The threats found in horror films change with time, each decade consisting of threats that were most frightening for the time period. Horror film scholars, such as Andrew Tudor, determined that in 1970s horror films the threat has migrated from external forces into the home and the family. Invading aliens and monsters were thrown replaced by psychosis and evil children. This notion of making the familiar unfamiliar and threatening is paralleled in concerns addressed during the second-wave of feminism; women were making the normative and familiar idea of mother unfamiliar as they migrated from the private and into the public sphere. This thesis looks at what happens when women from three separate horror films of the 1970s begin to trouble the normative ideas of what a good mother is by exaggerating the very conventions themselves. The films of analysis are Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978), The Brood, and Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976). Rather than directly defying normative expectations of the good mother, the women of these films adhere to these codes in such exaggerated fashions that they become monstrous. Once the spectator deems these women as monstrous, their behavior is noted as performative and open to a possible reimaging of what constitutes a good mother. It is in this possible reimagination of the good mother, due to negative illumination rather than positive prescription, where the revolutionary power of the carnivalesque perspective truly lies. As the main theoretical framework for this thesis, Mikhail Bakhtin's carnivalesque perspective grants spectators the chance to participate in the reimaginations of the normative construction of the good mother. It is here where the monstrosity of these mothers can be seen as not solely as monstrous but also as critical of the normative. As the monstrous interrogates the normative, the spectators begin to question the patriarchal ideals and expectations of the good mother, which allows for reimagining of what constitutes the good mother.

The transposition of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (originally published in Russian in 1904) to contemporary South Africa in Suzman's The Free State (2000) is based on the corresponding social changes within the two contexts. These social changes cause a binary opposition of past and present in the two texts. Within this context memory functions as a space in which the characters recall the past to the present and engenders a dialogue between past and present. Memory is illustrated in the two plays by associations with place as an important aspect of identity formation. Memory and place are fused in the plays by means of Bakhtin's concept of the chronotope which is best observed in the plays in memories of specific places such as the respective orchards, houses and rooms such as the nursery and the ballroom in. The Cherry Orchard and the garden in The Free State. Furthermore, the influence of the past is also evident in the present when ideas of social status, class, race (in the case of The Free State) and behaviour are contrasted and when various characters express their perceptions of personal relationships and ideas about marriage. The influence of the past is also evident when the characters voice their different perceptions and expectations of the past and future. In The Cherry Orchard these cultural differences are evident in the concept of heteroglossia. However, in The Free State, these dialogues are directed by a specific politically liberal view which diminishes the heteroglossia in the text. The juxtaposing of past and present is also illustrated in The Cherry Orchard by various subversive strategies such as comedy of the absurd in order to portray the behaviour of the characters as incongruous. Another subversive strategy is the contrasting of characters and ideas in order to expose pretensions and affectations in speech and actions to parody both the old establishment and the ambitions of former peasants. These conventions are best illustrated by the concept of the carnivalesque that also features as one of Bakhtin's terms to capture incongruous ideas and situations in literature. In The Free State, comedy is unfortunately much diminished and in contrast to Chekhov's ambiguity, only directed against politically conservative characters. The prevalence of these three Bakhtinian concepts in the texts shows how identity formation is to a large extent influenced and defined by occupied space. When social change affects the distribution of land, a character's concept of identity is destabilised. Although Suzman uses this similarity in the two contexts in order to transpose Chekhov's text to contemporary South Africa, she organises the various stances in the text to advocate a specific politically liberal view. Thus, Suzman's transposition leads to an interesting comparison between the Russian and South African contexts as well as between the two texts. However, her text is limited by her political interpretation of Chekhov's text. / Thesis (M.A. