Magazine created by students of the Department of English and American Studies at Masaryk University.

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Jana Záhoráková

Lessons from Wife Swap

in Current Issue/Views

by Jana Záhoráková

This article will analyse how identity building of the participants in the reality show Wife Swap is maximised to create confrontation between them. The show originated in the United Kingdom and then transferred rather successfully to the United States as well as many other countries. I will first show research from four academic sources about the intervening ways in which this is done through linguistic phenomena. I conclude with a discussion from a sociological perspective.

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Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Megan Thee Stallion: Female Sexuality in Hip-Hop in the 21st century

in Views

by Jana Záhoráková

This article analyses sexually explicit lyrics.

This article will look at how the depiction of women in hip-hop has transformed over the years. First, in the historical origins of hip-hop, the misogynistic portrayals in songs and music videos by male artists were abundant. Later on, the 1990s belonged to female rappers like Lil’ Kim, Missy Elliott, or Queen Latifah and now it is not only people who listened to rap from its infancy, but the whole world that engages in this culture. I will focus on two songs: “Anaconda” by Nicki Minaj and “WAP” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. I will first introduce each singer, then analyse the lyrics in these two songs. I will then focus on each song’s reception and the controversies they caused. Keep Reading

Future for the Females?

in Reviews

by Jana Záhoráková

The Power, a science fiction novel by British novelist Naomi Alderman, was published in 2016. It won the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2017 and amongst other prestigious praise, it was one of the books former president Barrack Obama listed as his favourites of that year. The novel consists of several stories of mostly young women who struggle to control and use their newly acquired super-powers which emit electricity. These stories are presented as a historical novel written by a man in a distant future world, dominated by women. The source of this power is regarded to be a mysterious liquid called “Guardian Angel” which was a medication developed during the Second World War that prevents people from dying after being exposed to toxic gas (Alderman 123). It was poured into the water reservoir to protect people from enemies. However, it had an unexpected side effect on the generations of females to come. 

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Language of the Future as Imagined by British Novelists

in Views

by Jana Záhoráková

Many novelists resort to creating dialects and languages to enrich the worlds that they make up. Probably the most famous instance of this was J.R.R. Tolkien with his detailed languages and whole cultures in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and more recently George R. R. Martin in Game of Thrones. It adds another dimension to the characters and their history. This article, however, concentrates on British novelists who do not create a new language, but rather envision the world in the future and invent ways in which present-day English might develop. They usually choose dystopian futures and with said use of the English language highlight the impact of totalitarian would-be eras. The novels discussed below are George Orwell’s 1984, Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange and David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas.  Keep Reading

Shakespeare Retold for the 21st Century

in Views

by Jana Záhoráková

Shakespeare’s ideas explored by new generations of artists. By nblythe30. CC BY 4.0, pixabay.com.

In almost all of his works, Shakespeare himself made use of similar plotlines and stock characters in his plays, so it would probably not surprise him that we are still recycling his material today. Particular emphasis is placed on anything that can achieve the unappealing task of bringing his work closer to teenagers. In the quest to do this, the first step is often to get rid of the archaic language, which is a pity, since it was Shakespeare’s extraordinary use of language that made him stand out from the rest of his peers (Craig 62). Nonetheless people that create movies, plays and other forms of art often opt for keeping the plot, which is the least original part of the plays. This article will look more closely at some ways, in which writers have tried to bring the Bard closer to us all so far in this century. Keep Reading

Mad Max: Fury Road and the Changing Roles of Women in Action Movies

in Current Issue/Views

by Jana Záhoráková

In 2015, a movie that was supposed to be just another action-packed summer blockbuster, Mad Max: Fury Road, turned out to be, especially for women, a lot more than that. This article will analyse the film’s female characters and discuss the different decisions director George Miller made in order to make his film stand out from other action movies.

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