Linguistic Portrait of Film Characters in Sci-Fi Movie "Chappie"

Abstract

The paper features the way linguistic means represent character traits in modern films. The research was based on Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi drama "Chappie" (2005). The research objective was to describe the phenomenon of multiple linguistic features that disclose the linguistic personality of film characters via their free speech. The author believes that the linguistic image of a film character includes categorization of entities aimed at solving creative tasks, which, in their turn, incorporate the genre, stylistic peculiarities, imagery, and emotivity. The method of continuous selection from a film script offered an ample exemplifying material, which underwent cognitive and stylistic analysis. Modern cinema uses genre stylization and imagery, e.g. children’s speech, parents’ speech, classroom language, streetwise discourse, etc. These features depend on the authenticity of a film character and the heuristic explanation of an unknown concept by means of metaphors. The linguistic image of a film character is formed within the genre-stylistic boundaries of the script, while imagery allows the characters to reach a consensus within the 120-minute chronotope.

Keywords

• linguistic personality
• lacuna
• imagery
• image scheme
• child’s speech
• complex metaphor
• script