PSYCHOLINGUISTIC IMAGE OF ALICE IN T. BERTON’S FILM ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Abstract

In the article, I consider the speech patterns of the character belonging to the archetype “Amazon” in T. Burton’s film Alice in Wonderland (2010). The classification of archetypes by W. Schmidt (2007) is taken as the basis of the research. In the article, I analyze the actions and speech of Alice Kinsley, identify those character traits that allow to attribute Alice to the psychotype “Amazon”, and classify the characteristic features of speech serving as the direct manifestation of the psychotype. Traits allowing to attribute Burton’s Alice to the “Amazon” archetype are the following. 1) Alice in the film is a feminist defending her right to equality with men despite public condemnation; 2) she comes to the aid of others despite the mortal danger to herself; 3) she likes to travel and explore new lands; 4) she is not afraid to spend the night alone in the open; 5) her biggest fear is not being able to take care of herself (physically or financially); 6) she always accepts a challenge from a man and will not back down until she wins; 7) she values female friendship, but has more friends among men; 8) she is guided by intuition more often than by logic; 9) she is so focused on achieving the goal that she can be perceived as indifferent and detached. Alice’s speech in T. Burton’s film is characterized by the following elements: 1) exclamatory sentences in combination with appeals to attract the attention of the addressee or to form directives that indicate the strength of will, the ability to make decisions and take responsibility; 2) declaratives in the form of exclamatory sentences to emphasize sense, and to express surprise, anger, irritation, despair, when there appear obstacles on her way to the goal; 3) direct requests demanding an answer from the interlocutor; 4) direct and indirect directives as a means to demonstrate leadership abilities of the character; 5) complex sentences with a cause-and-effect relationship to demonstrate the logic of thinking, based mainly on intuition. In Alice’s speech there is almost no evaluative lexis, respectively, she is perceived as reserved in speech and evaluations. Almost equal frequency in the usage of pronouns of the first person singular and second person singular and plural demonstrates on the one hand self-sufficiency, independence of the character, the ability to rely primarily on herself, and on the other hand it indicates the concern for others, altruism and focus on the needs of the interlocutor.