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The transposition of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard (originally published in Russian in 1904) to contemporary South Africa in Suzman's The Free State (2000) is based on the corresponding social changes within the two contexts. These social changes cause a binary opposition of past and present in the two texts. Within this context memory functions as a space in which the characters recall the past to the present and engenders a dialogue between past and present. Memory is illustrated in the two plays by associations with place as an important aspect of identity formation. Memory and place are fused in the plays by means of Bakhtin's concept of the chronotope which is best observed in the plays in memories of specific places such as the respective orchards, houses and rooms such as the nursery and the ballroom in. The Cherry Orchard and the garden in The Free State. Furthermore, the influence of the past is also evident in the present when ideas of social status, class, race (in the case of The Free State) and behaviour are contrasted and when various characters express their perceptions of personal relationships and ideas about marriage. The influence of the past is also evident when the characters voice their different perceptions and expectations of the past and future. In The Cherry Orchard these cultural differences are evident in the concept of heteroglossia. However, in The Free State, these dialogues are directed by a specific politically liberal view which diminishes the heteroglossia in the text. The juxtaposing of past and present is also illustrated in The Cherry Orchard by various subversive strategies such as comedy of the absurd in order to portray the behaviour of the characters as incongruous. Another subversive strategy is the contrasting of characters and ideas in order to expose pretensions and affectations in speech and actions to parody both the old establishment and the ambitions of former peasants. These conventions are best illustrated by the concept of the carnivalesque that also features as one of Bakhtin's terms to capture incongruous ideas and situations in literature. In The Free State, comedy is unfortunately much diminished and in contrast to Chekhov's ambiguity, only directed against politically conservative characters. The prevalence of these three Bakhtinian concepts in the texts shows how identity formation is to a large extent influenced and defined by occupied space. When social change affects the distribution of land, a character's concept of identity is destabilised. Although Suzman uses this similarity in the two contexts in order to transpose Chekhov's text to contemporary South Africa, she organises the various stances in the text to advocate a specific politically liberal view. Thus, Suzman's transposition leads to an interesting comparison between the Russian and South African contexts as well as between the two texts. However, her text is limited by her political interpretation of Chekhov's text. / Thesis (M.A. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:24:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6108.pdf: 5747800 bytes, checksum: 0f9ca0e1fe07e34b7f7901a1fc103be8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-14 / Problematize the carnivalesque as a political inorganization a multitude of subjects who transgress power relations is the general aim of the thesis study. Popular demonstrations in societies that emerge are answers to the oppressor s mechanisms and relations of power that the capitalist logic promotes. These popular events appear as everyday ideology through carnivalesque relationships and are problematized, by this reflection, as objects of study. Two cutouts appear as places of observation in order to emphasize the clashes. 1) The street carnivals that reappear in the last ten years in the national and international scene as noted by the media dissemination. 2) The movement known as Carnival Against Capitalism - promoted by individuals from different countries constituting crowds that destabilize power relations. For such thinkers as Bakhtin (2006a, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2011a ) and Negri, Hardt ( 2005a ) are crucial references in this architectural reflection. Some questions guide this study: 1) What can be read as manifestations carnival towards transgredient? 2) How different subjects do carnival? The purpose is specifically from such questions: 1) argue that every day events can carry a valued investment and such investment, disrupts discourses and relations of domination. 2) Affirm the existence of a "collective of a singularity which are not limited to the massive pocket of dough and composes the crowd. 3) Understand the crowd as a grotesque body - tireless and inalienable. Taking for granted the inextricable link between the social situation and the sign key understandings were: 1) There is no cohesive identity, but identities in constant struggle. 2) There is no speech that completely silenced the other, but lives in the discursive struggle linguistic materiality. 3) The carnivalization is a form of activism, a responsive activity. 4) A rule carnival happens as a counterpoint to the official system through various demonstrations and protests, art, music and parties. 5 - A crowd of singularities also has an affirmative view towards transgredient. Their actions may be carnival i.e., responses to ethics rectified. The research methodology is based on the theoretical perspective of Bakhtin's dialogical dialectic - clash of words and against words - which briefly means that the sign is part of a communication system and therefore cannot be separated from the concrete forms of communication, there is no separation between material reality and ideology of the sign, and there is a tense relationship between official and everyday discourses of. / Problematizar a carnavalização como inorganização política de uma multidão de sujeitos que transgridem relações de poder é o objetivo geral de estudo da tese. As manifestações populares que despontam nas sociedades são respostas aos mecanismos opressores e às relações de poder que a lógica capitalista promove. Essas manifestações populares configuram-se como ideologia cotidiana por meio do carnavalizar relações e são problematizadas, pela presente reflexão, como objetos de estudo. Dois recortes apresentam-se como lugares de observação a fim de ressaltar os confrontos carnavalizados. 