Deviation for Foregrounding Purposes - A Universal Phenomenon
Explanation of Animation:
This is an animation of a lady pulling driving down the road in her car.
She stops at the red traffic lights and picks her nose and then drives
off when the light changes to green.
The picture of the professor figure on the homepage for this website
is wearing a bow tie. This is because the designer for this course, Mick
Short, wears a bow tie and the teacher-researchers helping him create
the course thought it would be fun to have him on the site "in person".
The wearing of bow ties is deviant in terms of the dress code in UK universities.
Most male academics don't wear ties at all, and those who do usually wear
traditional 'kipper' ties. So Mick's unusual dress counts as a 'signature'
for him, making him stand out from the crowd, and at the same time shows
he is always interested in deviation and foregrounded behaviour!
Note that all you need for deviation to occur is a set of rules, however
informal or intuitive, which are then broken.
Want to compare what Mick looks like with/without his bow tie? Have a
look below!
|