FOREIGN “CARNIVAL” CULTURE: BETWEEN IDIOM AND VIRAL CONCEPT

Abstract

The article continues the series of studies by the author of modern carnival culture, in the theory and practice of which serious discrepancies are noticeable. The text focuses on the little-studied linguistic and cultural side of the common terms Laughtivism, Laughter resistance, Strategic humor, Humorous protest, Protestival, Clownfrontation, Tactical Carnival, Intentional carnival, Carnivalesque Protest, Carnivalized politics, the framework of which is built on the fusion of the nominations of laughter and seriousness. The practical subject of analysis is the communities, events and practices in relation to which this terminology is used. The movement “Carnival against capital” is considered; actions of the group “Rebel Army of Clowns”, the action “Occupy Wall Street”, actions of the movements “Reclaim the Streets”, creation of "Bread and puppet" theater etc. According to the first hypothesis, the above foreign terms used to characterize foreign carnival culture are idioms in which semantics cannot be derived from external construction of the lexeme itself. In the second hypothesis, these concepts can withstand verification if the theory of exaptation is applied to them, in line with which such hybrids of laughter and seriousness can act as a by-product of the development of carnival culture. As a result of the study, both hypotheses were partially confirmed. Foreign conceptual lexemes that claim the status of theoretical concepts of carnival culture do not stand up to verification, since they completely characterize a decarnivalized world, comparable to a viral formation on the body of the theory and practice of carnival.

For citation:
Semenova, E. A. (2023). Foreign “carnival” culture: between idiom and viral concept. Experience industries. Socio-Cultural Research Technologies (EISCRT), 4 (5), 19-47. (In Russ). https://doi.org/10.34680/EISCRT-2023-4(5)-19-47