Agora Forums
 
   
 
“Grand Guignol”?
Posted: 21 September 2009 10:14 AM   [ Ignore ]
Sr. Member
Avatar
RankRankRankRank
Total Posts:  130
Joined  2009-08-24
YourDictionary definition on Grand Guignol - 21 September 2009 10:14 AM

any dramatic production designed to shock and horrify its audience with its gruesome or macabre content

Apparently, your sites definition mad me only go for the whole statement rather than the word “guignol”. Is there a definition behind the word “guignol” at all?

 Signature 

My motto:
Memento Carpe
Remember to seize

Believe in magic… Or I kill you!
-Crow T. Robot, MST3K in “Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders”

Profile
 
 
Posted: 24 September 2009 04:46 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]
Sr. Member
RankRankRankRank
Total Posts:  367
Joined  2008-12-07

According to Wikipedia, Guignol is one of the main characters in a French puppet show created by Laurent Mourguet in Lyon at the beginning of the 19th century.

Profile
 
 
Posted: 24 September 2009 07:56 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]
Sr. Member
Avatar
RankRankRankRank
Total Posts:  130
Joined  2009-08-24

Apparently, Wikipedia says:

The use in French of “guignol” as an insult meaning “buffoon” is a curious malapropism, as Guignol is clever, courageous and generous; his inevitable victory is always the triumph of good over evil.

Then if you look at their term for “grand guignol”:

The name is often used as a general term for graphic, amoral horror entertainment.

Would you consider this a cultural contradiction?

 Signature 

My motto:
Memento Carpe
Remember to seize

Believe in magic… Or I kill you!
-Crow T. Robot, MST3K in “Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders”

Profile