Artistic and aesthetic characteristics of vocal and pop performance as a genre synthesis of arts

The purpose of the article is to study the artistic and aesthetic features of vocal and pop art as a genre synthesis of arts. The research methodology involves the use of system-structural, comparative methods of analysis and culturological and art approaches in the study of these issues. The scientific novelty of the work is to expand the theoretical boundaries of understanding vocal and pop performance as a synthetic genre that combines different arts, and its defining artistic and stylistic features that directly affect the structure and stylistic features of vocals, interpretation of the work, its perception by listeners and representation of values, ideas and impressions generated in the process of performance and its perception. Conclusions. Conclusions. Variety vocal performance as a kind of musical text involves special manifestations of intertextuality, so it is possible to find layers of artistic and species series, expressive forms and meanings, artistic and linguistic means and interpretive techniques. From the point of view of specific tasks of artistic communication, it appears as a generalized form of musical and artistic activity that can claim universality and has its stage and staging canons, determined by value concepts of culture, but in their new popular sense. There are also exemplary compositional and semantic models in this field, the imitation of which is a recognized way to join the pop vocal and performing professionalism. In the field of pop and vocal performance in its theatrical and staged form there is a specific mythologizing, which concerns the figure of the singer as the central actor of the concert program, which forms a certain image to achieve extreme artistic persuasiveness. Therefore, it is not an image of a fictional character, but of a person close in time and meaning to life, as she can and should be in virtual artistic reality - aesthetically sublime and morally balanced. The main components of the intertextual sphere, which is formed around the variety show and determines the special director's interest in it, are semantic positions on the singer as a semantic core of the whole moving picture of pop and stage action. It is these semantic factors that organize and lead to a holistic artistic result all the structural indicators of pop performance. Keywords: vocal and pop art, artistic and aesthetic characteristics, genre specifics, genre synthesis of arts.

Getting the Full Picture in English and Spanish?

Drawing on the mental model theory of fictional characters (Schneider, 2001) applied to audio description (Fresno, 2016), this paper examines the audio description (AD) of characters in English and Spanish for the Netflix series Élite. The study is based on the premise that semantic descriptions of characters, rather than merely visual descriptions of physical traits, contribute to a better understanding of the narrative complexities of a film, favour AD users’ memory, and reduce cognitive effort (Fresno et al., 2016). This contrastive analysis shows how pertinent description of action movements and appearances together with lexical accuracy can trigger helpful semantic meanings that reveal characters’ psychological features. Because Élite is a thriller in which the majority of the characters are murder suspects, accessing all types of information about them is essential to fully understand the plot. In addition, this analysis indicates that the English AD emphasizes certain character attributes which are absent from the Spanish AD, a distinction that influences the semantic domains, filmic cohesion and coherence of the narrative. This finding underscores the fact that cross-linguistic and cultural differences actually affect the reception of a fictional character by AD users (Orero, 2008; Mazur & Chmiel, 2012) and consequently, their appreciation and enjoyment of the program in question. Lay summary This paper examines the audio description (AD) of characters in English and Spanish for the Netflix series Élite. Based on previous studies (Fresno, 2014; Fresno, 2016), this analysis shows that not only physical traits, but also the description of action movements and looks can trigger helpful semantic inferences that reveal crucial characters’ psychological features. Because Élite is a thriller in which most of the characters are murder suspects, grasping all types of information about them is essential to fully understand the plot. In addition, this paper indicates that the English AD emphasizes certain character attributes which are absent in the Spanish AD. This finding underscores the fact that cross-linguistic and cultural differences actually affect the reception of a fictional character by AD users (Orero, 2008; Mazur & Chmiel, 2012) and consequently, their appreciation and enjoyment of the show in question.

