The meaning of metaphor in dealing with celebrity death online

Lisac, Maja. (2017). The meaning of metaphor in dealing with celebrity death online. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature. [mentor Stanojević, Mateusz-Milan].

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the relevance of deliberate metaphor in the context of online articles about celebrity death. Qualitative analysis of the structure of the expressions reveals that the main motivation for using metaphor is dealing with emotions. The aim behind this is twofold: illustration and coping. While some of the analysed articles aim to merely illustrate people’s reactions, all of them include the elements of coping with emotions of grief, which is why the paper re-examines the posits of previous research on metaphors’ therapeutic functions (cf. e.g. Stanojevid and Čičin-Šain 2015, Tay 2015). The significance of deliberate metaphor in this context lies in its ability to convey personal experiences in a relatable way, in order to achieve the so-called therapeutic alliance, which enables people to understand each other more closely. Whether the analysed article’s purpose was to comment or inform about the critical event, the basic intention behind the use of deliberate metaphors remained the same – providing a link between the reader and the public in coping with celebrity death.

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