Фильо Ксения. To start the lexical-semantic analysis, I suggest focusing on the title. We can see the obvious alliteration of the sound [r] in the phrase “The Rage of Rambo”. The repetition of this sound is associated with aggression. Moving forward, the

Фильо Ксения

The article under analysis is entitled “The Rage of Rambo” written by Chris Reed. We are not aware who the author is and we don’t even know if it is a woman or a man, because the name “Chris” could be a short form of the female name Christine (or Christina) and the male names like Christian or Christopher.

To start the lexical-semantic analysis, I suggest focusing on the title. We can see the obvious alliteration of the sound [r] in the phrase “The Rage of Rambo”. The repetition of this sound is associated with aggression. Moving forward, the word “rage” has the definition of: “violent uncontrollable anger” and “a widespread temporary enthusiasm or fashion” according to the Oxford Dictionary (2018, p. 89). As for Rambo, it is originally a film character known for his violence, played by Sylvester Stallone (born July 6, 1946). But according to the Cambridge English Dictionary (2016, p. 126) “Rambo” is “someone who uses, or threatens to use, strong and violent methods against their enemies”. On this basis, the title of the article can be interpreted as a temporary fashion for violence. Thus, there can be highlighted the main seme of “violence”. With each sentence this seme strengthens, mixing with the author’s irony.

In the first sentence we can track the continuation of the alliterated sound [r]: “As the most popula r adults-only US film eve r sc r eened, R ambo g r ossed ove r. .. ”, which creates the strong emotional tension, negatively affecting the reader’s subconscious. Then Chris Reed gives us specific facts about how many cinemas have shown this film and how much money this film has grossed. They even quote from the Time magazine that the film has perfectly articulated nation’s mood over Vietnam, which clearly indicates that they don’t agree with the quoted statement. This concretization and attention to details may lead us to the thought that the author of the article is a man. In addition, it is worth to mention that Chris Reed highlights two words in italics – “Rambo” and “Time” – which evidently mean that they confirm their opinion about the temporary fashion for violence, therefore, soon the film will be forgotten.

The next paragraph is entirely saturated with irony. The author openly and boldly expresses their opinion about Stallone’s acting, his “oafish muttering” and his appearance. They tell that silent American actor Clint Eastwood (born May 31, 1930) seems almost garrulous in comparison with him and also they compare Stallone’s preposterous body with breasts of American actress Jane Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) in “The Outlaw” (1943). The title of the film is also in italics and attracts the reader’s attention. According to Cambridge English Dictionary (2016, p. 88) “outlaw” means “a person who has broken the law and who lives separately from the other parts of society because they want to escape legal punishment”, which perfectly describes Rambo as a character.

Analyzing the next part of the article, we can see the author’s manifestation by means of the aposiopesis. Reed breaks the narration and adds another ironic remark about useless assistance of the Vietnamese character, played by American actress Julia Nickson (born September 11, 1958), because the protagonist perpetrates “the several hundred killings” by himself. Further they describe these killings with the asyndeton and gradation, showing impetuosity and unnaturally fast change of action. The author also goes from the irony to the sarcasm, saying that Rambo uses “enough knives to equip a meat market” and that he mostly carries all of them “in his boots”. After such description Rambo definitively ceases to be taken seriously by the reader.

Reed intensifies the character’s absurdity and deterrence by calling him “a human war machine” and “Bombo”, derived from the word “bomb”, which is “a weapon that explodes and is used to kill or hurt people or to damage buildings” (Cambridge English Dictionary, 2016, p. 34). The whole sixth paragraph is saturated with the alliteration of the sound [b], which creates an association with the explosions and shots with which Rambo kills his enemies; and the assonance of the sound [oʊ ] that may represent the sound of Rambo’s victims as well.

At last Rambo is called “Zombo”, derived from the word “zombie”, that has two definitions in Cambridge English Dictionary: the first one is “a frightening creature that is a dead person who has been brought back to life, but without human qualities” and the second is “a person who has no energy, seems to act without thinking, and does not notice what is happening” (2016, p. 159-160). Zombies are incapable of thinking and they are often shown as attacking human beings and Rambo fully embodies this creature: he acts without thinking, he speaks indistinctly and the only thing that he can do well is killing people. Nonetheless, the protagonist is able to express the love for his country by saying: “for our country to love us as much as we love it”, which is the chiasm and irony at the same time.

Due to the image of a fierce and persistent soldier, Rambo becomes a national hero and catches the “howls of approval from the audiences” most of whom don’t know anything about the real war. At that time, people needed a national hero, who would exemplify the strength and power of America and who would do everything for the country. Rambo was such a hero, but in our time he is out of fashion, which means only one thing – fashion for violence is temporary, indeed.

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