1) Os carnavais de rua que, nos últimos dez anos, reaparecem no cenário nacional e internacional conforme se constata pela divulgação midiática. 2) O movimento Carnaval contra o capitalismo - promovido por sujeitos de diferentes países constituindo multidões que desestabilizam relações de poder. Para tanto pensadores como Bakhtin (2006a; 2010a; 2010b; 2010c, 2011a) e Negri; Hardt (2005a) são referências cruciais na arquitetônica dessa reflexão. Algumas perguntas norteiam o presente estudo: 1) Quais manifestações podem ser lidas como carnavalescas no sentido de transgrediência? 2) Como diferentes sujeitos carnavalizam? Objetiva-se, especificamente, a partir de tais indagações: 1) Argumentar que manifestações cotidianas podem carregar uma inversão valorativa e, tal inversão, desestrutura discursos e relações de dominação. 2) Afirmar a existência de um coletivo de singularidades que não se limitam ao formato massivo da massa e compõe a multidão. 3) Compreender a multidão como um corpo grotesco - incapturável e inalienável. Ao tomar como pressuposto a ligação indissociável entre a situação social e o signo as principais compreensões encontrados foram: 1) Não há identidade coesa, mas identidades em constante luta. 2) Não há discurso que silencie o outro completamente, mas sim embate discursivo vivo na materialidade linguística. 3) A carnavalização é uma das formas de ativismo, uma atividade responsiva. 4) Um governar carnavalizado acontece como contraponto ao sistema oficial mediante diversas manifestações populares como protestos, artes, músicas e festas. 5 - A multidão formada por singularidades tem também uma face afirmativa no sentido de transgrediência. Suas ações podem ser carnavalescas, ou seja, respostas à eticidade retificada. A metodologia de pesquisa fundamenta-se na perspectiva teórica de Bakhtin da dialética dialógica - embate de palavras e contrapalavras o que sumariamente significa que o signo faz parte de um sistema de comunicação e, por isso, não pode ser separado das formas concretas de comunicação; que não há separação entre a realidade material do signo e a ideologia; e que há uma tensa relação entre discursos oficiais e cotidianos de forma carnavalesca.

abstract: The "Perchtenlauf," a multi-faceted procession of masked participants found in the eastern Alps, has been the subject of considerable discourse and often debate within European ethnology since the mid-19th century. While often viewed from a mythological perspective and characterized as a relic of pre-Christian cult practices, only recently have scholars begun to examine its connection with Carnival. Research of this kind calls for an in-depth analysis of the "Perchtenlauf" that is informed by Bakhtin's theory of the carnivalesque, an aesthetic of festive merriment and the release from social restrictions which is embodied by Carnival traditions. A carnivalesque reading of the "Perchtenlauf" reveals a tradition pregnant with playful ambivalence, celebrations of the lower body, and the inversion of social hierarchies. Past interpretations of the "Perchtenlauf" have often described its alleged supernatural function of driving away the harmful forces of winter, however its carnavalesque elements have definite social functions involving the enjoyment of certain liberties not sanctioned under other circumstances. The current study solidifies the relationship between the "Perchtenlauf" and Carnival using ethnographic, historical, and etymological evidence in an attempt to reframe the discourse on the tradition's form and function in terms of carnivalesque performance. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. German 2014

This study investigates Chinese online users’ adoptions of various languages and other meaning making signs in their online literacy practices in two popular Chinese CMC sites, Weibo (micro-blogging) and bilibili.com (video-sharing). Adopting the theoretical framework of heteroglossia (Bakhtin, 1981), I explore how various meaning making resources are creatively and playfully utilized by Chinese users in their online communication. After two-month data collection, I sampled the non-standard literacy practices (e.g., foreign language transliteration) identified from micro-blogging postings and comments in Weibo, as well as spontaneous (known as “bullet curtain” comments) and traditional text-box comments from featured videos in bilibili.com. The findings resulted in 30,005 non-standard literacy practice types which contain meaning making features from languages (e.g., stylized Chinese Mandarin) and other meaning making signs (e.g., emojis) from both sites. The analysis suggests that Chinese online communication are noticeably hybrid with plurillingual and non-linguistic semiotic resources. These practices reflect the Bakhtinian notion of heteroglossic communication in which people stylize their language use with various meaning making resources. In addition, many practices are also “carnivalesque” (Bakhtin, 1984) which is characterized with creativity and playfulness. The study further deconstructs the notion of multilingualism and extends the discussion of how online communication opens up space for non-conventional and creative literacy practices, which potentially challenge the authoritative policies and voices.

