Martina Juričková - semianrka.docx

7/26/2019 Martina Jurikov - semianrka.docx

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CONSTANTINE THE PHILOSOPHER UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ARTS

STRICTLY FOR THE SUPER-RICH:

THE WORLDS MOST EXPENSIVE PENTHOUSE

Stylistic Anlysis

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Strictly for the super-rich: the worlds most expensive penthouseIts got a cinema, a marble disco, an infinity pool with waterslide, a bedroom the size of two tenniscourts and tables upholstered in stingray skin. Got 2!m" #hen the penthouse in $onacosnew %deon #ower could be for you

From atop the Odeon Tower penthouse, residents will be able to launch themselves down a curving slide, plunging two storeys into the open-airinfinity pool below

Its &ust another day in sun'kissed $onaco, the supercharged playground of the super'rich. In the harbour,gigantic yachts are &ostling for position, while, outside the casino, souped'up sports cars growl their wayalong the boule(ards. )ut there is a new arri(al to this hottest of global wealth hotspots. *ising abo(e theorgy of oligarchs toys, the %deon #ower now stands as the definiti(e beacon of +super prime property. It isone of the tallest residential towers in -urope topped with what is being marketed as the most epensi(epenthouse in the world.

/or those who already ha(e it all, the %deon #ower has a little bit more. 0hen it is completed net year, thepenthouse will ha(e its own gym, sauna, cinema, library, whisky bar and billiard room, plus a masterbedroom the size of two and a half tennis courts all spread o(er fi(e double'height floors. #here will betables upholstered with the skin of stingrays and shel(es crafted from ebony. *ooftop hot tubs will bubblenet to green walls trickling with waterfalls. 1fter dinner in one of the si different salons prepared by staffin one of the four kitchens3, your guests will ascend a sweeping marble staircase to your (ery ownnightclub, complete with a backlit marble dancefloor. /rom there, they will be able to launch themsel(esdown a cur(ing slide, plunging two storeys into the open'air infinity pool below.

1nd the price tag for this skyscraping fun palace" 1round 2!m.

+#his is for the serious oligarchs, the wealthiest of the wealthiest, says -dward de $allet $organ, of estateagent 4night /rank, whose task is to find a buyer in his address book of what are known, in his world, as5670Is8 ultra'high'net'worth indi(iduals. It is his role to befriend the worlds wealthiest and become theirluury lifestyle therapist, ad(ising on e(erything from superyachts to pri(ate &ets, in the hope of clinching a

property deal. 1nd he is all too used to their stratospheric standards. %ne clients wife recently turned hernose up at a place along the coast8 +#his is a millionaires house, she said sniffily. +9how me thebillionaires.

The definitive beacon of !super prime" property # an architects rendering of the Odeon Tower in $onaco

0e meet on the deck of 7orman /osters new $onaco :acht ;lub a building as brash as the boats it


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ser(es as the $onaco :acht 9how unfolds below us. #he yachts, it becomes clear, are like bait forsuperprime buyers. +#hey come in swarms, says


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Int#$6,cti$n

The article % chose for my analysis was published on September ./ on the webpage of

one of the oldest 0ritish newspapers, The Guardian) %t is categori1ed in the Culturesection,subsection Art and design) The author Oliver Wainwright is !is the uardian2s architecture

and design critic," according to his profile) !Trained as an architect, he has wor&ed for a

number of practices, both in the 34 and overseas, and written extensively on architecture and

design for many international publications) 5e is also a visiting critic at several architecture

schools," 'www)theguardian)com() 5e runs his own Architecture and design blog at this

webpage, part of which is also this particular article)

The reason why % chose this article is the figurative language the author uses, which

interested me from the very first time % came across it) This article is about a newly built

s&yscraper, named Odeon Tower, in $onaco intended as a residence for the wealthiest people

from all around the world) %t not only describes the loo&s and furnishing of this building, but

also hints to some mysteries behind this pro6ect)

T!5t,l nlysis

7s % have already said, what attracted me the most about this article was the figurative

language the author uses when describing the building) From the introductory paragraph the

description is based on accumulation and enumeration of items which you can find inside of

the building) 7 good example is the very first sentence: Its got a cinema, a marble disco, an

infinity pool with waterslide, a bedroom the sie of two tennis courts ! and tables upholstered

in stingray s"in#7nd this feature is also present in the next two paragraphs) 8specially the

second paragraph is almost entirely made of such sentences)

