прагматика и медиа дискурс / Mikhalkova_pragmatics_of_invective_some_corrections

The majority of the above mentioned groups are characterized either by physical strength (like sportsmen, teachers of physical education, the army and the police) or by a legal authority (teachers, the police, the army).

Another marker of the invective of intellectual deficiencies is a connection with animal or alien nature (“humanoids” in the example above). Therefore, this kind of invective frequently occurs in the thematic monologues about animals:

“Пока рак думает, вода закипит” (Общество ихтиофилов).

The same can be said about SNL. In SNL the topic of animal is closely connected with the invective of intellectual deficiencies. For example, in the following sketch about a showman, who arrived to a provincial town from Las Vegas, the comedian describes the place as follows:

“It’s a crazy place… A nutty place… It’s absolutely insane” (Wilderness Comedian).

The topic of sports also concerns intellectuality. It is associated not only with the absence of reason in sportsmen, but also with the deceit of the audience. For instance, when a famous sportsman lies for the sake of advertising, the slogan sounds as follows:

“Because you don’t have to train like an Olympic athlete to have an Olympic body” (The Michael Phelps Diet),

And at the same time the visual context shows, that this diet is very harmful: “[SUPER: “Yes You do”] (Ibid.).

The same situation happens to politicians, who consciously deceive their voters, but do not have enough intellectual power to conceal it:

“George Bush: “You know what I do when I’m making a speech? I keep it simple. Let the audience know if the other guy wins, we’re all gonna die” (Richard Eckstrom for Comptroller).

Doing so, politicians can display extreme naivety in some questions. For example, the senator McCain has no idea about the digital recording:

“Senator, we already have a recording of you approving ads”.—“But we’ve been using it on so many ads, I was worried the tape spools might be

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scratched, or warped”.—“Well, we actually recorded that digitally, Senator” (McCain Approves).

In the invective of intellectual deficiencies the addresser usually emphasizes absence of reason in the addressee with the help of expressive vocabulary:

“Ты че, дура, что ли?” (Сумо и Репортаж из запоя), “What about this dum-dum?” (DiCicco Brothers Unicornery).

In those cases, where intellectual deficiencies are not directly named (for example, in role sketches), it is possible to judge a personage’s intellectuality by mistakes in speech. The personage either cannot give an adequate answer to a simple question:

“Из какого города?—Козерог он!” (Одноклассники),

or has an inadequate reaction to the situation, and it obviously shows in the dialogue. For example, a special agent claims, that this is the first time he hears about satellites and tries to find it in the earth map:

“There’s a satellite in space that controls communication? Whoa! You’re blowing my mind!”—“It’s here”. [he taps that portion of the desk map]— “The table?”—“No, this is a map” (Agent 420).

Usually this kind of the personage (a sportsman, a secret agent, a superhero, a popstar) hardly copes with a complicated speech act:

“Самая длинная смс-ка, которую послал русский супермэн, это смс “И

че?” (Бессмертный о русском супермэне),

hardly recognizes simple realia, violates the language rules:

“Дзюдо – это больше сентиментуальный вид спорта” (Самый сильный борец Абхазии Ашот);

sometimes his speech turns into nonsense:

“Жалко, жалко / Гулко, гулко / Палка, палка / Булка, булка” (Прогноз погоды России на 27 октября 2115г.).

In the American show the trickster’s inefficiency in deceit, but at the same time his attraction to it are often emphasized (as in the case of Michael Phelps diet). Here hints of insanity and naivety are constantly given:

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“They are all crazy” (DiCicco Brothers Unicornery).

The addressees of the invective of intellectual deficiencies usually belong to stereotyped social groups, that turn out to be frequent objects of mockery in jokes, funny stories or other forms of folklore. These groups do not have any forms of protection against mockery (thus, shows the destructive side of the category of comedy). Nevertheless, SNL treats them with more tolerance. So, the sportsman Michael Phelps in his monologue manages to outplay the guest, that has come to his show to advertise his goods (Michael Phelps’ Monologue), and this serves as a proof, that physically strong people can also be quite smart.

