like a boa:

“Модель… на плечах у нее небрежно брошен голый абхаз” (Случай с гаишником).

The animal part of humans has to stay within the limits of culture. If it breaks these limits, a person or a nation becomes an outsider. On the other hand, the invective helps a better apprehension of the isolated phenomenon by naming it again and again.

The ridiculers in this type of invective are local authorities, sellers in a zooshop or a sex-shop, a judge, a comedian. These people are united by their function – to organize some spheres of human activity: judges and authorities represent the law, sellers organize trading process, a comedian hosts a show. Thus, the ridiculer keeps order, taking on the function of cultural hero. His or her aim is to keep the balance between humans and animals, separate them from people, but also use them for people’s purposes: trade, fashion, demonstration of vices or even witnessing in court (in the example with the Mowgli-woman).

Table 7

Levels of invective semantics in the invective of animal nature

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The invective of animal nature does not give a description of particular animals: the only features mentioned are hairiness and barking. But the behavior is more explicit: nodding in the meaning of coupling, aggressiveness, dropping excrement. The clusters are based on the allegoric tradition of portraying human vices through animalistic images, although the world of nature does not have the concept of vice. The comparison on the level of modern context shows a dominance of actual names of animal species in the Russian discourse.

§ 2.4.6. INVECTIVE OF DEVIANT SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

The deviant social behavior and vices represent a large semantic field in the invective, as they are closely connected with the archetype of trickster. It is not accidental, that their quantity is quite large, especially in Comedy Club (46 in Comedy Club, 23 in SNL). As it has been noted earlier, the trickster’s behavior is a result of its chaotic nature; therefore, his acts are illogical and often break the public norms. The trickster’s passion for sinning is, more likely, a by-effect of his inclination to self-damage and infringement of the public order.

The context of invective about the deviant behavior and faults in the Russian TV show is various. It is found in sketches about daily life:

“Из ближайшего караоке-бара это Незлобины все: “А белый лебедь на пруду качает…” Очень плохо, но очень как-то громко и настойчиво”

(Незлобин и Элвис поговорили о женщинах), in parodies:

“Из запоя наш специальный корреспондент Роман” (Сумо и Репортаж из запоя),

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and in thematic monologues:

“Русский супермэн смотрит фигурное катание только ради того, чтобы кто-нибудь упал или показали трусики фигуристки» (Бессмертный о русском супермэне).

In the American TV show there are many parallels with the social invective, therefore they both have a similar context: the monologues by guest stars:

“Christopher Walken:“ I’d be a GIGANTIC... invisible bird … I’d spend all day flying at top speed... into sliding glass doors ” (Christopher Walken's Monologue),

parodies on politicians:

“George Bush:“ I’d be more angry about it, but it’s hard not to think it was one of my guys who leaked it. We do that ” (Richard Eckstrom for Comptroller),

sketches about sports:

“I got so scared that I thought I fudged my Speedo” (Locker Room Motivation).

The ads parodies should also be mentioned here, because in them the deviant social behavior often shows in the destructive nature of daily life images, for example, in the stereotyped housewife, who accidentally kills the husband and hides his corpse from the police:

“Opening jars. Every time, it’s the same old story... The swinging and striking... The panicking... The dragging... The digging and burying...” (Jar Glove).

In case of famous people and their parodies the American show creates a stereotype of “freaky famous people”, who sometimes act absolutely illogically:

“John Edwards – you phony, two-faced, ambulance-chasing little rat bastard” (An Address from the All-But-Certain-To-Be Next President), “James Franco: “ It’s great to be hosting SNL … I actually live here now” (James Franco’s Monologue),

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and who suffer from the complex of superiority and thirst for glory, that pushes them to behave abnormally:

“Kanye West:“ Oh, HELL no!! Who’s picking this, man?! How the hell the Nobel Pace Prize for PHYSICS gonna go to ANYBODY but me?! … I ain’t heard of NONE of y’all theories! But if the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t going to ME … the Nobel Peace Prize LOSES … credibi – ” (106 and Park).

In this sense the behavior of stereotypical and travestied characters is more predictable and it is often connected with criminal inclinations (e.g., the housewife from “Jar Glove” who accidentally kills the husband and hides his corpse).

It is not typical for Comedy Club to attribute the deviant behavior to real persons, though there is an exception – the comedians themselves, guests in the studio and (very seldom) well-known stars from show-business:

“Верка Сердючка – классно будет: “СерВер – выступает СерВер”.

Джиги-джиги-дю-дю-дю” (Аббревиатуры из имен и фамилий звезд). More often in this type of invective participate stereotyped characters

(Russian rednecks and macho, clubbers, addicts, lonely housewives, etc.), which means, probably, that the invective has a clearly social character, illustrating deviant tendencies in the society. In the next example the policeman catches two addicts in a night club toilet:

“Сидят два укурка, в унитазе рыбу ремнями ловят” (Вот так рыбалка!). As it was noted above, in the American show criminal inclinations are ridiculed more often, than other faults, especially the inclinations for murder and suppression of evidence (for example, in the sketches “O.J. Simpson jury selection”, “Jar Glove”, “Angry Dog”), although these inclinations are not likely to be typical for an average American or even for a star with a criminal record. Another popular invective image stereotype – a star, suffering from the complex of

superiority – also seems unnaturally cruel:

“James Franco:“ I threw away his bed so my publicist could have a desk” (James Franco’s Monologue)

or too thirsty for appreciation:

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“Christopher Walken:“ I’ve never taken questions from the audience... and to make sure they’re good questions, I wrote them myself... That’s a good one! Excellent question” (Christopher Walken's Monologue).

