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«Magister Dixit» - научно-педагогический журнал Восточной Сибири
№3 (15). Октябрь 2014 (http://md.islu.ru/)
О.Ю. Вербицкая
КУЛЬТУРНАЯ МЕТАФОРА «АМЕРИКАНСКИЙ ФУТБОЛ» КАК ИНСТРУМЕНТ ПОНИМАНИЯ КУЛЬТУРНЫХ ЦЕННОСТЕЙ АМЕРИКАНСКОГО ОБЩЕСТВА
Данная статья посвящена анализу американских культурных ценностей через понятие культурной метафоры. Метафора «Американский футбол» позволяет рассмотреть аксиологическую и национально-культурную специфику объективации ряда ценностей современного американского общества.
Ключевые слова: метафора; культурная метафора; культурные ценности; индивидуализм; коллективизм; американский футбол
O. Verbitskaya
UNDERSTANDING AMERICAN VALUES THROUGH THE CULTURAL METAPHOR «AMERICAN FOOTBALL»
In recent years, there have been significant studies in cultural values and beliefs done, respectively, to analyze and understand American society. This special issue, which investigates American values through American football applying cultural metaphor as an instrument, reflects the axiological and culturally-determined specifics of cultural values' existence.
Key words: metaphor; cultural metaphor; values; individualism; collectivism; American football
The idea to investigate metaphors is not a new one; the roots of it may be found in Aristotle’ works who wrote that one proposition («name») may have different interpretations due to its elementary relations [Aristotle, 2013, p. 19-21]; thus, it may be substituted by other propositions because there is a similarity between the names; consequently, a notion or an object described by a metaphor may be expressed by different semantic units. The idea has been developed by a great number of researchers [Heidegger, 1927; Gadamer, 1960; Ortony, 1975; Haverkamp, 1996; Khakhalova, 1998 et al.] since then.
© Вербицкая О.Ю., 2014
Generally speaking, the philosophical approach to the research of what the metaphor is is linked to the problems of the connection between the mind-set and the language. So, analytical philosophy has developed the principles of analysis of the true status and individual meaning of metaphorical expressions and the criteria of metaphorism [Davidson, 1990; E. McCormack, 2013 et al.]. The ideas of the philosophical approach are related to the cognitive approach [Ricreur, 1978; Searle, 1992; Black, 2007 et al.] which, as the result, established the theory of cognitive metaphor that opened a way to analyze the metaphor not only as a stylistic means or a vague proposition but as an instrument of human mind-set study as well.
Metaphors are an interesting instrument of analysis because, in the opinion of A. Ortony, they «allow the transfer of coherent chunks of characteristics - perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and experiential» [Ortony, 1975, p. 53]. The main findings of his research can be summarized as follows: metaphor, on the one hand, reflects the cultural mind-set and, on the other, accumulates the peculiarities of a nation or a cluster of a nation.
First of all, to identify what a cultural metaphor is seems to be necessary. Basing on the book by Martin J. Gannon and Rajnandini Pillai, «cultural metaphor is …the innovative method for understanding easily and quickly the cultural mind-set of a nation and comparing it to those of other nations» [Gannon and Pmai, 2013, p. 8]. Thus, this idea gives a push to undertake a research towards cultural metaphors which would help us understand and describe the American society in a more effective way.
The obvious fact is that there may be a lot of reasons to apply cultural metaphor for a better understanding of any culture. One of the most important reasons is the following: cultural metaphor reveals itself as a kind of a «guide», a «map», or a «beacon» for a foreigner which will help adjust to a new culture and societies easily and quickly and, as a consequence, feel comfortable in a new society. As a result it may help avoid behavioral mistakes. Ifs important because to rectify a mistake may be, in some cases, impossible. But, of course, it should be mentioned that the knowledge of the historic and cultural background of a cultural metaphor is only a starting point, a kind of first-hand knowledge.
The existence of every nation or a cluster of a nation is guided by definite values and beliefs. Beliefs are at the core of our thoughts and actions; they tell us how the world operates. A value is an enduring belief, a specific mode of conduct which is personallyorsociallypreferabletoanother(«aleamedorganizationofmles»[Samo-var, 1998, p. 49]). Values that tend to permeate a culture are cultural values.