Moreover, the American show is always in search for new objects of mockery, for example, among stereotyped movie characters (secret agents, policemen, superheroes), and it reduces negative attention towards sensitive social groups. The Russian show creates such group out of its own comedians, whose personas become stereotyped (for example, Pavel Volya is portrayed as a cool stylish guy and a very successful show business star, and Sisters Zaycevs are an example of a good men’s friendship). Every intermission, when the host Artashes Sarkysyan announces the next performance, is based on invective, but the comedians as well can joke on each other. Concerning invective of intellectual deficiencies, aimed at the comedians, we find it in Garic Martirosyan’s joke about Timur Batrutdinov’s musical composition:

“Композиция в стиле маразма” (Я вам не скажу за всю Одессу).

In the American show there is no such a stereotyped group, as comedians, probably, due to that fact, that the inventive against oneself shatters the audience’s respect. The addresser must look as a successful person and prove his or her superior status, that allows to go on stage.

One of the typical forms of mockery about the intellectual deficiencies in the Russian show is indirect derision (behind somebody’s back), where the addressee is not present in the studio. This can be found in a parody of television newsreels or in a thematic monologue:

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“В будущем… учителями труда в российских школах будут уже настоящие гуманоиды” (Прогноз погоды России на 27 октября 2115г.), “Многие считают, что у медузы нет мозга, и многие правы” (Ядовитые твари).

The comedian in this case performs as a newsmaker or (in thematic monologues) as an actant, for instance, a fisherman in the monologue about fishing.

In episodes about sportsmen the stereotyped group is ridiculed for their stupidity, but their intellectual deficiencies are not named openly, because the collective thinking connects the absence of reason with the destructive physical strength, which can damage the invective addresser. Therefore, the ridiculer does not make his or her opinion explicit, but ironically agrees with the sportsman:

“Один мне что-то сказал, я ему что-то сказал… Вот такой диалог был.”—“Пипец, диалог, да” (Самый сильный борец Абхазии Ашот).

The direct invective, where two antagonists claim a higher status, sometimes has a gender aspect. In the studied cases, it appears in talks between a man and a woman. For example, during Grushinskiy festival58 a girl fluffs off an unwanted admirer, pointing at his low intellectual abilities:

“Ну вы какой-то дебил” (Грушевский фестиваль);

or in a family row spouses start to imitate automatic messages, that are used in airports or by telephone companies, because the wife works in the airport and the husband in a telephone company and they have to listen to this mechanical voice for the whole day, which has damaged their speaking skills:

“Жена: “Я работаю в аэропорту уже шесть лет, а ты все пьешь и пьешь.

Тынь-дынь-дынь. I’m working at the airport 6 years, and you’re always drinking and drinking!”—Муж: “Да что ты? Что ты орешь все время, как будто ты одна работаешь? Как будто я не работаю в компании

58 A song festival for Russian semi-professional composers of simple lyrical guitar songs, that are easy to learn and play. It takes place in a camping site near Samara, and its analogue is held in Tolyatti. For the length of the festival the participants put up tents, build fire and sit around it, playing their own songs or songs of other composers, called bards. There is also a main stage for the general program.

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мобильной связи (механическим голосом) с… 25-го… января… 2003

года” (Лена, фанат Глызина и семейная сцена).

In SNL, where the object of the invective is not often named directly, the intellectual deficiencies are not voiced openly in the dialogue, but are acted out by non-verbal means (usually stupid personages have an impenetrable countenance, a strange style of dressing, demeanor, etc.). A direct invective with an open position of the addresser does not occur in cases with politicians or aged celebrities (viewers have to guess, what deficiency is ridiculed behind the ironic respect), but young celebrities can get a full blow:

(the famous Subway advertising star Jared Fogle reveals the truth about Michael Phelps diet) “I know a little something about weight loss and I can honestly say this diet sucks a foot long!” (The Michael Phelps Diet).