The same concerns a politician, to whom politics seems boring or who does not read books:

“George Bush:“ Bob Woodward wrote another book. Says it’s gonna make me mad when I read it. (pause) I’m probably not going to read it ” (Richard Eckstrom for Comptroller).

The behavior, which does not fit in the frameworks of logics (for example, in the sketch “Locker Room Motivation” the captain makes his team sing a song about trousers “Fancy Pants!”, which, he thinks, should raise the competitive spirit of sportsmen), is found in this type of invective only sometimes, although in the climax parts of performance, as if it is used to complete the image of a freak with some archetypical features.

Social faults are rarely found in SNL; a unique and vivid example is “Agent 420 / Smoking guns by plenty” (Agent 420) – the special agent-addict with the features of hippie.

In Russian TV show, where the invective about the deviant behavior has a social character, much is explained by the initial deficiencies, acquired from nature or childhood:

“Человек любит, где придется” (Общество ихтиофилов); “Поэтом я стал. Придумываю матерные рифмы на слова”

(Одноклассники); “Багажник открой. С братом в клуб ездил?” (Сын ГАИшника и ГАИшник).

In all these situations the image of an average citizen is hyperbolized, though the faults are quite real (alcohol addiction, drug addiction, disorderly sexual conduct, greed, offence of public norms, for example, leaving excrement in the elevator). Vice is often connected with animal nature, which shows through a human face. So, for example, the Russian supermen and amateur fishermen go

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hunting or fishing naked. On the other hand, in M. Bakhtin’s view (see in § 1.1.2.), nakedness is a part of the carnival costume. In this sense, the invectives is connected with other elements of a masquerade:

“Надеваем маску Емели…” (Общество ихтиофилов), “Делаем из силикона сиськи…” (Ibid.),

“Нам надоели эти “Маски-шоу” (Вот так рыбалка!).

The illogical irrational behavior is typical for the characters of Russian show when someone does a damage to himself or herself or does unnecessary unproductive acts:

“Гадюка тупо гадит на жертву, а потом брезгует укусить…” (Ядовитые твари), “У русского супермэна в доме всегда заточены ножи, ложки и ершик”

(Бессмертный о русском супермэне).

In the social invective residents of Comedy Club do not separate themselves from their ridiculed characters. Here they are actors, not mockers, though they do not change their costumes for each performance, and there are no special props on stage. A binary image is created: gradually in the process of expansion of the plot over the image of the resident, the comedian changes into an illusory image of the ridiculed social stereotype, but when a sketch is over and the comedian steps forwards and pronounces his name, the illusion disappears. Thus, the stereotypes of addicts, fishermen-fans and policemen are created through the verbal invective masquerade.

In SNL the invective of deviant behavior and faults is on the regular account also realized verbally (in dreams, suppositions, narrated stories). In parody trailers there is a full transformation of an individuality into the stereotyped character. Sometimes the freak character appears in contrast with an absolutely normal person. In the sketch, where the famous basketball player LeBron James participates in a social advertizing, the director’s assistant starts to bully him:

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“Mike: “Okay … okay … Why did you throw him a book, Jeff? ”—Jeff:“ Hey! It’s about literacy, Mike – I’m just trying to mix it up! I got good ideas, TOO, Mike!!” (Read to Achieve).

In another performance the singer Kenny West parodies himself or, to be more exact, the stereotyped image, which is given in tabloids:

“Well, you famously took the stage and protested the 2006 European Music Awards, and, at the VMA’s this year, cameras caught you backstage visibly upset that you had not won … Kanye West: Hell, no! Aw, hell—yo! No disrespect, man, like—I do not even—I have not seen your show, I do not even WATCH Nickolodeon! But … HOW … the hell … they not gonna give a Kid’s Choice Award to Kanye West?!” (106 and Park).

In SNL an antagonistic aspect is preserved in the performances about politicians and stars, that want glory and are anxious to get attention. In the ads competition is also shown clearly: the genre parody demonstrates advertisers’ struggle for consumer attention. In the American discourse the struggle for glory and attention becomes one of the most relevant themes in the invective about the deviant behavior. As for criminal inclinations, it has been noted earlier, they form a reserved group, where the antagonistic aspect is realized through attempts to escape from the law.

“Comedy club” also raises the problem of law, but more often the public order is touched upon: in quite a few performances there appears the stereotyped image of a road policeman, who is characterized by the same vices as the lawbreakers. Often vice stays unpunished, and the struggle starts between several asocial elements for the right to be called even more asocial. It can be illustrated by an example from the monologue about Russian superman, where the super-person supersedes others in drinking vodka and snacking LSD:

“Русский супермэн закусывает водку ЛСД” (Бессмертный о русском супермэне).

Another side of this invective shows itself, when a comedian offers a ridiculous decision for the problem of deviant social behavior. In a monologue

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about future Russia Garik Martirosyan offers such social projects, as to place rolls of toilet paper in elevators, to make prisoners serve their terms in “Zhiguli”60

(Weather forecast of Russia for October, 27th 2115г.).

Table 8

Levels of invective semantics in the invective of deviant behavior and faults

60 Zhiguli – an unpoplular brand of Russian car.

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