The cinema ritual of life revival: «It’s a wonderful life» vs «Irony of fate»

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34680/EISCRT-2026-3(16)-189-223

Keywords:

apophatics, deep semiotics, cataphatics, cinema ritual, New Year, Christmas, semiosis, subjectivity

Abstract

Every culture contains practices for maintaining its own stability and reproduction. Among such practices, rituals play an important role. One form of ritual in the culture of modern mass society is cinema. Rituals can not only be part of their narrative. Some films become part of rituals, or even create similar rituals. The article attempts to reveal the mechanism of meaning formation capable of forming such cinematic rituals. The analysis uses the distinction between the cataphatic and apophatic semantic worldviews, as well as the concept of deep semiotics. This allows us to identify two types of meaning formation (stabilization and potentiation) and the corresponding types of subjectivity. Two films were selected as material for comparative analysis: “It’s a wonderful life” (USA) and “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!” (USSR); their content is closely linked to the traditional rituals of life renewal in the cultures of their respective countries; moreover, these films themselves have become an integral part of such rituals.

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Author Biography

Grigorii Tulchinskii, HSE University, Peter the Great Polytechnic, St. Petersburg, Russia; Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, Russia

Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Professor
e-mail: gtul@mail.ru

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Published

2026-09-26

How to Cite

Tulchinskii, G. (2026). The cinema ritual of life revival: «It’s a wonderful life» vs «Irony of fate». Experience Industries. Socio-Cultural Research Technologies, 3 (16), 189–223. https://doi.org/10.34680/EISCRT-2026-3(16)-189-223

Issue

No. 3 (16) (2026): Experience industries. Socio-Cultural Research Technologies

Section

Traditions