Cognitive-Spatial Topology of "Star Wars" Film Discourse
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.28925/2412-2491.2026.2610Keywords:
Star Wars cinematic discourse, cognitive-spatial topology, conceptosphere, world-building, architectonics, discursive markerAbstract
Current research on fictional worlds is dominated by the analysis of micro-level phenomena, while the holistic spatial-hierarchical organization of media franchises remains underexplored. This article hypothesizes that the Star Wars discourse functions as a multilevel anthropocentric system structured by linguocognitive markers and subject to diachronic shifts.
The analysis of the ideologically "colored" construction and spatial organization of the alternative world in the audiovisual discourse of the "Star Wars" media franchise is carried out on the basis of the universal model of open system organization. The empirical data comprises utterances from the franchise's English-language audiovisual texts, as well as literary sources from both the canonical universe and the expanded universe (legends category), selected through purposive analysis.
The results establish that the franchise's conceptosphere is organized as a hierarchy of levels (micro-, cata-, macro-, meso-, and mega-levels), each verbalized by specific concepts and performing the functions of spatial cognitive categorization and social identity construction. The study describes and analyzes the phenomenon of discursive shift, which reflects changes in cognitive matrices depending on the chronotope.
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