Super-villains of the "real world": the political use of the characterization of villains in Chistopher Nolan's "Dark Knight Trilogy"

It is almost a tradition that celluloid (or digital) villains are represented with some characteristics that remind us the real political enemies of the producer country of the film, or even enemies within the country according to the particular ideology that sustains the film. The case of Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight trilogy, analyzed here, is representative of this trend for two reasons. First, because it gets marked by political radicalization conducted by the US government after the attack of September 11, 2001. Secondly, because it offers a profuse gallery of villains who are outside the circle of friends as the new doctrine “either with us or against us” opened by George Bush for the XXI century. This gallery includes from the very terrorists who justify the War on Terror (Ra's al Ghul, the Joker), to the “radical left” (Bane, Talia al Ghul) including liberal politicians (Harvey Dent), and corrupt that take advantage of the softness of the law to commit crimes with impunity (Dr. Crane, the Scarecrow).

A nobreza doutural da bruzundanga: Profissionais liberais e fetiche do coutoramento no Brasil

Analisa-se, a partir da obra Os Bruzundangas (1922) de Lima Barreto, o fascínio brasileiro pelo título de doutor, e a necessidade de ostentá-lo demonstrada por alguns profissionais liberais. Inicialmente, sintetiza-se a obra limabarretiana, enfatizando-se o tratamento e a sátira feita pelo autor aos doutores e à doutorice dos anos 1910. Em seguida, discute-se a construção histórica da associação entre o título e o valor social do poder e do prestígio, destacando, de um lado, a tradição lusitana do bacharelismo, e, de outro, a bacharelização promovida por D. Pedro II. Discorre-se, então, acerca das tentativas contemporâneas de apropriação e/ou manutenção do doutoramento pelos advogados, juízes, médicos e outros profissionais de saúde. Por fim, aborda-se a problemática do ponto de vista discursivo, levantando-se algumas questões linguísticas e ideológicas envolvidas.

On a first-name basis: Englishization and naming in Flanders

Following and contributing to the ongoing shift from more structuralist, system-oriented to more pragmatic, socio-cultural oriented anglicism research, this paper verifies to what extent the global spread of English affects naming patterns in Flanders. To this end, a diachronic database of first names is constructed, containing the top 75 most popular boy and girl names from 2005 until 2014. In a first step, the etymological background of these names is documented and the evolution in popularity of the English names in the database is tracked. Results reveal no notable surge in the preference for English names. This paper complements these database-driven results with an experimental study, aiming to show how associations through referents are in this case more telling than associations through phonological form (here based on etymology). Focusing on the socio-cultural background of first names in general and of Anglo-American pop culture in particular, the second part of the study specifically reports on results from a survey where participants are asked to name the first three celebrities that leap to mind when hearing a certain first name (e.g. Lana, triggering the response Del Rey). Very clear associations are found between certain first names and specific celebrities from Anglo-American pop culture. Linking back to marketing research and the social turn in onomastics, we will discuss how these celebrities might function as referees, and how social stereotypes surrounding these referees are metonymically attached to their first names. Similar to the country-of-origin-effect in marketing, these metonymical links could very well be the reason why parents select specific “celebrity names”. Although further attitudinal research is needed, this paper supports the importance of including socio-cultural parameters when conducting onomastic research.