Researching towards the values of the modern American society [Kearny, 1984; Datesman, 2005] the five basic values may be stressed out. They are as follows:
-Individualism
the understanding of which assumes that each individual is unique, special, completely different from all other individuals, and, as it is written in the American Constitution is «the basic unit of society»;
-Equality or Egalitarianism
the idea of which may be found in everything from government, because everyone has the right to vote, to have social relationships. In the support of the last thesis a lot of examples may be found in everyday speech which establish some social «dos and don’ts», for example, in the phrase «Just call me by my first name»;
-Materialism
that states almost a right to be materially well-off and physically comfortable in the USA;
-Work and Leisure,
as a well-known American philosopher and writer George Santayana once said, «To the art of working well a civilized race would add the art of playing well», the phrase which later became a motto «work well and play well»;
- Competition
the roots of which may be investigated in a great number of American sayings and proverbs, for example, «A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace».
Thus, the motivating issue is to find out what cultural metaphor may profile the cultural mind-set of the American society. This article presents the idea to describe the US community using «American football» as a cultural metaphor.
To prove the idea that the American society can be described using «American football»asthecultumlmetaphorthereareseveralstimuli.
First, the modem peculiarities of American football are depicted in the article «The Game of Life» by Goldstein [Los Angels Times, 2004] and, even proceeding from the article’s title, the importance of American football for the American society is indisputable. Second, a modern American philosopher Martin Gannon once wrote, «if you don’t understand U.S. football, you will have difficulty in understanding U.S. culture». Third, in the article «In a League» published in the journal «Economist» in 2006 it was written that American football is the most popular sport in the United States, from opinion polls to television ratings. Moreover, Mary McGrory, a contemporary and popular American journalist, said in one of the interviews the following, «Baseball is where we were. Football is what we have become».
Hence, to find out why American football as a cultural metaphor can be applied to describe the American culture and what American values it presents appears to be motivating. To do it effectively it seems reasonable to relate to the idea of the «semiotics of culture» following the approach of G. Knabe. According to G. Knabe, every sign as a definite historical and cultural content of a concept has its signifier (a certain representation of a sign) and its significatum which is the meaning represented in the cultural mindset. The palpable element is that even the fact of existence of such a signifier as attending or watching American football on TV manifests significatum of such cultural values as Work and Leisure.
American football starts with the so-called «tailgate party» which is a kind of people gathering together before the game. Americans can drive hundreds of miles, then they park their cars in a special huge parking lot, grill barbecue and other foods, drink beer and soda. During this time they share food and thoughts. But when the game is over, they hurry to get out cutting others off. All conviviality is forgotten… Analyzing what cultural values are demonstrated by this signifier this time it seems obvious that the time before the game denotes first such signified as Collectivism, and then Individualism and Competition.
ThenextcomponentofAmericanfootballis«Pregame».Ittakesplaceinthesta-dium where there are a lot of responsive fans who cheer the players and each other (even the cheer-leaders may be cheered!). The most important part is singing the national anthem which is accompanied with respectful standing and singing of the anthem. Investigating what cultural value is demonstrated during this time Collectivism appears to be the most adequate.
Touching upon the strategy of the game it should be mentioned that the objective is to wear down and destroy the enemy, or an opposing team, totally; thus, the winner is exalted and the loser is quickly forgotten, the clear matter is that Competition as an American value is proved.
To point out such important components of American football as selection and specialization appears to be prerequisite. There are three specialized teams or «squads», each with 11 players: 11 on offense (the higher-profile, higher-paid players -this component demonstrates Materialism as a value); 11 on defense (aggressive and violent); 11 special players or «reserves» who are coached for «big plays» and high intensity. Every player is responsible for specific actions during a particular game, for example, one player may only kick field goals. Within the group structure everyone is expected to add value to the final result. Studying what cultural value is signified through this component of the game ifs evident that Egalitarianism is revealed.
The manifestation of aggression, which is the fundamental part of American football and which is sometimes interpreted by Americans as energy and intense motivation, is an essential part of the game and is encouraged in US and, of course, denotes such signified as Competition and Individualism.
One more interesting component of the game is huddling when the offensive squad of a team, which consists of different players from diverse backgrounds with various levels of education, gather together hugging each other. The idea is to put differences aside and cooperate objectively to achieve a certain goal. This part of the game demonstrates Equality.
To take everything that has been written above into consideration, it should be noticed that despite the fact that the American society is often described as individualistic, with applying cultural metaphor as an instrument of cultural mind-set analysis, some features of collectivistic society can be observed in American people as well.
Thus, to conclude, the importance and effectiveness of a research made with the help of cultural metaphor seems to be indisputable. It doesn5t only reflect the language, mental, and societal peculiarities but also helps to cognize and construct the reality of a culture. The appliance of the ideas of cultural semiotics helps to pay tribute to understanding cultural concepts as signs and to studying them in detail.
References:
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