ILLUSTRATES: Felipe Watanabe
It is a resource in which the language itself is used as the theme and content of what will be written. Or, in other words, it’s when something is talking about itself. The origin of the word refers to the studies of the Russian thinker Roman Jakobson, who, in the early 60s, defined the six functions of language: conative, emotive, phatic, poetic, referential and metalinguistic. According to him, the metalanguage has a discourse that focuses on the lexical code of the language. One of the first artistic movements to use metalanguage was poetry. With it, poets could express their feelings to the reader in the face of words and even make social and political criticisms. A recent example of the feature is one of the teasers for the new Deadpool movie in which he warns that the trailer for the feature is coming. Check out on these pages a selection of the use of metalanguage in different media.
DEADPOOL(HQ)
The chatty mercenary often acts as if he knows he’s in a comic book, talking to the reader and making jokes about the superhero universe. In addition, the reminders of the beginning of the stories are written in the first person.
1) ENJOYING LIFE BEAUTIFULLY (film)
In certain parts, the protagonist, Ferris Bueller, stops and talks to the camera as if he were explaining the film to the viewers.
2) THE GIRLS, DIEGO VELÁZQUEZ (painting)
In this painting, the Spanish painter included not only the characters he was in charge of painting, but also himself working on the canvas.
3) HAMLET, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (book)
The classic shows a play within the play itself, performed by a troupe at the request of the protagonist.
4) “RAIN”, MADONNA (clip)
In the music video for this track, the singer tells the story of filming a music video. Another similar example is “Torn”, by Natalie Imbruglia, in which we even see the set being dismantled.
5) “EMOTIONS”, ROBERTO CARLOS (music)
The song is about the very experience of making music: it tells the different sensations that the singer feels when he is on stage.
READ TOO:
– If cinema is the seventh art, what are the others?
– 7 coincidences in the art world
– Why do some songs stick in our heads?
– Which painter painted the most pictures?
6) BIRDMAN (film)
The film addresses the production of a play and, in a way, subverts and ironizes for the viewer the method by which dramatic art is produced.
7) AUTOPSYCHOGRAPHY, FERNANDO PESSOA (book)
In this work, the Portuguese author portrays the feelings of a poet. He says: “And those who read what he writes, in the pain they are dealing with, they feel well, not the two he had, but only the one they don’t have”
8) POSTHUMOUS MEMORIES OF BRÁS CUBAS, MACHADO DE ASSIS (book)
The classic novel brings the ghost of the protagonist making the reader an analysis of his own life
9) ASSASSIN’S CREED LIBERATION (game)
It is a game that simulates a game released by Abstergo, the company of the Templars. You assume the role of a player who bought the game to relive the protagonist’s memories
10) BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM (game)
The first game in the franchise featured a brilliant moment where, with Batman under the effect of Scarecrow’s fear gas, the game seemed to crash and restart. It’s like the effect of the poison is hitting your own console, not just a character in an electronic game.
11) TURMA DA MÔNICA (HQ)
One of the most metalinguistic characters is Bugu, who keeps remembering (and being remembered) that he is in the “little magazine” or “little story” of others.
12) COMMUNITY (series)
In the episode «Cooperative Caligraphy», the characters are kept inside a study room at all times – a device known as a «bottled episode», usually used to cut costs in the production of a program. The viewer is warned, at the beginning of the program, that it will be an episode like this
EPISODES (series)
The entire series is metalinguistic: Matt LeBlanc plays himself as an actor working on a series
SOURCES Websites Folha de S.Paulo, Judão, Megahero, Observatório da Imprensa, Omelete, Popcorn and Nanking, Pop, Tela Brasil, Uol and Brasil Escola