There is a sort of paradox: successful people of age, who constantly become an implicit object of the invective of intellectual deficiencies (for example, John McCain and George Bush), are never vindicated in the invective, meanwhile the young people, who are an explicit object of such invective, defend themselves successfully, demonstrating exclusive rationality, common sense and superiority over others (Paris Hillton, Michael Phelps, LeBron James). For instance, in the sketch “Read to Achieve” a basketball player LeBron James is compelled to fight with an assistant director, who has decided that the famous sportsman is a fake and he cannot participate in the social advertizing “Read to Achieve”, because he cannot read. In the invective LeBron easily proves his true abilities and displays traits of the cultural hero, scoring off on the trickster:

“Yo, man! You either FIRE this guy, or I'm gonna kick his ASS!” (Read to Achieve).

The invective of intellectual deficiencies is one of the main means to demonstrate victory in the verbal fight. It contains a large stock of the non-literary vocabulary: (дура, маразм, дебил, crazy, nutty, dum-dum, idiot). It is also closely connected with social groups, that are characterized by presence of physical strength (sportsmen, military men) and authoritative power (politicians,

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policemen), and, thus, it gives rise to a competition: when a physically weaker

opponent wins by means of intellectual skills and deceit.

Table 4

Levels of invective semantics in the invective of intellectual deficiencies

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speech and logics, and this component is typical for both cultures. In clusters inner cultural tendencies, connected with the historical and social development of the two countries, are observed: a foolish tsar or government (authority + foolishness), a brainless warrior (strength + foolishness), a joker (foolishness + deceit). The social stereotype is expressed in ridiculed social groups, that are more often exposed to invective attacks. In fact, the modern context is also associated with them, to be more precise – with their individual representatives or the place, connected with some stereotypical group, like a district in Moscow, called Mytishchi is thought to be a criminally active area with lots of gopniky and bydlo.

§ 2.4.3. INVECTIVE OF AGE

The invective of age touches such sides of personality, as maturity (including sexual maturity), rationality (in the invective old men are usually insane, and children are stupid), appearance and physical deficiencies (weakness and sickliness). Therefore, it is difficult to consider it separately from other aspects. The invective names of age form a rather small group in both shows, but it is necessary to note that in SNL their quantity is twice bigger than in Comedy Club: 20 and 9 accordingly.

The invective of age can be named universal, because it can refer to anybody, whose behavior does not seem too mature or whose appearance carries features of childishness or eldership. Politicians serve as a vivid example of such invective in the American show:

“Barack Obama, with your almost childlike faith in people’s basic decency, and your near total lack of experience in government” (An Address from the All-But-Certain-To-Be Next President).

In the given example, Hilary Clinton accuses her rival of extreme trustfulness and inexperience on the grounds, that he is younger, than her, and did

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not do anything significant as a politician, though Barrack Obama is the leader in the election race.

The invective of age can take on another form: an adult with a good reputation begins to behave childishly. Here is an example from a parody to the well-known show of Oprah Winfrey, where John Travolta stars as a guest. He then suddenly begins to moan and asks to sit on Oprah’s lap:

“Oprah: “Yeah, I know. Come here, baby. Come here. Come on momma’s lap… Aww, it’s ok, it’s ok, baby Travovo” (Oprah).

There are also cases of an age-comparison. An assistant director, who helps a young famous basketball player LeBron James to do a preview trailer, starts teasing him, because he is only 22:

“Hey, Bron-Bron! Look – the adults are talking here, okay? You’re 22, right? Go sit at the kid’s table and have a juice box!” (Read to Achieve).

In the Russian show there are cases as well, when childishness implies an overly demoralized behavior. For example, Sisters Zaycevs are compared to two famous child personages from a Polish cartoon – Lelek and Bolek, but unlike the two good, versatile and hardworking cartoon boys, the comedians are accused of wrong behavior, including drinking alcohol, smoking, and having an intercourse:

“В кого бы превратились милые парни из Польши Лелек и Болек, если бы они пили, курили и занимались сексом друг с другом? Встречайте – сестры Зайцевы!” (Сумо и Репортаж их запоя).

