Article

Name: The ‘Actor Interview’ Subgenre: Dynamic and Interpretive Aspects

Authors: Marina A. Lappo; Chen Shan

Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation; Xinjiang University, Urumqi, China

Abstract:

The article analyses the dynamics of the portrait interview with a theatre and film actor subgenre. This subgenre is connected with the development of the interview genre as a whole. Initially, the interview genre was understood as informational only. Later, it was referred to as informational, analytical, and artistic-publicistic genres. The article also discusses the elimination of Soviet ideological attitudes. The leading constitutive features of this subgenre are described, including dual communicative orientation (syncretism of institutional and personality-oriented discourses) and intentional structure (media advertising; advertising of films and the film industry in general; self-presentation of actors; creation of idol images; and creation of images of ‘good’ people), the conventional (formal) side of interview texts. An analysis of actor interviews in the magazines “The Art of Cinema”, “The Soviet Screen” and “The Moviegoer’s Companion” revealed that the main subgenres during the Soviet period were the monologue interview and the narrative interview, which included different types of direct speech. The main justifications for conducting an interview were demonstrating the occasion and giving the viewer/reader the right to ask the actor questions. The ‘crystallizing’ modification of the actor interview genre, with a clear alternation of the interviewer's questions and the interviewee's answers about professional priorities and projects, as well as questions directly or indirectly related to the actor’s work (such as hobbies, habits and family), were gradually formed, no earlier than the end of the 1980s.

Keywords: interview-portrait, actor interview, genre variability, genre dynamics, ‘crystallizing’ modification of the genre, interpretative orientation of the discursive intention, tactics of demonstrating the reason, tactics of delegating

Bibliography:

Belyaev E. G. Interv'yu kak istochnik dlya issledovaniya mediaobraza na primere interv'yu s Viktorom Pelevinym za 1992–2010 gg. [Interview as

a source for the study of media image on the example of Victor Pelevin`s inter-views for 1992–2010]. In: Zhuravel O. D. et al. (eds.). Kommunikativnaya kul'tura: istoriya i sovremennost' [Communicative Culture: History and Moder-nity]. Proceedings of the XI International Scientific and Practical Conference. October 29, 2021. Novosibirsk, NSU Press, 2021, pt. 1, pp. 237–245. (in Russ.)

Chen Sh. Yazykovaya lichnost' rossiiskogo aktera v zerkale samo-prezentatsii (na fone yazykovoi lichnosti kitaiskogo aktera) [Linguistic person-ality of the Russian actor in the mirror of self-presentation (against the back-ground of the linguistic personality of the Chinese actor)]. Filologiya: nauchnye issledovaniya [Philology: scientific research], 2025, no. 4, pp. 196–208. (in Russ.)

Gruzdeva M. M. Teatral'nyi diskurs v sovremennykh rossiiskikh SMI: lingvostilisticheskie osobennosti [Theatrical discourse in modern Russian mass media: linguistic and stylistic features]. Cand. Philol. Sci. Diss. Moscow, MSU Press, 2019, 167 p. (in Russ.)

Issers O. S. Diskursivnye praktiki nashego vremeni [Discursive practices of our time]. 2nd ed. Moscow, LENAND, 2015, 272 p. (in Russ.)

Issers O. S. Kommunikativnye strategii i taktiki russkoi rechi [Communica-tive strategies and tactics of Russian speech]. 5th ed. Moscow, URSS, LKI, 2008, 284 p. (in Russ.)

Kanturova M. A., Steksova T. I. Proizvodnost' i variativnost' rechevykh zhanrov [Derivation and variation of speech genres]. Novosibirsk, NSPU Press, 2019, 28 p. (in Russ.)

Karasik V. I. Rechevaya kommunikatsiya: diskursivnyi aspekt [Speech communication: discursive aspect]. Grani poznaniya [Frontiers of cognition], 2013, no. 1 (21), pp. 23–33. (in Russ.)

Kovrigina E. A. Kommunikativnaya strategiya samoprezentatsii v diskurse internet-interv'yu [Communicative strategy of self-presentation in the Internet interview discourse]. Abstract of Cand. Philol. Sci. Diss. Kemerovo, KemSU Press, 2010, 24 p. (in Russ.)

Maidanova L. M., Chepkina E. V. Mediatekst v ideologicheskom kontekste [Media text in ideological context]. Ekaterinburg, Gumanitarnyi un-t, 2011, 304 p. (in Russ.)

Manuilskaya K. M. Interv'yu [Interview]. In: Kravets S. L. (ed.). Bol'shaya rossiiskaya entsiklopediya [The Great Soviet]. In 30 vols. Moscow, 2008, vol. 11, 767 p. (in Russ.)

Nekipelov A. D. et al. (eds.). Novaya rossiiskaya entsiklopediya [The New Russian Encyclopedia]. In 12 vols. Moscow, 2010, vol. 6, 480 p. (in Russ.)

Pelt V. D. Interv'yu [Interview]. In: Cherepakhov M. S. et al. (eds.). Zhanry sovetskoi gazety [Genres of the Soviet newspaper]. Textbook for journalism faculties of universities. Moscow, Vysshaya shkola, 1972, 424 p. (in Russ.)

Prokhorov A. M. (ed.). Bolshaya sovetskaya entsiklopediya [The Great So-viet Encyclopedia]. In 30 vols. 3rd ed. Moscow, 1972, vol. 10, 591 p. (in Russ.)

Sakhnova E. B. Zhanr interv'yu i ego modifikatsii [Interview genre and its modifications]. Izvestiya Saratovskogo universiteta. Nov. ser. Ser. Filologiya. Zhurnalistika [Proceedings of Saratov University. Nov. ser. Ser. Philology. Journalism], 2013, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 98–103. (in Russ.)

Silantev I. V. Diskurs i zhanr [Discourse and genre]. Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology, 2010, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 78–83. (in Russ.)

Stroson P. F. Namerenie i konventsiya v rechevykh aktakh [Intention and convention in speech acts]. In: Novoe v zarubezhnoi lingvistike [New in foreign linguistics]. Moscow, Progress, 1986, iss. 17, pp. 151–170. (in Russ.)

Sychenkov V. V. Interv'yu-portret kak tip kommunikatsii (na materiale ros-siiskikh pechatnykh ezhenedel'nikov 1985‒1996) [The interview-portrait as a type of communication (on the material of Russian printed weeklies 1985–1996)]. Abstract of Cand. Philol. Sci. Diss. Kazan, Institute of History AS RT, 2007, 20 p. (in Russ.)

Sychenkov V. V. Interv'yu-portret v sisteme sovremennykh publitsistiche-skikh zhanrov [Interview-portrait in the system of modern journalistic genres]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Ser. 10. Zhurnalistika, 2000, no. 2, pp. 108–114. (in Russ.)

Tertychny A. A. Zhanry periodicheskoi pechati [Genres of the periodical press]. Moscow, Aspekt Press, 2000, 310 p. (in Russ.)

Tubalova I. V. Spetsifika organizatsii diskursov povsednevnosti [Specifics of the organization of everyday life discourses]. Vestnik Tom. gos. un-ta. Filologiya [Tomsk State University Journal of Philology], 2011, no. 4 (16), pp. 41–52. (in Russ.)

Yancheva N. Yu. Avtoportret v interv'yu [Self-portrait in interview]. Abstract of Cand. Philol. Sci. Diss. Voronezh, VSU Press, 2011, 23 p. (in Russ.)