Grand Guignol
1
9.9
- noun
- /ɡrænd ɡɪnˈjɔl/
- NSFW
:
Grand Guignol
- Broadway troupe bent on reviving Le Grand Guignol.
Examples
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Okay, when was used in the Grand Guignol?
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Stuff you might have built for a Grand Guignol show or, you know, for Gore's touring show.
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Pain has become so much a part of the Grand Guignol lore of teenage sexuality that girls' own stories increase their fear of sex.
Academic text (1990) -
The Grand Guignol.
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The Grand Guignol used shock tactics, violence ... and fake blood ... to scare the audience with presentations of horror.
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"The cult she'd established was a hobby with Alice, and another chance to engage in the sadomasochistic Grand Guignol she adored, but it had tentacles throughout Meizon Akhaia, among women of all classes, and in the medical service she'd organized and taught.
Fiction book (2000) -
The play was a classic example of Grand Guignol, filled with gruesome scenes that shocked the audience.
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During the festival, several performances showcased Grand Guignol, captivating the crowd with their horrific storylines.
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The director praised the Grand Guignol style for its unique ability to thrill viewers with terrifying and shocking moments.
How Shocking
Surface Forms
Morphology
Even if a B1 learner knows 'grand' (large/splendid) and 'guignol' (a satirical puppet-theatre show), the specific sense of a shocking, gruesome horror-style theatre is not derivable from those parts; they would likely infer a 'large puppet show' rather than a gore-focused dramatic genre. The term is a culturally specific label (from French theatre history) whose horror connotation is idiomatic and therefore unpredictable from the constituents.
Etymology
Grand Guignol comes from a small Paris theatre where actors put on very bloody, shocking plays to make the crowd feel fear. That's why people now use Grand Guignol to mean 'a dramatic show full of horror and gore'.