7nother typical feature is the use of uni9ue and poetic epithets and metaphors and

unusual collocations) Some examples are provided here:

E7it4!ts: sun$"issed %onaco& souped$up sports cars& untold billions& serious oligarchs&

lu'ury lifestyle therapist& stratospheric standards& screscentshaped wings& serrated crown&

rusticated stone castles& pin" palaos encrusted with wedding$ca"e mouldings& steroidal

boom& stout girth#### and many more)

M!t74$#s: orgy of oligarchs toys& air of menace& temple to %ammon& purveyor of a "ind of

flash mogul$moderne& they come in swarms& growing flood of flight capital###


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The author also ma&es a great use o personification and simile, as exemplified here:

P!#s$ni8icti$n:gigantic yachts are (ostling for position& sports cars growl their way along

boulevards& clad in reflective blue glass& financial crisis hit####

Si"il!: the Odeon Tower stands as the definitive beacon of )super$prime* property& a

building as brash as the boats it serves& li"e the petals of crocus& vertical swoosh ma"es it

loo" li"e its been s+ueeed into a swimsuit& yachts are li"e bait for superprime buyers###

0ut what is the most stri&ing about the text is the fre9uent use of s,7!#lti.!s and

hyperboles by which the author probably wanted to point out the extraordinariness of the

whole building: supercharged& super$rich& global wealth hotspot& bedroom the sie of two

tennis courts& super prime& one of the tallest residential towers& the most e'pensive

penthouse& the wealthiest of the wealthiest& ultra$height$net$worth& superyachts& superprime

buyers& who have half a doen properties& ambitious plan###

The text is overloaded with superlatives with fre9uent repetition of the prefix super$)

Further there can be also spotted some 9$#6s $8 8$#!in $#iin, such as: chalet& pied$

a$terre& peninsula& villa& duple'& surveillance& per capita; some of which represent

professional terms from architecture)

The text also contains few clic4; 74#s!s: turned her nose up at a place& has long

been a haven& behind closed doors& came to pass& remains a mystery###

7nd i6i$"s: lining up& hard to miss& turned its hand to everything& its not hard to see

P!#i74#siscan also be found here:%onaco, the supercharged playground of the super$rich&

M!t$ny"y: microstate'< $onaco(,price tag' lines) 5owever, the text is not monotonous) The author s&ilfully

alternates the shorter sentences with the longer ones, so the reader does not get bored of it)

This also helps to maintain a steady pace of the text) 5e also incorporated some direct speech

to add the text some drama and &eep it lively)

>


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There are four rhetoric 9uestions, three of which are immediately answered within the

text:And the price tag for this s"yscraping fun place -o who is he lining up for the tower

-o who e'actly will live here The answer for the fourth one is left for the reader: Got

./01m

The most typical feature of sentence structure within this article is fronting) 0ut there

can be also found an example of prosiopesis: Got ./01m$oreover, an ellipsis mar&ed by set

of three periods is specifically used in the pictures descriptions: 2The definitive beacon of

)super prime* property 3 an architects rendering of the Odeon Tower in %onaco& 2It is not

hard to see why angry neighbours have already nic"named it the Odious Tower 3 the Odeon

tower 4centre5 in %onaco, currently under construction# %ts purpose here is to provide a

description of what you can actually see in the picture, following the authors comment)

There are some examples of subordinate clause in parenthesis:After dinner in one of

the si' different salons 4prepared by staff in one of the four "itchens5, your guests will

ascend###We meet on the dec" of 6orman 7osters new %onaco 8acht Club ! a building as

brash as the boats it serves ! as the %onaco 8acht -how unfolds below us# The text in

parenthesis provides additional information about the dinner and the dec&) 8lsewhere in the

text the author uses 6ust the normal structure of relative clause to insert some additional

information into a sentence, for example: ###says 9dward de %allet %organ, of estate agent

:night 7ran", whose tas" is to find a buyer in his address boo" of what are "nown, in his

world, as ;


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The other one is the use of colon to 6oin two independent clauses when the second one

explains or illustrates the beginning part: -trictly for the super$rich= the worlds most

e'pensive penthouse& The prohibition led to an ambitious plan to e'tend into the sea= a

?ubai$style peninsula had been proposed###It is certainly hard to miss= a big vertical swoosh

ma"es it loo" li"e its been s+ueeed into a swimsuit### These two features seem to be

characteristics of the authors own uni9ue writing style, because they happen to be used in his

other articles as well)

