International Journal of Media and Information Literacy

3-10

Authors: Olga Gorbatkova, Anastasia Levitskaya

The article is devoted to hermeneutical analysis of the film Dead Poets Society (1989, directed by Peter Weir). Reviews of Russian and foreign film critics are included into the analysys. The author presents the historical, ideological, political, social and cultural contexts, that influenced the film production; the main characters, the narrative structure and techniques used by the media text's producers. Interpreting the results of hermeneutical analysis of the film Dead Poets Society the authors come to conclusion that: – the media text clearly shows the main trends of the state policy in the educational, social and cultural fields; – the plot does not directly reflect the important events in the political life of the country, but there is a certain trace. Socio-political, economic objectives, ideological upbringing, religious education to varying degrees are reflected in the storyline of the media text (fundamental values are family, religion, love, loyalty, justice, generosity, kindness, mutual assistance, ability to take responsibility for actions, etc.); – the plot is immersed in the educational process, only slightly touches on love themes and is absolutely devoid of sex scenes; – the media text's concept is: socio-moral struggle (for personal happiness, love, truth, right for self-identification, freely express one's thoughts and ideas, etc.); confrontation against teachers' dullness, conservatism, bureaucratic approach; – this media text gives the idealized image of the teacher: intellectual, competent, respectful communicator of humanistic moral values and norms of behavior; – students' activity is centered around education and self-identity; – this media text promotes the humanistic ideal of a romantic character, attractive for the high moral and human qualities; – the film's authors present a strict social distance between teachers and students; unwavering authority and respect for the teacher, the prestige of the teaching profession in the eyes of students.

18-29

Authors: Svetlana Nedelcheva

This study focuses on the multumodal devices in representing migrants along the Balkan route in Bulgarian online news during the “migrant crisis” of 2015/2016. It reveals a broader sense of the term ‘text’ in describing the migrants including both verbal text and pictorial display of their social activities. They are seen as ‘social actors’ with particular social relationships between them and the people in the countries they pass through. A series of conceptual mappings characterizes the excerpted material: WATER metaphor, COMPETITION metaphor, EUROPE IS A PERSON metaphor, THE CRISIS IS A PERSON metaphor, EUROPE IS A HOUSE metaphor. The visual representation corresponds to the verbal one, therefore giving the reader a sense of objectivity of the news. Mostly the image of the refugees in the news is positive. The poor conditions they live in on their way to Europe are discussed with sympathy and compassion, consistent with Bulgarian foreign politics.