Dans la continuité des recherches de Mikhaïl Bakhtine et ses exégètes, je propose de considérer des récits et films de Bruno Dumont, Edouard louis, JD Vance, Ethan et Joel Coen qui présentent la figure de l’individu blanc des campagnes et les inscrivent dans une tradition de représentation carnavalesque. Celle-ci implique son lot de tropes, de caricatures, de réifications d’un corps social singulier ainsi qu’un trouble entre la fiction et le réel qui innerve une représentation sociologique commune à chacune des œuvres étudiées. Il s’agit également d’analyser les petits blancs en France et leurs cousins d’Amérique, les « white trash », et de retracer une courte histoire de leur représentation et l’impact des topoï carnavalesques qui ont marqué leur représentation dans l’imaginaire populaire. Au cours de cette recherche, il apparaît que si la question du pauvre blanc d’Amérique a fait couler beaucoup d’encre, jusqu’à produire sa propre itération d’une école de recherche sociologique, le pauvre blanc de France n’apparaît qu’en creux des préoccupations sur la pauvreté et la dépossession de la recherche française, bien que la fiction lui laisse sa place. Cette recherche pose la question de la légitimité d’une telle catégorie esthétique et sociologique, notamment face aux groupes marginalisés dont la légitimité est au cœur des préoccupations de la sociologie française et américaine. Il s’agit enfin de rendre compte de la réalité historique et poétique d’une représentation d’un groupe constitué, et de la façon dont l’esthétique carnavalesque souligne son impact sur les représentations et sa prétention à une forme d’irréalité : une figure qui survit par son ontologie problématique. Un étranger dans la demeure, une fiction qui se pare des éléments de langage utilisés dans les discours sur les minorités pour revendiquer et confondre son existence : un objet où la recherche littéraire peut aider à cerner une question sociologique. / In keeping with research on Mikhaïl Bakhtine and his exegetes, I aim to consider stories and movies made by Bruno Dumont, Edouard louis, J.D. Vance and the Coen Brothers, who present the poor white individual from various rural areas and inscribe them in a carnivalesque tradition of presentation. This tradition perpetrates different tropes, caricatures, and commodification of a singular social body, as well as a trouble maintained between reality and fiction, which innerves a sociological representation, found in all the works studied in this research. This research also aims to analyze the petits blancs from France, and their American cousins, the “white trash”, and to draw a short and summarized history of their representation and the impact of the carnivalesque tropes that has influenced their representation in popular culture. Over the course of this research, it appeared that if a lot had been said and written on the matter of the American white trash, sustaining its own field of study, the petit blanc only registers in the gaps of knowledge in the research about poverty and dispossession in French sociology, even though fiction gives it its own spot. This research explores the questions of legitimacy of such an aesthetic and sociological category, compared to marginalized groups which legitimacy is at the fore of many discussions in French and American sociology. Ultimately, this research aims to give an accurate picture of the historical and poetical reality of the representation of this constituted group and the ways in which the carnivalesque aesthetic impacts this representation and its pretense to a form of unreal: a figure which thrives on its own problematic ontology. A stranger in the house, a fiction which uses the common language of discourse surrounding minorities to both reclaim and dissolve its own existence: a subject upon which literary research can help give shape to a sociological question.