Stylistic nlysis

This article is a blog; that is !a fre9uently updated online personal 6ournal or diary"

'http:blogbasics)comwhat-is-a-blog() 7s such, it is a piece of 6ournalistic writing) Though

published in The Guardian, which is generally considered a 9uality newspaper, in style and

content it more resembles a piece of tabloid writing) %t pic&s a sensational topic, exaggerates

it, and hints at some mysteries behind the pro6ect, not clearing anything) %t does not describe

any interesting life event, 6ust informs about the latest hit related to the lifestyle of the richest

people in the world) The author does not investigate the problems any further or deeper) 5e

only provides an overview of the situation)

There may be two reasons why it is more li&e a tabloid: The first one is based on the

fact that blog, or weblog as the original term was, as a genre belongs somewhere in between

the ob6ective and sub6ective style, more inclining to the latter one) The other is, that being

published online, the %nternet provides a space for opening up and broadening of the scope of

styles, so The Guardian can attract and appeal to wider range of readers so that everyone can

find there something to his li&es and interests) % have not found out whether this particular

article was published also in the paper form of the newspaper) 0ut nowadays with themoderni1ation and virtualisation it is often so that what cannot be published in paper form

because of space limitations or the nature of the newspaper gets into its online form, which is

more accessible, interactive and provides many additional features)

0ut bac& to the article itself) 0log is a relatively young genre, being developed 6ust in

the ??/s with the invention of web publishing tools and the implementation of %nternet

access to ma6ority of households, and its most distinctive characteristic is that it presents the

authors sub6ective opinion on the chosen topics) 5owever, in this article the authors opinion

about the Odeon Tower remains un&nown for the reader) There is only one comment clause,

@


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but which is only a general statement: The yachts, it becomes clear, are li"e bait for

superprime buyers) 3nless we try to guess it from the overall style of the article, there is no

specific element to reveal the personal attitude) 0ut even then it would be 9uestionable, as %

will discuss later) %n spite of the interesting figurative writing style, the author remains largely

factual as if to remain true to the nature of the newspaper) 5e does not comment on his

findings trying to be ob6ective, if by ob6ective we mean restraining from stating positive or

negative comment or not holding side with the rich neither with the people displeased with the

building) 0ut of course, there are several &inds of blogs with varying level of sub6ectivity,

from highly speciali1ed and scientific with very little to no sub6ective mar&ers up to personal

diaries as the most sub6ective) 7nd this one, according to its description on the webpage, is a

speciali1ed blog on architecture and design; therefore we cannot expect it to provide authors

own views)

7s for the essential characteristics of an article, it has got a precise, descriptive

headline directly revealing what the content is) %t does not involve any metaphorical devices,

so the reader immediately has a clear &nowledge of what the article is about) The language is

normal and simple) -trictly for the super$rich= the worlds most e'pensive penthouse) The use

of superlatives creates an effect that the ob6ect it tal&s about is a sensation, surprising news

and a great hit) 5owever, it begins with the word strictly which creates the feeling of

something forbidden and implies it is something very special and luxurious)

The headline is followed by short introductory paragraph consisting of . sentences

which reveal something more about the building, particularly mentioning the most surprising

information about the building A the price of the apartment) Though written as a 9uestion, this

piece of information actually comes as an immediate answer to what the readers wonder about

and desire to &now the most from when they first put their eyes on the headline) Son there is

some interaction already going on in between the headline and the introductory paragraph as

if they were having a dialogue together) This effect is even strengthened by the fact that they

are detached from the main body of the text by a picture) 7nd since the headline and the

introductory paragraph is all that usually appears in the newsfeed on the main page of the

newspapers website, they have to be shoc&ing in order to attract readers attention and ma&e

them interested and curious to &now more, which they are)

% have already mentioned that the author uses rich figurative language for the

description of the building) %n the first two paragraphs the language is obviously notional)

From the grammatical point of view, there are many open compound words and noun phrases)

They are ordered in a way that creates a gradation) The first item in a sentence is followed by

B


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a more unusual one) 7t the end of a sentence then comes the most surprising and most

luxurious one creating something li&e a climax)

