POLITENESS AND IMPOLITENESS IN THE THIRTEEN MOVIE DIRECTED BY CATHERINE HARDWICKE

Transcription

1 POLITENESS AND IMPOLITENESS IN THE THIRTEEN MOVIE DIRECTED BY CATHERINE HARDWICKE Evelyn Purnama English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Bina Nusantara University Jakarta, Indonesia Dr. Dra. Ienneke Indra Dewi, M.Hum ABSTRACT This research focuses on the politeness and impoliteness strategy that can be found in the scenes that are full of anger in the Thirteen movie script. It deals with the kind of strategies that are used by the characters and also the general functions of using them. This research is conducted by observing and analyzing the selected script using Brown and Levinson s theory of politeness (1978) and also the Culpeper s theory of impoliteness (1996). The result of this analysis is there are 59 utterances for politeness and there are 48 utterances for impoliteness. Besides, the general functions of using the politeness strategy are to be direct to the speaker s want and to save the hearer s face. In contrast, the general function of impoliteness strategies is to be an aggression in attacking the hearer s face. The writer also found that people tend to use direct form, negative, imperative and modal form, and also the taboo language when they are angry. Besides, the writer also found that the American teenager tends to be impolite when they talk to their parents. Keywords: Politeness Strategies, Impoliteness Strategies, Functions and Anger ABSTRAK Penelitian ini membahas mengenai strategi kesopanan dan ketidaksopanan yang terdapat pada adegan yang penuh kemarahan di film Thirteen. Penelitian ini juga membahas tentang fungsi dari penggunaan strategi tersebut. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan cara mengamati dan menganalisa naskah dari film Thirteen menggunakan teori kesopanan dari Brown and Levinson (1978) serta teori ketidaksopanan dari

2 Culpeper (1996). Hasil dari analisis ini adalah terdapat 59 ujaran untuk kesopanan dan terdapat 48 ujaran untuk ketidaksopanan. Di samping itu, fungsi umum dari penggunaan strategi kesopanan adalah untuk menyatakan langsung keinginan si pembicara dan untuk menjaga muka positif si pendengar. Sebaliknya, fungsi umum dari strategi ketidaksopanan adalah sebagai bentuk dari serangan kepada muka si pendengar. Penulis juga menemukan bahwa orang-orang cenderung untuk menggunakan pola langsung, pola negatf, pola perintah, pola modal dan menggunakan bahasa tabu dalam berbicara saat marah. Selain itu, penulis juga menemukan bahwa remaja Amerika cenderung berbicara tidak sopan kepada orang tuanya. Kata kunci: Strategi Kesopanan, Strategi Ketidaksopanan, Fungsi-fungsi dan Kemarahan INTRODUCTION Language is one of some most important things in our live. It is because we communicate and interact with others by using language. When we do a communication with others, it means that we also try to build our social interaction with them. In this case, the language becomes a kind of tool to maintain our relation with other people. So that, the term of politeness becomes very crucial in a communication. However, it is not only the politeness that becomes crucial, but also the impoliteness. In this case, the impoliteness also holds a crucial part in influencing our social interaction process. This kind of thing not only can be seen on the real life only, but also can be seen on a movie. Although, a movie is a kind of fiction, it still can be said as the depiction of our daily real life. Because of that, the writer feels really eager to conduct a research that is related to the politeness and impoliteness. In this case, the writer researched about the politeness and impoliteness that can be found in the script of a movie titled Thirteen. Specifically, the writer analyzed about the politeness and impoliteness strategy and also the function of using that strategy. The goals of this research are to analyze what kind of politeness and impoliteness strategy that can be found in the movie and also to explain the function of using that strategy. In this research, the script is limited to the scenes that are full of anger situation only. It is because the writer wanted to know what kind of politeness and impoliteness strategy that is used by the characters in the fully emotional condition. Mathon (2008) and also Safei (2009) also did this kind of research. Mathon (2008) focused on the anger expression in the spontaneous French dialogues. In her research, Mathon wanted to know the expression that is used by the people when they are angry and she also wanted to prove that there is gender difference when people are angry. She used a qualitative method by recording the dialogues directly. She found that people use certain form in expressing their language when they are angry and she also foung that there is difference between male and female in expressing anger. Moreover, Safei (2009) did a research about the politeness strategy that can be found in a play titled Stolen. On his research, he found that there are only 4 politeness strategies that are used in this play; they are the bald on record strategy, positive politeness strategy, negative politeness strategy and also the off record strategy. Besides, he also found that Jimmy is the most polite character in the play. The research of the writer itself focused not only on the politeness but also on the impoliteness. The writer also analyzed about the function of using that strategy. Actually, in this research, the writer used two main theories which are the theory of politeness by Brown and Levinson (1978) and also the theory of impoliteness by Culpeper (1996). These two theories focus on the notion of face which consists of two kinds of face; they are the positive face and negative face. According to Yule (1996), the positive face is a face that deals with the feeling to be accepted and to be liked while the negative face is a face that related to the feeling of to not to be imposed (the freedom). In politeness, there are bald on record strategy, positive politeness strategy, negative politeness strategy, off record strategy and also the say nothing strategy. In impoliteness, there are bald on record impoliteness strategy, positive impoliteness strategy, negative impoliteness strategy, sarcasm or mock politeness strategy and also withhold politeness strategy. For those two theories, they are the same in elaborating the strategy by specifying it with some categories for each strategy.

