Many watched the film "Prestige" with interest. This is a detective drama, revealing some of the nuances of the work of illusionists. The name of the film made one of the stunning tricks. But what does prestige mean in everyday life?
Origin of the term
Like most internationalisms, the word has Latin roots. Praestigium literally translates as "illusion" or "deception of the senses." It is worth noting that in European languages the meaning of the word "prestige" is slightly changed, and it is interpreted as "charm" (in French) or "authority" (in German, English). Thus, with the help of simple balancing act the term passed into the category of value judgments. Accordingly, the synonyms of the word "prestige" are status, influence, weight (as most often used in speech), as well as significance, attractiveness (less commonly used).
What is the general meaning of the word “prestige” in Russian? The interpretation is close to the European model, so illusions and deception of feelings should not be remembered. Prestige is the value and importance of the actions of an individual, his professional and social belonging, established in a particular society. In different situations and social groups, there are some nuances of using this term.
Interpretation of the word in various fields of knowledge
Historical studies provide an accurate answer to the question of when the term first appeared in the speech of Russian citizens. This is a period of fascination with the aristocracy of the French language and, of course, the war with Napoleon. In those days, it was believed that prestige is the influence of authority on people around.
In psychology, the phenomenon of prestige is interpreted as a value judgment about someone or something based on a scale of values existing in society.
Sociology interprets the term as a value judgment about the qualities of an individual or the effectiveness of actions.
It is easy to see that, depending on the field of scientific knowledge, which explains the importance of prestige, there are some nuances of interpretation.
Fields of application
The term has penetrated into all spheres of modern life. Often opinions are expressed about the prestige of international foundations and organizations. Regarding the time and quality framework, one can encounter the former, certain or large, huge prestige. As you know, the government primarily cares about national and state prestige, and also does not forget about the political, military and public.
At the individual level, we can talk about the existence of personal, moral, professional prestige.
From the above examples, one common feature can be distinguished: prestige is what is considered valuable in a given period of time for a certain circle of people.
In fact, it is only necessary to change the situation (for example, to get to an uninhabited island for an indefinite period without preparation, provisions), and immediately the obvious illusory nature of everything that was considered valuable and important. That is, the word "prestige" shows its Latin meaning.
Since the term speaks of status, it was not overlooked by enterprising people: restaurateurs, advertisers, managers and others. As a result, there are a variety of institutions with the name "Prestige". These are five-star hotels, and restaurants representing European and Asian cuisines, and real estate agencies, and travel agencies. But this is not the limit of possibilities.
Perfumes appear, a brand of shoes, clothes with that name, even a line of cosmetics. And all this was created only to make money on human vanity, since they rarely save on this (it’s enough to recall the lyrics of the song by Cota Basilio and Fox Alice).
Movie title
Roman K. Priest, filmed in 2006, is called "Prestige." Oddly enough, both the author and the director managed to fully reveal the multifaceted essence of this word. Once again, the question is asked: "Is prestige a real state of things or what a person wants to see and what he believes with all his nature?" And since the main characters are illusionists, then one more likely rhetorical question arises along the way: "If people admire" deception ", then they want to be deceived?"
By the way, the "cost-a-life" trick is called "Prestige". And the bulk of the audience came to look at him. It is safe to say that the term in question describes human nature, as wild animals do not have vanity and striving for superiority at all costs.