Cultural code and its image component (by the example of the image of nature in English films)

Abstract

The study aims to solve the problem of the image cultural identification within the bounds of the English national cultural code. The object of the study is concentrated around linguistic metaphors representing images of fire and water as a part of the English nature-morphic code in films about catastrophes and survival. In order to solve the problem, the two natural image schemes, the pyromorphic image scheme FIRE > EMOTIONS and the hydromorphic scheme WATER > EMOTIONS, which are subordinate to the general hyperscheme NATURE > PSYCHE, are examined in detail. The study is novel in that it is the first to focus on the natural-elementary imagery as a source of stereotypes in the national cultural code. In order to do so, the article involves the modern cognitive-psychological image paradigm, according to which the activation of an image vividly demonstrates secondary stereotypical comprehension of the emotional world through the world of nature. The results achieved demonstrate that natural metaphors are basic, original and unavoidable in the world of psychology, while their use is quite a powerful source for naming unknown and problematic modern phenomena, such as emotions, feelings and experiences.