3 RESEARCH METHOD This research was conducted by using a descriptive qualitative method because this research focuses on the observing of a script of a movie that gave a depiction of a social phenomenon in the society which in this case is about the politeness and the impoliteness in the daily conversation. Besides, the library research also was conducted to find out the theory and any other important information that were used to support this research. The research process started by watching the movie and by choosing the eight scenes which are full of anger situation. After that, the writer identified and classified the utterances, which ones that belong to the politeness strategy and which ones that belong to the impoliteness strategy. The writer tabulated those data to some tables depend on the certain category of the strategy that they belong to. Next, the writer analyzed and elaborated the data and found the result. The Thirteen movie itself tells about a life of American teenager named Tracy. She just lives with her single mother, Melanie and her older brother, Mason. At first, she is an honor student at her school and it changes since she makes a friend with the most popular girl at school, Evie. Evie is an orphan that lives with her cousin, Brooke. Tracy becomes a bad girl who does all the juvenile delinquencies such as, drinking alcohol and drug, lying, cheating, doing an underage sex and many more. Her change becomes the problem of this movie that causes the anger scenes in this movie. This movie also emphasizes on the relation of Tracy and her mother, Melanie. RESEARCH REPORT In this analysis, the writer divided into three major parts which are the politeness, the impoliteness and also the functions. For each strategy from the politeness and the impoliteness is divided again into several categories. The writer also provided 1 example for each category. Politeness From the total of five strategies in the politeness based on Brown and Levinson (1978) theory, the writer found there are four politeness strategies in the anger scenes of this movie. They are bald on record strategy, positive politeness strategy, negative politeness strategy and also off record strategy with total 59 utterances. The say nothing strategy is the only one strategy that can be found. Bald on Record Strategy Bald on record strategy is one of strategy that is most direct, clear, unambiguous and concise (Brown and Levinson, 1978, p. 69). In this strategy, the writer can found four categories which are task oriented (8 utterances), request (8 utterances), advice or warnings (11 utterances) and also invitation (7 utterances) from the total of seven categories with total 34 utterances. 1. Task Oriented Category M: Cyn Cyn, go to the sink. I ll rinse the color out now. 2. Request Category M: You two aren t the only J. Lo s in the house Check out these sexy colors! 3. Advice or Warnings Category M: Don t ever start smoking.

