What can’t be said in Russian without violating cultural norms of speech?
Video:
Cultural scripts are generally known and undisputed opinions about what is good and what is bad and what can and cannot be; opinions that are reflected in the language. For example, there is a widely held view in the English language world that it is possible to say to another person «I disagree with you,» but it is not to say to another person «you are wrong». But in the Japanese cultural world, it is thought that you don’t have to say «I agree with you,» but you can’t say «I don’t agree with you.»
People say two kinds of things to other people, things of the same kind — it’s really good if someone wants to say things of that kind to other people.
The second kind of stuff isn’t good if someone wants to say this second kind of thing to other people is bad if someone wants other people to think it’s true.
The text describing the Russian cultural script and used in animation is taken from the book by the Russian philologist Anna Vesbitsky, «Semantic Universalities and Basic Concepts». The text is formulated by the author in a universal semantic language. An important basis for universal semantic language is decomposation, i.e. decomposition of meaning into elementary semantic components, which are universal and can be used to construct the most complex signs in a variety of languages. That is, complex, non-universal cultural values are explained through a simple, understandable human language. Words are chosen that have equivalents in any language so that the interpretations of the cultural script can be easily translated into other languages and understood by people in any society.
The visual language of the project is based on a principle similar to the universal semantic language: complex cultural meanings are placed into minimal visual units — eyes, mouth mimics, gesture, distance between bodies. These elements function as «atoms» of the image from which more complex conceptual designs are collected. In contrast to the abstract universality of the linguistic model, the visual system deliberately retains a trace of subjective experience: basic forms are reassembled through the individual experience of artists, their physical memory and emotional associations. Animation is a place of tension between universal and private — between normative speech culture and the individual experience of speech.
The printing system is structured on the basis of semantic graduation, from minimalistic forms associated with «truth» to complex and visually unstable structures corresponding to «truth». The printing work as a visual equivalent of a clear statement — that «truth is easy and pleasant to say». As the area of distortion and conflict changes, the shape loses stability: the letters are deformed, the rhythm is broken, the structure is disintegrated into the constituent elements.
Continuation
In the case of a screening phase, it is planned to extend the animation timing for the final display. The rest of the text will be shown in an even stronger printing distortion, as well as the development of a number of images related to the transformation of the mind into speech: mouth mimics, eyes, gestures.
Track: TURNOFFYOURDRUMMACHINE — GODZILLA