“Welcome to the United States”: carnivalization and parody in Frank Zappa’s work

Authors

  • Vanderlei José Zacchi UFS

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22409/gragoata.v16i31.33061

Keywords:

contemporary music, carnavalization, parody, grotesque

Abstract

20th-century North-American composer Frank Zappa became well known for his sharp satires to U.S. official institutions and conservative sectors of society. In music he was a great innovator by blending together jazz, popular and classical music over a background of elements from 20th- -century North-American popular culture. His parodies and satires revitalize these cultural and aesthetic forms by means of mass culture, which consequently is also renewed. His work can be inscribed in the framework of Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of carnavalization: a means to subvert the official discourse through comic and popular elements. Several of these aspects can be found in the piece “Welcome to the United States”, composed from a U.S. customs form. Zappa submits the form/lyrics to a music full of noises and strange sounds, thus challenging the official authoritative discourse.

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Author Biography

Vanderlei José Zacchi, UFS

Doutor em Estudos Linguísticos e Literários em Inglês pela Universidade de São Paulo (USP, 2009). Atualmente é professor adjunto da Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS) e associado adjunto no Centre for Globalization and Cultural Studies da Universidade de Manitoba, Canadá. Tem experiência na área de Letras, com ênfase em Ensino de Língua Inglesa, atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: inglês como língua hegemônica, formação de professores, novos letramentos e cultura e identidade.

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Published

2011-12-30

How to Cite

Zacchi, V. J. (2011). “Welcome to the United States”: carnivalization and parody in Frank Zappa’s work. Gragoatá, 16(31). https://doi.org/10.22409/gragoata.v16i31.33061

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 31 (2011): Intercultural intersections

Section

Literature Articles

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