4 4. Invitation Category E: Tracy, come on. Positive Politeness Strategy The positive politeness strategy is the strategy that deals with the speaker s positive face. This strategy has a total of 12 utterances that consist of 6 categories which are notice, attend to hearer (1 utterance), exaggerate (1 utterance), use in-group identity markers (1 utterance), be optimistic (6 utterance), include both speaker and hearer in the activity (2 utterances) and also assume or assert reciprocity (1 utterance). 1. Notice, Attend to Hearer Category M: Have you had anything to eat today? 2. Exaggerate Category B: Thought we d just crash here for a couple days, until my check comes in. I think I m coming down with diphtheria or something, so- 3. Use in-group Identity Markers Category M: Baby, it s here. Honey, find Cynthia s purse. 4. Be optimistic Category M: You need something to eat. It s 4:00. Something real. I ll make some turkey and cheese on whole whet. 5. Include both Speaker and Hearer in the Activity Category M: Baby- Cyn, come on. You re cookin. You re cookin with gas. Let s wash off really quick over here. 6. Assume or Assert Reciprocity Category M: All right. Well, after he leaves, we ll talk. Negative Politeness Strategy The negative politeness strategy is a strategy that is more oriented in redressing the hearer s negative face (Brown and Levinson, 1978, p. 70). The negative politeness strategy that can be found in this movie consists of three categories with total 11 utterances. The category that can be found are be conventionally indirect (6 utterances), question, hedge category (3 utterances) and be pessimistic (2 utterances). The last, the off record, there are two categories that can be found; they are give hints and use contradiction with 1 utterance per each category. 1. Be Conventionally Indirect Category M: You want me to ground you? 2. Question, Hedge Category M: What? I m not allowed to see your body anymore? 3. Be pessimistic Category

5 E: I m sorry Mel. I hope it s okay that I m here. Off Record Strategy The last, the off record, this strategy happens when we do not use a direct expression to what we exactly mean. There are two categories that can be found; they are give hints and use contradiction with 1 utterance per each category. 1. Give Hints Category E: They found my stash and I had to tell them. I love you okay? You re my girl. Remember that. I love you. [Evie hugs Tracy.] Come on. Let s go. 2. Use Contradiction Category E: Is everything okay Mel? M: Yeah. [short pause.] No. Evie, I m sorry, but I think it s time for you to go home. Impoliteness In the impoliteness strategy, there are four out of five strategies that can be found with the total of 48 utterances. They are positive impoliteness strategy (39 utterances), negative impoliteness strategy (6 utterances), sarcasm or mock politeness (2 utterances) and withhold politeness (1 utterance). In addition, the sarcasm or mock politeness strategy and the withhold politeness strategy have no specific category. Positive Impoliteness Strategy Culpeper (1996) noted about positive impoliteness as this strategy exist for the use of strategies designed to damaged the addressee s positive face wants (as cited from Bousfield, 2008, p. 85) For the positive impoliteness, there are six categories that can be considered to this category. The categories are ignore, snub, fail to attend to the H s interest, wants, needs, goods, etc (2 utterances), disassociate from the other, deny common ground, or association (1 utterance), avoid agreement (4 utterances), make the other feel uncomfortable (4 utterances), use taboo language (26 utterances) and call H names (2 utterances). 1. Ignore, Snub, Fail to Attend to the H s Interest, Wants, Needs, Goods, etc Category M: You need something to ear. It s 4:00. Something real. I ll make some turkey and cheese on whole whet. E: Evil food. 2. Disassociate from the other, Deny Common Ground, or Association Category M: That s enough. You need to get out. 3. Avoid agreement Category T: Mom! Three strikes and you re out. How many times are you gonna let him fuck you over? M: Hey! 4. Make the Other Feel Uncomfortable Category M: Hey! Hey! Open this door now. T: What mother? What do you want?

