CONVERSATIONS AMONG FRIENDS: REFLECTING GENDER SOCIAL NORMS
Studia Philologica
Переглянути архів Інформація| Поле | Співвідношення | |
| Title |
CONVERSATIONS AMONG FRIENDS: REFLECTING GENDER SOCIAL NORMS
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| Creator |
Gаlynа Tsapro, Tetiana Kychan
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| Subject |
gender, dialogue, social stereotypes, topic choice, situational comedy.
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| Description |
The article studies gender differences in speech in the sitcom series “Friends”. The research focuses on the topicchoice made by characters. The dialogue discourse under study is interpreted and subdivided into minimalconversational fragments. The conversation topics are considered in three groups: conversation between twofemale friends, conversations between two male friends and conversation in the mixed sex group. To study genderpeculiarities of the conversation among friends the following methods have been applied: discourse analysis,context-interpretation analysis and conversational analysis — the combination of these analyses is used to studythe dialogue discourse with the aim to select, mark and separate minimal dialogue fragments for further gendertopic research; comparative method is used to compare topics in three groups of characters: F-F (homogenderconversation between women), M-M (homogender conversation between men), M-F (heterogender conversationbetween a man and a woman).Television series are marked by a number of particular features: regularity of broadcasting, stable plot unfolding,length, recurrence of some plot lines. Furthermore, series are in an advantageous position if compared withany other television product due to their unique relations with the viewers. Television series are consideredto be an impactful instrument of reaching the audience and one of the primary sources of giving informationto those who watch. Being the mass culture outcome, series express the spirit of the contemporary society, haveenormous ability to effect emotional reaction and simultaneously and to moderate (weaken, reduce) rationalperception of the reality. Moreover, series create the peculiar picture of the world which is immensely differentfrom everyday routine life. Besides, due to series the audience is given some new experience. Furthermore,present-day films focus on the future norms of the society more than reflecting the past ones; they create andintroduce new vision of social norms and stereotypes.Gender is studied as a set of physical, psychological, behavioural features that are expected from the correspondinggender in the society, in other words it is the blending, mixture or cooperation of sex and social status of a personality.The sitcom “Friends” has created a particular image about young people’s life implying clearly that womenmight be seeking more independence than it is usually depicted in fiction stories and movies. The series hasbeen forming a public perception of friendship in the modern society stressing the fact that friendship is possiblenot only between friends of the same sex but of the opposite as well. This idea is rather revolutionary. In hugemegalopolises when people feel more and more lonely the idea of someone you can talk to, someone you canshare your feelings with and simply spend time and talk about whatever is supported and developed in the series.The idea is that you can make friends and enjoy relationships not only with the friends of the same sex.Recent research on everyday dialogues has revealed that five broad topic areas can be identified: people andrelationships, work and money, leisure activity, appearances and personal traits of character, and social issues suchas current events, politics, sport.Social roles in films may accentuate dynamics of changes in the society. Generally, according to social stereotypicalpatterns, girls should be taught to wash clothes, to separate clothes, to be aware of similar things On the contrary,in the series “Friends” male character Ross teaches his female friend Rachel how to deal with her clothes. It createsa certain comic effect in the scene. On the other hand, it reflects possible true-to-life situations and in its turn makesthe audience accept the new variant of social roles when young men do know how to do the chores and young girlshave no idea about it.Analyzing conversation discourse of the series “Friends”, 81 fragments of minimal dialogue part have been singledout for the study: 36 fragments of conversation between female friends, 15 fragments between male friends and30 fragments between a male friend and a female friend.112 Філологічні студіїThe topic variation is presented with the biggest proportion of talks about people and relationships: 63.9 %of all conversations between female friends, 73.3 % between male friends and 66.7 % between a male friend anda female friend.Topic choice in the comedy mostly concerns relationships. Topic choice suggested in comedies mainly concernsrelationships. The explanation is determined by the aim of the series to entertain the audience instead of speakingabout job or money problems.The aim of the further research is studying gender conversational topics in series demonstrating friendshipof middle aged generation representatives paying attention to the sitcoms made in Ukraine which will enablethe researchers to make a comparative analysis of gender topic choices in different cultures.
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| Publisher |
Київський університет імені Бориса Грінченка
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| Contributor |
—
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| Date |
2017-09-18
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| Type |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — |
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| Format |
application/pdf
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| Identifier |
http://studiap.kubg.edu.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/189
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| Source |
Studia Philologica; № 7 (2017): Студія Філологіка
2412-2491 2311-2425 |
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| Language |
eng
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| Relation |
http://studiap.kubg.edu.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/189/181
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| Rights |
Автори, які публікуються у цьому журналі, погоджуються з наступними умовами:Автори залишають за собою право на авторство своєї роботи та передають журналу право першої публікації цієї роботи на умовах ліцензії Creative Commons Attribution License, котра дозволяє іншим особам вільно розповсюджувати опубліковану роботу з обов'язковим посиланням на авторів оригінальної роботи та першу публікацію роботи у цьому журналі.Автори мають право укладати самостійні додаткові угоди щодо неексклюзивного розповсюдження роботи у тому вигляді, в якому вона була опублікована цим журналом (наприклад, розміщувати роботу в електронному сховищі установи або публікувати у складі монографії), за умови збереження посилання на першу публікацію роботи у цьому журналі.Політика журналу дозволяє і заохочує розміщення авторами в мережі Інтернет (наприклад, у сховищах установ або на особистих веб-сайтах) рукопису роботи, як до подання цього рукопису до редакції, так і під час його редакційного опрацювання, оскільки це сприяє виникненню продуктивної наукової дискусії та позитивно позначається на оперативності та динаміці цитування опублікованої роботи (див. The Effect of Open Access).
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