In school bullying is a well-known problem and unfortunately it is not uncommon that adults do not see all the signs of a bullying situation. Bullying can be hard to detect and several factors are possible foundation pillars for a hierarchical subjugation of another individual. This essay analyses how the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding conveys bullying, when it is explored through a reader-response lens together with Bakhtin’s theory of the carnivalesque. The carnival setting involves rituals and jokes, which the narrative in the novel uses regularly. Hierarchies should be omitted from the carnivalesque though, and this essay argues that the narrative in Lord of the Flies violates the non-hierarchical concept of the carnivalesque, in order to emphasise intentional malign bullying. The study concretise how this is shown in the novel, and concludes that Lord of the Flies can be helpful in school to raise awareness of the intricate problem of bullying. / <p>Slutgiltigt godkännandedatum: 2022-06-05</p>

Ce mémoire de maîtrise en recherche-création explore aussi bien la teneur populaire que l'aspect proprement théâtral associés aux figures narratives que sont les bonimenteurs. À partir d'une lecture critique des Nouvelles récréations et joyeux devis (1558) de Bonaventure Des Périers, le volet essai du mémoire tente de cerner quelle est la posture particulière que présente ce narrateur bonimenteur de la Renaissance française. Nous avons cette fois tenté de voir comment ce discours employé par Des Périers, grâce à une stylistique et une structure discursive qui lui sont propres, participe de la figure du bonimenteur s’adressant au lecteur comme il le ferait sur une place publique, usant de cette posture pour jouer avec son lecteur, grâce à des effets paradoxaux de rapprochement et de mise à distance. Cette façon ludique de se mettre en valeur propre aux bonimenteurs aura des échos jusque dans le volet création du mémoire. Propos et contes avinés est un recueil de nouvelles inspiré de la tradition boccaccienne dans lequel des protagonistes se racontent des histoires pour convaincre leurs interlocuteurs du bien-fondé de leur position. S’y juxtapose aussi bien la parole dialoguée (dans les « propos ») que la parole narrative (dans les « contes »), dans une atmosphère carnavalesque. / This master’s thesis in research/creation explores the popular scope as well as the theatrical aspect associated with the narrative figures that are the pitchmen. Following a critical reading of the Nouvelles récréations et joyeux devis (1558) from Bonaventure Des Périers, the essay portion of the thesis attempts to identify the particular posture presented by the pitchman narrator from the French Renaissance. We have attempted to illustrate how this discourse used by Des Périers, through his particular stylistic and discursive structure, partakes in the pitchman figure who addresses the readers directly as he would do in the public square and uses this posture to play with them, using paradoxical effects of proximity and detachment. This playful manner through which the pitchmen distinguish themselves will fin echoes in the creation portion of this thesis. Propos et contes avinés is a collection of short stories inspired by the boccaccian tradition in which the protagonists tell stories in order to convince their listeners of the validity of their opinions. Their dialogue (the discourse) is juxtaposed with narrative (the tale) in a carnivalesque atmosphere.

In this thesis I will demonstrate that there is a similarity between the use of physical walls and digital walls as means of ideological dissemination by power structures as well as socio-political protesters. Also, I will show that their use in this manner not only changes the way that both function ideologically, but also changes the environment that these walls are created/exist in as well. The first case study will analyze Banksy’s employment of carnivalesque graffiti as a means of protest. The second case study will analyze the use of digital public space and “walls” created within social media as tools of protest, paralleling the earlier examples pertaining to the physical walls of public space. The third case study will look at the employment of the digital “walls” of Facebook and Twitter in conjunction with the use of public space in Cairo and its role in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.