Epatage is ... Analysis of the meaning of the word and examples of outrageous behavior

The article describes what is shocking, gives synonyms for this word and its role in various art fields.

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In any human society or its layers, various norms of morality and behavior are gradually arising. Sometimes they are imposed and created artificially, but in any case, this process is natural and absolutely normal. However, there are always those who do not consider it necessary to follow these rules and norms, for example, doing something outrageous. But, what is it, and what is the behavior like? We will talk about this in this article.

Definition

Epatage is a kind of trick that has a frankly provocative form, or some other shocking behavior that contradicts social, moral, moral or other norms accepted in society. Usually, this is done to attract attention to a single person, her creativity, profession or something else. So shocking is sometimes an effective method for advertising, and this method is often resorted to by marketers or people of creative professions - artists, designers, writers and others.

If we talk about art, then epatage is most often inherent in such areas as avant-gardism and modernism.

Origin

This word came to us from the French language, or rather from one of its slang expressions épatage, which in translation means "to give the bandwagon", or "to substitute the bandwagon". In French, this word appeared around the first half of the XIX century, the usage in Russia came about the same way. And by the way, in very many languages, in the same English, it has no analogues.

Role in art

Initially, the concept of shocking originated in the artistic environment, but if we talk about the reasons for its appearance in contemporary art, the researchers find it difficult to explain this fact. But nevertheless, the most shocking was the time of the broad development of modernism. In general, among art critics it is considered that the classical manifestations of various art spheres are not characteristic of epatage. However, according to others, this trend originated back in ancient times. So now we know the meaning of such a direction as shocking, the meaning of the word and its origin.

Some artists consider that shocking has become an integral part of contemporary art, since its main goal is to amaze and arouse spectators. And in this case, its value is directly proportional to the strength of the reaction. Simply put, if an outrageous trick, picture, installation, or something else caused a stormy reaction (ideally - a scandal), then the author achieved his goal.

According to another opinion, shocking is a reflection of the psychological state of the creator. Some manifestation of deviant behavior due to loss of self-determination, and at the same time a search for a new form of identification. In this case, it is considered that outrageous antics and creativity is a way of using non-standard behavior specifically for creativity, searching for new directions and expressing oneself.

Most shockingly, epatage began to manifest itself during the heyday of modernism, whose meaning consisted in the denial of many established canons and traditions.

With what it is, we have figured out, now we will consider several examples of this phenomenon.

Examples

Outrageous antics and creations are used by many contemporary artists and simply creative people. For example, fashion designers make clothes for the show, which often causes, by and large, outrage and negative reaction of most ordinary people. These are swimsuits made of absolutely transparent materials, men's suits, whose style and elements of clothing are emphatically feminine, or other attributes of style that are absolutely dysfunctional in everyday life.

If you consider examples of show business, then probably the most shocking of his representative can be called the singer Lady Gaga. She constantly shock fans with her clothes, for example, dresses from raw meat or other outfits of incongruous colors and styles.

Also outrageous antics was the famous Salvador Dali, - he often liked to walk the streets of Paris with his hand-held ant-anteater. Agree, a rather unusual choice of a pet.

Advertising

Nowadays, when marketing is paid a lot of attention, the creation and production of some unusual, shocking advertising is a competent move that attracts attention. Simply put, against the background of standard and habitual advertising television commercials, street posters and billboards, shocking is a kind of psychological shake-up, an effective method. He almost guaranteed to attract the attention of the target audience.

Epatage. Synonyms

To the synonyms of this word can be considered the following: scandalous, shocking, unusual, original.

So we sorted out what it means to be shocking, and examined some examples of such behavior.