V.
The metaphorical model of "Life is theater" is widely used in various spheres of communication. Another hero of W. Shakespeare exclaimed: "The whole world is a theater. / In it, women, men are all actors. / They have their own exits, exits, / And each plays more than one role" (Jacques ' monologue; comedy "As you Like it").
The theatrical metaphor is used in the political speech of many countries, however, in Russia at the end of the XX century, this model has become dominant.
In accordance with the model under consideration, in the last decade of the last century, comedies, tragedies and farces were played out on the political stage according to pre-developed scenarios and under the guidance of experienced directors, in which actors played their roles (sometimes at the prompting of prompters). Foreign guest performers attracted special attention of the audience. Sometimes the audience was also thrilled by provincial artists (for example, from Stavropol, Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod), who performed the main roles in the Bolshoi Theater.
The pragmatic potential of this metaphorical model is determined by a bright conceptual vector of insincerity, artificial insincerity, etc.-
* See: Russian speech. 2001. NN 3, 4; 2002. N 1
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political actors do not live a real life, but rather fulfill someone else's predestinations against their will.
Let us highlight the main manifestations of the metaphorical model "Political life is theater".
1. "Type of spectacle and genre of performance".
The Russian political life of the last decade is often metaphorically characterized as one or another kind of entertainment arts. Accordingly, the concepts of "theater", "circus", "cinema", "farce", "stage", "concert" are distinguished: "I want the Duma to become boring, otherwise lately it has become more and more like a theater. However, does one Duma resemble a theater? Our whole political life is a theater "(S. Pankevich); "The activities of the council increasingly took place in the style of a political farce" (And. Vasiliev); "Our politics, of course, is like a circus, but not everyone can be clowns" (G. Yavlinsky); "Failure to pay debts to the Paris Club on time is a theater, it's a circus, it's a farce" (A. Illarionov).
Typical pragmatic meanings of such metaphors are excessive brightness, pomposity, isolation from life, and inefficiency in the activities of political institutions and organizations.
To denote political events in modern Russia, the names of certain genres are regularly used: detective, drama, carnival, comedy, soap opera, operetta, TV series, play, tragicomedy, thriller, farce, show, etc. "Life in I. Sheremet's" News Program"looks like a carnival, where tragedy, comedy, drama were mixed" (M. Ivanov); "The Perestroika farce is nearing its climax" (Vol. Novodvorskaya Street); "Zhirinovsky is always a cancan" (A. Slonomirova); "Ten days before the election. The pre-election spectacle is in full swing. The action continues, the genre of which is difficult to define: comedy, tragedy, drama, farce, tragicomedy-everything is mixed up on the stage "(D. Nikanorov).
The very name of the spectacle and its genre determines the formation of emotive meanings: events and their characters are evaluated in accordance with the tradition of the genre.
2. "People of the theater".
Political actors play roles, dance and sub-dance, perform arias and sing along, perform magic tricks, juggle and perform many other actions in order to achieve the desired effect: "Artists, that is, candidates of all stripes, get together in troupes, travel all over the country, tour" (S. Obraztsov); " Berezovsky is not so simple, so that you can present yourself as a political clown like this, for what you live, " (A. Teplyuk); "Suspension of S. Dorenko from the air
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it was a shock for the domestic TV audience. However, having lost their favorite soap opera, the audience in return received a wonderful propaganda show performed by the same actor " (M. Ryazantsev); "Rossel and Rakhimov decided to keep quiet as a duet after the incident that happened to the Kursk governor Alexander Rutsky" (V. Smelov).
Such a metaphor in the absolute majority of cases carries negative emotions. This applies not only to words that denote "supporting" roles (extras, chorus, extras), but also to the names of leading actors. In the minds of the masses, a politician should be a hero, and not play the role of a hero. Any "unnaturalness" initially harms the image of a political figure.
In political activity, organizers and performers of certain actions often differ. To identify the inspirers and developers of political campaigns, taking into account the specific role of each of them, theater terminology is used metaphorically: conductor, puppeteer, director, producer, director, screenwriter, prompter, etc.