6 5. Use Taboo Language Category T: Mom! Three strikes and you re out. How many times are you gonna let him fuck you over? 6. Call H Names Category T: And I want you and your stupid boyfriend to get out of my fucking life! What is he doing here? Negative Impoliteness Strategy According to Bousfield (2008), negative impoliteness strategy is defined as, the use strategies designed to damage the addressee s negative face wants (p.86). The writer found out that there are 6 utterances as the total that consists of two categories which are condescend, a scorn or ridicule (5 utterances) and also hinder physically, conversationally (1 utterances) that can be found in the movie. 1. Condescend, a Scorn or Ridicule Category M: I ve got a surprise. I sewed on the leopard fur. T: The fur was thicker at Red Balls. 2. Hinder Physically, Conversationally Category T: When have you ever seen me mess with anything that was yours? [Mel leaves the room and closes the door.] Mom! [Whispers.] Fuck her. Sarcasm or Mock Politeness Strategy Culpeper (1996) defined the sarcasm or mock politeness strategy as, the performance of politeness strategy that obviously insincere, and thus remain surface realization (Bousfield, 2008, p. 118). It means that the utterance seems polite but in fact the meaning is impolite. In this category there is no specific category. For the sarcasm or mock politeness, there are 2 utterances that can be found. M: Yeah sure. Just for a couple of days. [she picks up Kayla.] Mason, can you find your sleeping bad to give to- T: Why not open a hotel, mom. You could get paid for all this. Withhold Politeness Strategy Culpeper noted about withhold politeness strategy as the absence of politeness work where it would be expected (as stated from Bousfield, 2008, p. 135). For the withhold politeness strategy itself, there is only 1 utterance that can be found. B: Yeah, Trace, I got the game you wanted. T: ROAR! I M A LION! Here below the table about the result of the politeness strategy use that is found in the eight selected anger scenes of the Thirteen movie.

7 Table 1 The Result of the Politeness Strategy Use Total per Politeness Strategy Strategies Bald On Record Positive Politeness Negative Politeness Off Record Say Nothing Total per s Grand Total Utterances 59 This research found that the use of politeness strategies is there are only four of five strategies that can be found. There are bald on record, positive politeness, negative politeness and also off record. The Table 1 above shows that there are 59 utterances that can be considered to the politeness strategy. Specifically, there are 34 utterances in the bald on record strategy, 12 utterances in the positive politeness strategy, 11 utterances in the negative politeness strategy, 1 utterance in the off record strategy and there is none in the say nothing strategy. It is obviously seen that bald on record strategy is the most used politeness strategy. After that, here below the table about the result of the impoliteness strategy use that is also found in the eight selected anger scenes of the Thirteen movie. Table 2 The Result of the Impoliteness Strategy Use Impoliteness Strategies Bald on Record Impoliteness Total per Strategy Positive Impoliteness Negative Impoliteness Sarcasm or Mock Politeness Withhold Politeness Total per s Grand Total Utterances 48

8 The table above shows that there are 48 utterances that belong to the impoliteness strategies. The positive impoliteness is the most used strategy in the selected anger scenes with 39 utterances while the withhold politeness is the least with 1 utterance only. In addition, for negative impoliteness, there are 6 utterances that belong to this strategy and for the sarcasm or mock politeness strategy, there are 2 utterances. Actually, the scene 8 is the scene that uses the positive and negative impoliteness the most while the scene 1 is the least scene that uses impoliteness. The Functions For politeness, this research found that the general function of the bald on record strategy is to be direct to the hearer about the speaker s want that needs to be done while the positive politeness strategy is used to maintain and save the hearer s positive face by making the hearer feels liked and accepted. Moreover, the negative politeness strategy is used to give the freedom to the hearer to choose whether the hearer wants to follow the speaker s want or not without feeling imposed. After that, the off record strategy is used to maintain the hearer s face because the speaker does not directly tell their want. We can say that general functions of using the politeness strategy as a whole are to be direct to the speaker s want and to save the hearer s face. Furthermore, for the impoliteness, the use of the positive impoliteness is used to avoid the hearer gets their want by making the hearer feels unaccepted and disliked while the negative impoliteness strategy is used to impose the hearer by attacking the hearer s negative face which is about to be free. Moreover, the sarcasm or mock politeness strategy is used to mock to the hearer in a polite way while the withhold politeness is used in the condition when we consciously want to be impolite to the hearer. The writer can conclude that the general function of impoliteness strategies is to be an aggression in attacking the hearer s face. Besides, the writer also found that there is the similarity between the result of the Mathon s research (2008) with the result of this research. The similarity is in anger situation people tend to be more direct, to use negative, imperative and modal form and also to use the taboo language. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION The conclusion of this research is there are 59 utterances that can be considered to the politeness strategy and there are 48 utterances for the impoliteness. Specifically, for politeness, there are 34 utterances for the bald on record strategy, 12 utterances for the positive politeness, 11 utterances for the negative politeness and also 2 utterances for the off record strategy. Besides, for the impoliteness, there are 39 utterances for the positive impoliteness strategy, 6 utterances for the negative impoliteness, 2 utterances for the sarcasm or mock politeness and also 1 utterance for the withhold politeness. Meanwhile, for the politeness strategy, the function of using the bald on record strategy is used to show the directness of the speaker s wants to the hearer while the function of using the positive politeness strategy is to save the hearer s positive face that is related to the feeling of liked and accepted. After that, the function of using the negative politeness strategy is used to give a freedom to the hearer to choose whether he wants to follow the speaker s wants or not. The off record strategy is used to maintain the hearer s face by telling the speaker s wants indirectly. In brief, the functions of using the politeness strategy are to be direct to the speaker s wants and to save the hearer s face. For the impoliteness, the function of using the positive impoliteness strategy is used to avoid the hearer gets their want by making them feels unaccepted and disliked while the negative impoliteness strategy is used to impose the hearer by attacking the hearer s negative face which is about to be free. Moreover, the sarcasm or mock politeness strategy is used to mock to the hearer in a polite way, but with the opposite meaning while the withhold politeness is used in the condition when we consciously want to be impolite