Caryl Phillips’s Rewriting of the Canonical Romance as a Genre

The paper considers Phillips’s rewriting of the canonical nineteenth-century romances in three of his novels – A State of Independence (1986), The Lost Child (2015), and A View of the Empire at Sunset (2018). The three texts resettle the romance genre through the postcolonial concept of ‘home’. In A State of Independence, Phillips rearranges the role of one of Jane Austen’s most orthodox characters, the landowner Sir Thomas Bertram of Mansfield Park (1814), by transposing the Austenian character’s features to his protagonist Bertram Francis, a Caribbean man who comes back to his ancestral homeland after twenty years in Britain. In The Lost Child, chronicling literary-historical events in the present tense by transferring the life of the Brontë family into the protagonists of Wuthering Heights (1847) is for the author one way of calling into question the real sense of literature. It is for this reason that Phillips constructs a cyclic narration around the figure of Branwell Brontë, fictionalised by his sister Emily in the romance protagonist Heathcliff, and mirrored in The Lost Child in the character of Tommy Wilson. In A View of the Empire at Sunset, Phillips definitely overturns the colonial and genre categories by reassessing the in-between life of the Dominican-born writer Jean Rhys through her personal return journey to Dominica: as a result, the author of Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) (an intense rewriting of Jane Eyre) becomes a fictional character, and the literary events of her life sum up the vicissitudes both of the two ‘Bertrams’ – of Mansfield Park and A State of Independence – and the protagonists of Wuthering Heights and The Lost Child.

Paradoxes of translation

In this article, I consider what is assumed to be the speculative paradox of translation: that translation is theoretically impossible but actually practicable. My thesis is that this aporia is nothing but a consequence of the limited way in which translation is often conceptualised. In this article, the term ‘translation’ is to be understood as interlingual translation, unless otherwise indicated; more precisely, as literary translation. In order to present my argument, I will examine three examples of translation, namely: (1) the fictionalisation of the translation process in Nicole Brossard’s novel Le désert mauve; (2) Jean-François Billeter’s translation of a poem by the medieval Chinese poet Su Dongpo; and (3) the translation of the words ‘tragedy’ and ‘comedy’ by the fictional character Averroes in a short story written by Jorge Louis Borges. The analysis of these real or fictitious examples of translation will help to introduce the notion of the unspoken as that which cannot be transmuted or recognised as a sign. This ever-present dimension of the translation process will allow me to show that the thesis of fundamental untranslatability is a false aporia, which derives from a reductive understanding of the phenomenon of translation.

“Pieces of life” - Tajana’s growing up in Sunčana Škrinjarić’s trilogy Ulica predaka [The Street of Ancestors], Ispit zrelosti [Test of Maturity] and Bijele strijele [White Arrows]

This paper analyses the growing up of Tajana, a fictional character in unhealthy family surroundings as depicted in Sunčana Škrinjarić’s (1931 – 2004) trilogy: The Street of Ancestors (1980), Test of Maturity (2002), and White Arrows (2004). The main controversy of the trilogy is the presentation of a childhood without didacticism, moral lessons, or idealization; a childhood which is more unhappy than protected and joyful. By breaking settled rules and taboos, Škrinjarić created her own, recognizable style of narration. This study will particularly focus on Tajana’s relationship with her mother and the girl’s emotional development, which can be interpreted in light of childhood trauma. Tajana’s mother is an educated, beautiful, and coquettish woman who does not love her daughter. She sees the girl only as a “redundant little brat”, a reminder of her broken first marriage, and an obstacle to happiness in life. Hitting Tajana, pulling her hair, and essentially ignoring all her needs, she can be labelled a bad mother who fails to fulfil the duties of her role: being present and protective, as well as providing for her daughter’s well-being and upbringing. Tajana’s experience of emotional neglect and emotional and even physical abuse from her mother in her childhood results in the girl’s problems in building firm and healthy relationships in her adult life.

Electroconvulsive therapy: a clinical case study and review

Electroconvulsive therapy is deemed one of the most effective treatments for alleviating symptoms in individuals diagnosed with severe depression, yet it remains one of the most controversial psychiatric treatments in contemporary mental health nursing practice. As such, its use and efficacy continue to be questioned. The following article analyses the case of Albert, a fictional character who represents the presentation of several patients who have received electroconvulsive therapy. The application of electroconvulsive therapy is evaluated, by referring to the most recent policy and national guidelines. Despite the associated stigma, electroconvulsive therapy can save lives, as portrayed by Albert. However, further research is required and updated guidance from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is needed, specifically with regards to maintenance and relapse prevention. It is important to be aware of the implications of side effects, just as with other interventions. Overall, this article highlights the importance of safe, recovery-focused and person-centred care.