From the point of view of literary devices, he uses a lot of uni9ue epithets,

paraphrases, personification, metaphors, similes and enumeration) =eading it feels li&e

reading a part of some short story or children story) %t enhances the readers imagination and

can almost feel li&e if he was wal&ing the places himself) 8ven the initial part of the first

sentence:Its (ust another day in sun$"issed %onaco###sounds li&e a beginning of a good story

and one would expect something exciting to follow, even though % &now that such styli1ation

is a fre9uent start of many 6ournalistic reports when the 6ournalists want the readers feel

related and involved) This ma&es the story much more personal) 7ctually, when % was reading

it for the first time, % do not &now why, but it reminded me of an old Cisney short movie

called The @ittle


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directly: and you can rest assured))) % thin& the reason why he varies these several techni9ues

is to &eep the article lively and interesting, and not to bore the reader with monotonous style)

Dext, % would li&e to comment on the use of rhetoric 9uestions) Their timing is

accurate) 8xcept for the first one, they seem to come exactly at the points when the reader

would himself as& that and they re9uest answers for the things the reader was thin&ing about)

%t is li&e if the author was reading the readers thoughts following the development of the text

and its content) Thin&ing about it now, it is a bit frightening, but it is actually very satisfying

for the reader, because at these points everyone would be naturally curious about the two most

important things about the building A the price and its future inhabitants)

The last thing to consider about the content of the article is its meaning) On the first

sight it seems pretty clear A it is very positive about the building and seems to be praising it

utterly) 5owever, after a closer inspection this becomes dubious) There is only one case of

easily identifiable irony in the text, the passage: One clients wife recently turned her nose up

at a place along the coast= )This is a millionaires house,* she said sniffily# )-how me the

billionaires#*Obviously, here the lady thin&s the millionaires houses something of little

value to her) et when we consider the fact that the current residents from the Odeon Towers

neighbourhood do not li&e the building very much, the whole article seems to have a twofold

meaning) They even nic&named the building the Odious Tower, a name which is itself a pun)

%n the light of this &nowledge the text can be read in two ways: ironic and literal) +e

have to bear in mind that the ma6ority of The Guardians readers are ordinary wor&ing middle

class and lower business class people who could hardly ever in their lives earn enough money

to afford such an accommodation as described here) 7nd this is also the target readership of

this article) They would probably read it 6ust out of curiosity, the same as when they read

about the lives of TG stars and other celebrities) They 6ust want to &now how it is to be

famous or super-rich) 0ut they would not have any sympathies to this &ind of living) Ordinary

people are often rather 6ealous of it) So they would probably read this article with envy or

even scorn) They may perceive all the praiseworthy words and superlatives to be 6ust ironic

overstatements moc&ing the lifestyle of the richest, pointing out its vanity) 0ecause what is

the use of all that moneyH They will die anyway) They should better invest it into charity and

save the whole world from hunger) Such is the thin&ing of the ordinary people with 6ust

average salary)

On the other hand, people who could really be concerned in the building would read

the article as it is A as a praise of the Odeon Tower) 0ut % doubt that those for whom the

building was designed would ever read it) The mentioned billionaires would hardly bother

I


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themselves with reading any architecture blogs on the %nternet as long as they are not famous

within !their high circles") They have other sources of information on such topics)

So how then the article should be understood - ironically or notH Since at the bottom of

the article there is a note that: )Oliver Wainwrights visit to Tour Odon was provided by

Groupe %arocco,* it suggests that the article might be a sponsored advertisement for the

developer, thus written as obligatory praise) 0ut other people can be able to read !in between

the lines" and understand it differently) 8ven the 9uite collo9uial style and hints at some

problems behind the pro6ect suggest 'such as who approved this pro6ect or why it got so big

when they planned only a villa( it is supposed to be read ironically) The collo9uial feeling is

created by over-repetition of the affix super$and the words and expressions li&e: hottest of

global wealth hotspots& turned her nose up& shapey& mogul$moderne### or the syntactic

structure of sentences, for example: Got ./01m&7or those who already have it all, the

Odeon Tower has a little bit more###+ell, such is the art of 6ournalists, and writers in general,

that different people can read the same text in a different way, each finding his own meaning

in it)

et there is one more and very important thing we cannot forget to consider about this

article) 0eing published on the %nternet, a ma6or role in its perception play the extra-textual

features A graphic and visual expressive means) From my personal experience % can only

confirm their great influence on the readers) +hen % first discovered this article, % saved the

webpage in a *CF format) 0ut later when % started wor&ing on its analysis, % opened the lin&

to the original page only to find out that the design of the whole Culture section has been

recently rewor&ed and redesigned) So % could compare how much the visuali1ation of the

webpage affects the readers perception)

