In our attempts to understand the world, wildlife films play a significant role. Wildlife films help us to see new places and learn about animals in remote locations, that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to do. Yet wildlife films have throughout history been criticized, mainly for the ambivalent relationship between science and storytelling. While the films give us a scientific impression and say something about the “reality”, they clearly have the intension to amuse, capture and entertain their audience. In doing this, the wildlife film shapes characters, plays dramatic music and creates narratives with beginnings and ends. In this essay I study the narrative structures in five chosen parts of the BBC production Life (2009). I attempt to show how the parts can be seen through the narrative scheme that Labov and Waletzky introduce in 1967. The results are leading to a discussion about the way in which the narrative structures affects the science in the film parts. Mainly through the narrative need of spectacular points and breach from normality, and the way in which narrative structures contribute to anthropomorphism. My intension is to show how the narrative structures are working in order to better, as a viewer, determine what´s fact and what´s fiction.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:19:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Daniel_Silva.pdf: 1323018 bytes, checksum: 5ba13ad8b986eb34d67a3aa75c0363b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-07-17 / This Dissertation aims at tracing the linguistic historiographic trying to show the relevance of his studies of the nature of language and the internal and social factors which motivate its change and their importance for the development of and its genesis context, it was attempted to know his social history along with the socioeconomic, historical and political contexts. Labov first majored in English and Philosophy and, after that, in Chemistry, area in which he worked for a decade until his return to University in 1961, when he started his studies in Linguistics. During this decade, the United States society was going through its deepest social revolution which was motivated by a movement that was committed with the attitudes of the left-wing politics, minority rights, black consciousness, drugs, war experience and protests. Among these deep changes of behavior and general tendencies, Labov developed his most important researches which would, later, lead the claims for a new way of approaching Linguistics. This author must be seen as a very original figure with a passion for science. His originality is to be found in his capacity to develop an approach of empirical objectivist character, which methods are similar to those of the exact sciences. His capacity of analyzing and understanding the world around him allowed the author to judge as incoherent the behavior of the linguists of his time who seemed to ignore the facts of the real world. His every day life experience and non-conformist and progressive behavior allowed him to propose a new approach for the study of language which would become a great area of study. These characteristics, allied to the feelings of change that dominated the debates in the 1960s, turned him into an influential figure in the science of language. Labov is worldwide known for having created the major part of the components of the sociolinguistic methodology and for having introduced quantitative techniques to the study of linguistic change and variation, making Linguistic a more social and scientific field of study. His every day experiences showed him that to be right or wrong about certain theory would directly affect the lives of the people involved. Labov brought to, that is, the knowledge of the linguistic system was not the only important factor, but if that system was or was not ensuring the success of people or keeping them from the access to the goods of social life. His texts are characterized by long reviews of the linguistic literature, in which one can notice some criticism but also the reaffirmation and recognition of the expertise of other theorists, and are, besides this, frequent attempts to correct paradoxes in the history of Linguistics and overcome restrictions to the study of the every day language. Of the observation of these different of his social history and that, in it, it is refracted the essence of the general thought of a time / A presente Dissertação tem como objetivo traçar o percurso historiográfico lingüístico das idéias de William Labov, buscando mostrar a relevância de seus estudos sobre a natureza da língua e dos fatores internos e externos que motivam a mudança lingüística, e assinalar importância de suas pesquisas para o desenvolvimento da Sociolingüística. Diante do desafio de entender as relações do