Swamp Thing case study as a fictional character design in popular culture for environmental conservation efforts

The green spirit and movement are global issues that voice about environmental conservation efforts. Using media from popular culture as an approach, comics are used as product icons to convey messages regarding an issue. Comic consumers are mostly the younger generation. In comic, characters are designed to represent certain messages. This research used case study method on Swamp Thing comics with a semiotic approach. The data, especially the character design, were anaylized using denotative, connotative, and intertextuality analysis. The result of this research an identification of the use of a scary superhero character as an approach to deliver messages of environmental conservation. The parameters of the effectiveness of character design are seen from the sustainability and development of media that uses the character in their contents.

Deleuze Becoming-Mary Poppins: Re-Imagining the Concept of Becoming-Woman and Its Potential for Challenging Current Notions of Parenting, Gender and Childhood

In this paper, we consider the major and controversial lexicon of Deleuze’s ‘becoming-woman’ and what an alternative re-working of this concept might look like through the story of Mary Poppins. In playfully exploring the many interesting aspects of Travers’ character, with her classic tale about the vagaries of parenting, we attempt to highlight how reading Mary Poppins through the Deleuzian lens of ‘becoming-woman’ opens up possibilities, not limitations, in terms of feminist perspectives. In initially resisting the ‘Disneyfication’ of Mary Poppins, Travers offered insights and opportunities which we revisit and consider in terms of how this fictional character can significantly disrupt ideas of gender performativity. We endeavour to accentuate how one of its themes not only dismantles the patriarchy in 1910 but also has significant traction in the twenty- first century. We also put forth the idea of Mary Poppins as an icon of post-humanism, a nomadic war machine, with her robotic caring, magic powers and literal flights of fancy, to argue how she ironically holds the dual position of representing the professionalisation of parenting and the need to move beyond a Dionysian view of children as in need of control and regulation, as well as that of nurturer and emancipator. Indeed, in her many contradictions, we suggest a nomadic Mary Poppins can offer a route into the ideas of Deleuze and his view of children as de-territorialising forces and activators of change.

FROM DIGITAL INFLUENCERS TO INFLUENCER-LABORATORIES. A CASE STUDY OF LIL MIQUELA

This research focuses on an emerging influencer category called CGI influencers. CGI influencers are fictional characters created with computer modeling techniques that have profiles on social networks and sociomaterial trajectories built with the aid of digital marketing, business intelligence and media companies. As an empirical object, we chose Lil Miquela - "the robot influencer", one of the most successful examples of this genre of micro celebrity on Instagram. Our main goal was to map the ways in which Miquela acts on Instagram and to find traces that allow us to explore better the interrelationship between the strategies adopted by Miquela's creators team and her appropriations of Instagram affordances that shapes the ways in which she acts both as a fictional character and as a digital influencer. We extracted 1089 posts available in Miquela’s feed up to June 2021and used content analysis and mixed digital methods techniques to explore the data. We observed three ways of acting (practices) that are characteristic of Miquela and operate interdependently: (a) The Fictional Character, (b) The Experiment and (c) The Influencer. These findings could suggest that the three versions of Miquela act as an experimental model of what we here call “influencer-laboratories”: a type of digital influencer for which the influencer itself acts as a controlled experiment used to investigate which sociomaterial arrangements create conditions that favor the production of online influence on digital platforms.

THE ENCHANTED WANDERER BY LEONID YUZEFOVICH

The article analyzes the novel “Philellin” by L.A. Yuzefovich, the main attention is paid to the method of narration, the system of characters, the typological characteristics of the main character and the genre features of the work. The novel is a collection of documents of different genres, which together form a story about the events of the liberation war in Greece in the 20s of the XIX century. Almost all of Yuzefovich's characters act simultaneously as subjects of the narrative and participants in the events. The exception is Alexander I, because he is “silent” (his point of view is broadcast by his secretary Yelovsky) and "inactive". Despite the importance of the figure of the Russian emperor in the plot of the novel, for these reasons, Alexander “gives way” to the place of the main character to a fictional character - Grigory Mossepanov, whose fate forms the plot outline of the novel. Mossepanov is not only an important participant in the events, but also one of the main subjects and objects of the narrative. In literary criticism, the hero is given typological definitions of Don Quixote, Petrushka, “a little man”. This article offers a more appropriate definition of the character and fate of Mossepanov - “enchanted wanderer”, which is confirmed by the comparison of the characters of L. Yuzefovich and N. Leskov. The key plot role of the Russian philhellene, the peculiarities of his character and fate largely determine the genre nature of the work as a historical and mythological novel.