%n the old version of the webpage the text of the article occupied only the left half of

the screen, the rest being covered with advertisement and suggestion of other articles which

were not even related to this one in content) %t all loo&ed very messy and felt overstuffed) 0ut

now, the new version of the webpage has much better and reader-friendly organi1ation) 8ven

though the text occupies half of the screen as well, it uses bigger font and is much better

readable) On the left along the main text there is a photo of the writer, on which when you

clic& it redirects you to the authors profile where you can find his short biography and list of

all his articles) This is very helpful because the reader can find his all the information about

the writer he wants in one easily reachable place) Then on the right side there is an advert at

J


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the top with suggestions of other articles below it, but this time they are not so prominent as

they used to be, and thus not so disturbing)

The headline is written in big white bold letters and the introductory paragraph is also

in white letters) 0oth the headline and introductory paragraph are written on fuchsia pin& or

purple bac&ground banner, this being the distinctive colour of the Culture section) %t has a

calming effect and feel of comfort) The text is divided into several paragraphs with varying

length; the shortest being only one line informing about the price of the apartment) The text is

interrupted only with one advert positioned somewhere in the middle of the article) %t is a little

bit annoying because it ta&es half the width of the space reserved for the main text, so one

whole paragraph is misshaped because of it)

The text is supplemented with three big bright colourful photos of the building

accompanied with short description in gray letters in different and smaller font than the main

text is in) The description in each is actually a sentence from the main text) 8ach photo has a

little circle in its upper right corner on which when you clic& it will open the photo in full

screen si1e) They present wonderful views of sunny beach resort) The aim is to attract the

readers and appeal to their senses as the full-screen photo can totally absorb you and you

nearly feel as if you were physically present in that place) This feature was absent in the old

version of the webpage) $oreover, the pictures were of smaller si1e bac& then, so they did not

have that big effect)

0ut the most important and useful feature of online articles are the hypertext lin&s

which are something li&e a physical and directly present allusions) The hyperlin& is indicated

by blue-highlighted words in the text) +hen you clic& on it, it will ta&e you directly to the

page which spea&s about or describes the highlighted word) There are eight hyperlin&s in total

in this article) Some of them, particularly the words%onacoand ;


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not be complete or proper) Or on the other side, if the readers were curious in those names,

they would have to search for them elsewhere) 0ut the hyperlin&s ma&e the search a lot easier)

+hen you are interested in what for example 35D+% is, you 6ust clic& on the word and you

will find it out in a moment)

7ctually, only two of these hyperlin&s are allusions in the true poetic and stylistic

sense and that are: a ?ubai$style peninsulaand a parody of the Thunderbirds Tracy Island)

Dot &nowing them would greatly affect the readers understanding of the text, because they

help them to visuali1e the situation) 7part from these there are two other relevant allusions,

these being without a hyperlin&: temple to %ammon and the "ind of building Bond villains

could only dream of) These do not provide any indispensable information, they have rather

only poetic effect)

Though the hyperlin&s are the most important extra-textual features; yet there few

more the importance of which on the readers perception of the article, however, should not be

undermined) The first are the numbers of comments and shares, which can be found right

under the writers photo) For some readers these may function as guiding mar&ers to the

content of the article) %f there are high numbers it signali1es that the article is interesting,

valuable or controversial and this ma&es the readers curious to read more) The numbers are

also important factor in determining the popularity of the article) 0ased on them it can appear

in lists of the most popular article per certain period of time, what in turn gives the article

some special 9uality and help spread the authors fame) +hen an article appears in the

popularity list, the readers will remember it and next time when they see another article from

the same writer they will be more eager to read it, because they would recogni1e the name and

try to 9ualify and compare his 6ournalistic s&ill with the previous one) Or they would &now

they can expect a certain degree of 9uality with him and so the writer will build himself some

constant readership)

The second feature % had in mind along with the popularity numbers is the presence of

discussion forum below the article) This is especially welcome by the readers because it gives

them an opportunity to express their opinion on the article immediately and interact with the

writer) This way the readers can feel m more personally involved in the ma&ing of their

newspaper and closer to the writer) %t is also useful for the writer because he gets a direct

feedbac& from his readers which may be different from the professional view of his

colleagues and the editors) The comments of the readers may eventually inspire him to further

investigation of certain topics)

/

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