pensamento desse autor com seu contexto de gênese, buscou-se conhecer sua história social, atentando, ao mesmo tempo, para o quadro socioeconômico, histórico e político desse contexto. Labov se formou em inglês e filosofia e, posteriormente, em química, área em que atuou por uma década até seu retorno à Universidade em 1961, quando iniciou seus estudos em Lingüística. Nessa década, os Estados Unidos experimentavam sua mais profunda revolução social motivada por um movimento comprometido com as atitudes da nova esquerda, direitos da minoria, consciência negra, drogas, experiência psicodélica e protestos. Em meio a essas profundas mudanças de comportamento e tendências gerais, Labov desenvolveu suas mais importantes pesquisas que, posteriormente, liderariam as reivindicações por um novo modo de se fazer Lingüística. Esse autor deve ser visto como uma figura enormemente original e apaixonada por ciência. Sua originalidade deve ser encontrada em sua ousadia em desenvolver uma abordagem de caráter empírico-objetivista, cujos métodos se aproximam daqueles das ciências exatas. Sua capacidade analítica e de compreender o mundo ao seu redor fizeram com que ele julgasse como incoerente o comportamento dos lingüistas da época, que pareciam ignorar os fatos do mundo real. Da experiência com a vida cotidiana e de seu comportamento não-conformista e progressista surgiu sua proposta de estudo da língua que se desenvolveria para se tornar um prolífero campo de estudo. Essas características, aliadas ao sentimento de mudança que dominou os debates nos anos 1960, o fizeram uma figura influenciadora na ciência da linguagem. Labov é mundialmente reconhecido como tendo criado a maior parte dos componentes da metodologia sociolingüística e introduzido técnicas quantitativas ao estudo da variação e da mudança lingüística, tornando a Lingüística um campo de estudo mais social e mais científico. Suas experiências cotidianas mostravam-lhe que estar certo ou errado sobre determinada teoria afetaria diretamente a vida das pessoas envolvidas. Labov trouxe para a Lingüística a preocupação com a vida social dos indivíduos. O conhecimento do sistema lingüístico não era o único fator importante, mas se aquele sistema estava ou não garantindo o sucesso das pessoas ou privando-as do acesso aos bens da vida social. Seus textos são marcados por longas revisões da literatura sobre a Lingüística, em que se podem perceber muitas críticas mas também a reafirmação e o reconhecimento da expertise de outros teóricos, e são freqüentes tentativas de corrigir paradoxos presentes na história da Lingüística e de vencer restrições ao estudo da língua falada no cotidiano. Da observação desses diferentes elementos, pode-se dizer que o pensamento lingüístico desse autor deve ser compreendido como um produto de sua história social e que nele está refratada a essência do pensamento geral de uma época.

Under en lång tid har Harlequin-romaner och romantiska fantasier varit populära bland kvinnor. Den klassiska berättelsen om hjältinnan som finner kärleken med den perfekta mannen är specifikt riktad mot kvinnor. Det har forskats kring dessa romantiska fantasier, men det saknas forskning om hur dessa romantiska fantasier representerar maskuliniteten bland de manliga karaktärerna. Målet med det här arbetet är att försöka fylla en del av det tomrummet. Med hjälp av William Labovs narrativa modell och en kvalitativ textanalys har jag analyserat två filmer inom genren chick flick, Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) och Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason (2004). Min analys visar att maskuliniteterna som framställs i romantiska berättelser följer väldigt stereotypiska maskulina drag. Exempelvis använder sig de manliga karaktärerna ofta av fysiskt våld för att visa sin manliga dominans och genom att vinna i ett slagsmål vill de visa vem som är den bästa mannen för Bridget Jones. / Harlequin novels and romantic fantasies have been popular with women for a number of years. The classic story of the heroine finding her true love with the perfect man is directed specifically to women, for their enjoyment. While there have been studies about the romantic fantasies themselves, there’s a distinct lack of research on how these romantic fantasies portray the male characters and their masculinity. This study is a step towards filling that gap. Using a combination of William Labov’s narrative model, as well as a qualitative textanalysis, to examine two chick flicks, Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason (2004), I have found that the masculinities portrayed in romantic fantasies follow very stereotypical male behavior. For example, the male characters will often resort to physical violence to prove their male dominance and by winning a fight they want to prove that they are the right man for Bridget Jones.