This series also seems to include designations for the process of preparing a performance: dress rehearsal, premiere, run-through, role allocation, etc. As you know, important political events are prepared even more carefully than the performance, and therefore the political language needs to nominate stages of such preparation and borrows them from the world of spectacles:
"The situation on the eve of the election of the Yekaterinburg mayor is painfully reminiscent of a drama that has a screenwriter and a behind-the-scenes director" (D. Tabashnikov); "Such a president may seem dangerous to influential Western circles that have already drawn up their own scenario for the development of Russia" (S. Anokhin); "LDPR and Yabloko... they consider the elections to the regional legislative assembly as a rehearsal for the presidential election" (A. Pertsev).
3. "The audience and the reception given to the performance".
As you know, for every performance (and everyone who prepared it) there is a "doomsday" - premiere. The viewer gives an assessment of the work, and few people can console the randomness or unfairness of this assessment, which determines the creative fate of actors for a long time. For politicians (including political producers, directors, conductors, and first violins), such a "doomsday" is elections. Therefore, it is quite natural that the theatrical terms of the corresponding group (audience, audience, failure, and even klaka) are actively used in political vocabulary: "The All-Russian show, or Elections-96, is in full swing. The audience, that is, we, applauds, laughs, laughs. And with amazement passes to each other phrases and words that sound from the mouths of actors" (D. Nikanorov); " For most parties, overcoming
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A five percent barrier is a huge success, but for the Liberal Democratic Party it's just a fiasco. Vladimir Volfovich has never had such a failure before" (A. Pertsev).
4. "View Elements".
Political activity, like a spectacular performance, consists of separate stages, parts, and episodes. The appropriate theatrical vocabulary is used metaphorically to denote them: act, intermission, encore, bow, action, picture, climax, prologue, cue, reprise, scene, trick, overture, epilogue, etc. "The work of the council was mainly decorated with scenes of leaders working for the benefit of the people being shredded" (I. Vasiliev); "The last intermission has been announced in the work of the State Duma, the action is inexorably approaching the epilogue, and deputies are increasingly remembering their constituents" (N. Korotkov).
A detailed and well-known structuring of the concept of "theater" often helps journalists find a suitable metaphorical designation for political realities.
5. "Theater props".
Words denoting theatrical and other props ( props, make-up, scenery, curtain, costume, masks, wig, "plywood" , etc.) are often used in political speech to describe the actions of politicians who hide their real affairs with high words and beautiful poses: "How many fake figures are there to distract attention from the public?" valid candidates can be included in the ballot " (A. Vybornov); "The face of the new dictatorship emerges from the blood and chaos without hypocritical masks" (S. Vaganov); "When candidates become deputies, they will remove their political makeup ..." (A. Tuev).
6. "Theater building".
Modern politicians often plan events from behind the scenes, but if necessary go on the political stage or arena, wait for support from both the stalls and the gallery, and if necessary visit the boxes. They know that the theater begins with a hanger and a skillfully prepared colorful program: "Today and every day there is an unsurpassed team of clowns in the arena of our political circus" (A. Demidov); "In the Media Bridge scandal... everything is decided behind the scenes, Gazprom is not free in its actions" (Yu. Skuratov).
It should be noted that in these phrases, as in many others, the theatrical metaphor does not appear as a separate word usage, but as a whole complex, the components of which contribute to a brighter perception of each other. Often, the theatrical metaphor becomes the main means of expression for the entire political text.
Let's look at some of the reasons for the widespread use of the theatrical metaphor (let's also refer circo to this group).-
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popular, pop, cinematic, and other similar metaphors) in modern political speech.
First of all, the democratization of society has really brought theatrical features to political life, the public side of which was previously completely ritual. In the Soviet era, official meetings of state authorities simply could not resemble any drama, comedy, or variety show.
Secondly, the activation of the model is associated with a special role in such a metaphor of conceptual vectors of pretense and external modelability of events, which undoubtedly corresponds to the ideas of a significant part of society about the political history of the last decade of the last century. Theater as a source sphere creates excellent conditions for the realization of the emotional charge of a metaphor.
Third, it is important to note the high structure of the theater world as the initial sphere for metaphor, the rather voluminous representation of the majority of native speakers about this structure, and, finally, their natural interest in the entertainment arts. These arts, like literature, traditionally serve as a "textbook of life" in our country: an important source of information, a role model, and a moral guide. Therefore, the" spectacular metaphor " is usually well received by the addressee.
Ekaterinburg
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