The maturity of adults is also questioned a couple of times:

(Pavel Volya about Lina Arifulina and Yana Churikova) “А чё вы не вместе сидите?.. Рассадили? Как в школе: сладкие парочки обычно рассаживают” (Воля про Сосо и “Фабрику звезд”).

Quite often cruelty and aggression become signs of childish behavior:

“Я с детства хотел заниматься фехтованием. Брал длинную палку и тыкал всех подряд” (Воля про Сосо и “Фабрику звезд”).

The grounds for accusation in both shows can be found in the actual age of younger people in comparison with older ones:

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“Hey, frickin’ man, that’s right, little Mikey” (DiCicco Brothers Unicornery);

in an infantile behavior:

“John Travolta: “Don’t tickle me or I’ll pee in my pants!” (Oprah); in strange and sometimes stupid actions:

(weather wisdoms) “Лягушки раздуваются и прыгают с соломинками в попах – недалеко детский сад или школа” (Новые народные приметы);

in madness:

“Mike Gravel you dear, dear crazy old man» (An Address from the All-But- Certain-To-Be Next President);

in appearance:

“I’ll tell ya’, I got no respect as a kid. I worked in a pet store; people kept asking how big I would get!” (Dangerfield Tribute);

in poor memory or ignorance/ unrecognizing of modern realia:

(about digital recording) “It’s a new technology. – You mean, like eighttrack” (McCain Approves),

and also in abnormal sexual activity (characteristic of teenagers):

“Hostess: [sultry voice] “Hey boys, feeling lonely tonight? Wanna chat with some of the most beautiful women in the world? At Exclusive Connections, we know what kind of guy is calling a sex line at three in the morning, and we know exactly what turns you on. This is Trixie. She’s a Level 8 Dungeon Master, ready to serve all your D&D fantasies” (Exclusive Connections).

All these qualities are undesirable, if a person wants to have a good status in the society. Old people and children in an invective usually stand lower in the social hierarchy, than the active adult society:

“Cheapkids.net. Because when it comes to your children, why pay more» (Cheapkids.net).

They bring order to ruin with their silly tricks:

“Лягушки раздуваются и прыгают с соломинками в попах – недалеко детский сад или школа” (Новые народные приметы),

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and they also look ridiculous in comparison with adults. They do not benefit the society, and at times even on the contrary – they bring harm, as their behavior breaks public norms and standards:

“Except the young ones today, the young animals today. I don’t know. They’re crazy. They all let their hair grow long, you know” (Wilderness Comedian).

Nevertheless, being too tough on old people and children, such invective also derides negative sides of actual social relations (for example, egoism of parents in relation to children, as in the case with Cheapkids.net – a site, offering ways to save on children).

The invective of age usually comes from the rival, who has more standard age characteristics. So, in the mentioned duet – John Travolta and Oprah Winfrey – Oprah, being an older person in the focus of attention, takes on the role of Mummy, an adult caring woman, busy with her whimpering son. This scene develops in front of quite an adequate person – another guest of TV-show, who reacts to this with a shock. The age characteristics of this guest can be described as middle. In another performance Paris Hilton, representing the hostess of the telephone service, that offers ear sex, advertizes the service for teenagers, where girls take on roles of different game heroes. Paris Hilton’s personage in comparison with the teenage clients looks more adult, and more adequate (as she is here to attract clients with a tricky advertisement). The same case we find in Pavel Volya’s performance, where he laughs over his acquaintance – a producer Arthur Chip:

“…детский писатель Артур Чип. Написал такие замечательные книги,

как… “Душегубство и живодерство в детской литературе” (Воля про Сосо и “Фабрику звезд”).

In the invective the status of a writer of books for children entails strange inclinations, for example, a propensity to violence.

Comparison in age serves various purposes – even the remotest from the topic of age. For example, the man wishes to draw a woman’s attention:

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