The Hollywood fiction places the spectators in an imaginal world, allows to actualize the mythologies which crossed the ages and to approach the representation of the dreams. The cinematographic device puts the spectators in an intermediary position between the sensible and the intelligible and creates, from this in-between, a new vector of fiction. Hollywood brings the public back to an original world where the moving image of reality pushes the creation of a mythological and dreamlike narrative. Thanks to psychoanalysis and (...) cinema, mythology and dreams, which are fundamental properties of the human mind, have been revisited and their representation has taken new forms. Hollywood has made an aesthetic adaptation of them by inscribing them in a new form of fictional narration that adds a space of communication between men outside the senses and the word in an attempt to approach and circumscribe what could constitute the inexpressible dimension of the human condition. (shrink)

The visual arts have managed to make the zombie an essential figure in popular culture. The cinematographic medium has contributed to building with him an imaginary of disaster against the backdrop of a pandemic. We will show the adequacy of the zombie with a collective imagination for which the world to come is inscribed under the sign of zombie collapse.

The two mythical tales from the Samguk yusa, “Lady Suro” and “Monk Hyet’ong Defeats the Dragon” reveal the little-known evil character of the Korean dragons. The second story presents a particular scene of a confrontation between a hero and a malicious dragon; this story leads us to reflect on the question of the symbolism of evil embodied by the Dragon who has a vengeful character. The dragon symbol and its semantic variations were constructed specifically within the singular Korean context and (...) cannot be limited to Chinese Buddhist heritage. (shrink)

As it has been shown by Kazuo Ishiguro in his novel The Buried Giant (2015), the dragon can perform functions that contradict the reader’s expectations. The female dragon Querig has a paradoxal character—passive and withdrawn, it influences other characters and its environment in various ways, contrary to other similar creatures portrayed in fantasy literature, with which this specific figure is mainly associated. Querig’s double nature allows the author to explore the subjects of memory and trauma, both symbolized by the dragon.

Cet article traite d’un mythe cosmogonique où un dragon mapuche, le Kai Kai Filu, appartenant à la Patagonie argentine et chilienne, est signalé comme le responsable du déluge, de la montée des eaux et de la formation des golfes, îles et autres accidents géographiques. Un suivi du mythe montre qu’avec les frontières dressées entre ces deux pays, les populations originaires se sont fragmentées ainsi que leurs récits millénaires. Le résultat est que l’Argentine présente un mythe segmenté, plus proche des mythes (...) occidentaux et le sud du Chili nous raconte une version plus ancienne, faisant basculer le sens de la figure du dragon et sa forme dans un glissement symbolique significatif. Ce mythe vit de manière permanente et apparaît dans de nombreuses narrations locales, narrations qui vont témoigner de la vitalité du mythe : il change et se renouvelle selon les mouvements de la terre et les tsunamis qui se succèdent dans cette région du Sud. Les versions s’enrichissent quand les changements des structures économiques bouleversent la vie des habitants et que de nouveaux éléments apparaissent dans les contes populaires, revigorisant le mythe originel. (shrink)

This article aims at studying the evolution of the woman-dragon relation by comparing texts from English and French medieval literature and contemporary fantasy literature texts, in French and English as well. We will first determine the similarities between the two corpora, especially regarding the narrative triad composed of the knight, the princess and the dragon. We will then deal with the reorganization of the narrative space by examining the shift in focalization from the knight to the woman and the dragon, (...) thus placing them as heroes of the story. We will eventually try to explain the evolution of the values born by these two characters and demonstrate if there is, or not, a new woman-dragon relation in contemporary literature. (shrink)

J. K. Rowling's dragons follow in the lineage of legendary creatures as they have been remembered in the medieval novels: they are large reptiles with wings that breathe fire. In addition, they often keep a treasure. These dragons are often aggressive with humans. However, even though they are aggressive, they are not evil in Harry Potter. Besides, Voldemort and his Death Eaters are only indirectly associated with a dragon. They are aggressive because they are wild animals. Man should not try (...) to tame them. We must understand them and protect them by adopting an ecological approach to the preservation of dragons. (shrink)

This article intends to show the topicality of the dragon theme among children in Quebec, first of all from a study of cultural productions (books and films) intended for them, but also from an analysis of anthropological tests (AT.9s) completed by 194 children aged 6 to 12 years between 2009 and 2019. This analysis of the AT.9s, contextualized by that of the children’s surrounding culture, allows us to conclude that the theme of the dragon persists, that there is a plurality (...) of interpretations of this figure, and that the theory of anthropological structures of the imaginary (G. Durand) is relevant to our time, including with children. From all of this emerges an observation: from the age of 6, children already possess the anthropological structures but also certain cultural figures that are found in adults and the great cultures of humanity. (shrink)

In Storybrooke, the city in which Once Upon a Time takes place, live many characters of fantastic stories. A plethora of princesses resides in this town, and their history, like their representation, undergoes important variations. Moving away from the role of “damsel in distress” often found in fairy tales and their adaptations, Emma, Snow White or Little Red Riding Hood, gain independence and freedom. However, clichés are tough and heroines often get involved in stereotypical love stories, where motherhood seems to (...) be the only possible destiny. Between literary revivals and mutations, we are now going to study these female figures and their evolution through two forms: the tale and the series. (shrink)

Our study in corpus linguistics shows how phraseological units allow us to distinguish between literary genres. In order to do so, we propose to analyze in detail two textual motifs and specific to fantasy novels, the second one being moreover transversal. By studying the discursive functions of these two motifs, we show the contribution of this phraseological modeling to the generic analysis.

Beyond the dragon of the tales, reduced to its function as an adversary, most Celtic dragons are linked to a site, most often in relation to the water regime: flood plains, confluences, torrents (the Drac). In Christianised versions, a saint, rather than exterminating them, is responsible for leading them back to their maritime or underground origin. Princes use it differently. Their confrontation with the dragon is a qualifying fight wich allows them to appropriate the monster’s strength. Represented on their sword (...) or their shield, or even integrated into their name (Uther Pendragon), the dragon becomes a talisman. Cities and nations (Wales) make it their emblem. In time, dragons are linked to the four great Celtic calendar festivals. The fight of two dragons, split ouroboros, symbolises the two seasons of the year, alternately dark and light. In space, the dragon maintains a privileged relationship with the notion of central place, leading back to the problem of the omphaloi (Delphi) or the Gallic Mediolanum. At the astronomical level, the constellation of the Dragon, where the Greeks saw the metamorphosis of the dragon (and the river) Ladon, becomes in Breton Avank Du, “the black Beaver”, allowing us to imagine a monstrous beaver blocking the waters as the Vedic Vrtra. Active in the three functions, present at the three levels of the world in verticality, the Celtic dragon thus joins its congeners from other mythologies, attesting to its immemorial origin. (shrink)

Dumézil’s trifunctional theory applied to the only grail plot in Chrétien de Troyes’ Conte du Graal proves to be neither faithful nor worthy of credit. Philological, historical, cultural, cognitive and narratological arguments raise critical objections and question its artificial character. In fact, the incidental episode of the grail functions as a narrative drawer in a plot belonging to the global tale ATU 910B (Good precepts) relating to the part of the work regarding Perceval.