9 to the hearer. The writer can conclude that the function of impoliteness strategies is to be an aggression in attacking the hearer s face. Besides, the writer also found that there is a similarity between the result of the Mathon s research (2008) in her research titled Expression of Anger in Spontaneous French Dialogues which is as the part of a journal titled L Analisi Linguistica E Letteraria with the result of the writer s research. The similarity is in the anger situation people tend to be more direct, to use negative, imperative and modal form and also to use the taboo language. The writer also found that the tendency to be polite among the family member does not completely true here. First, it is about the tendency about the children that have to be polite to her mother is indisputable. The writer found that the use of impoliteness from the children (Tracy and Mason) to their mother (Melanie) is more that the use of politeness itself. For politeness, the children use the bald on record strategy (4 utterances), the positive politeness strategy (2 utterances) and the negative politeness (2 utterances). For impoliteness, the children use the positive impoliteness strategy (20 utterances), the negative impoliteness (4 utterances) and also the sarcasm or mock politeness strategy (2 utterances). It can be seen that there are only 8 utterances for politeness and 26 utterances for impoliteness that are used by Tracy and Mason to their mother, Melanie. It shows that in the United States, the American teenagers do not really polite to their parents when they talk. Besides, the use of politeness and impoliteness for the relation between a mother to the children shows that Melanie as the mother still can manage her way of talking to their children, Tracy and Mason, even when she is angry. For politeness, the mother uses the bald on record strategy (14 utterances), the positive politeness strategy (5 utterances), and the negative politeness (6 utterances). After that, for the impoliteness, the mother uses only the positive impoliteness strategy (3 utterances) and negative impoliteness (1 utterance). Melanie as the mother uses 25 utterances for politeness and only 4 utterances for impoliteness. This shows that the American parents are more polite when they talk to their children compares to the American children when they talk to their parents. The suggestion for the hearer who is interested to do this kind of research is the reader can use the other theory of politeness and impoliteness, such as the theory from Robin Lakoff (1973) or theory from Geoffrey leech (1983). The reader can also combine it by other theory such as the theory of social dimension from Holmes (2011). Actually, the reader can also analyze the politeness and the impoliteness from the prosodic area (the intonation and the stress). Besides, the reader can also dig deeper by analyzing it not only from the linguistics area only, but also from the non-linguistics area such as about the gestures and facial expression. REFERENCES Bousfield, D. (2008). Impoliteness in Interaction. Amsterdam. The Netherlands : John Benjamins Publishing Company Brown, P. & Levinson, S, C. (1978). Politeness Some Universals in Language Usage. Great Britain: Cambridge University Press Mathon, C. (2008). Expression of Anger in Spontaneous French Dialogues. L Analisi Linguistica E Letteraria, 2, 666 Safei, M. (2009). The Analysis of Four Strategies of Politeness in a Play Titled STOLEN by Jane

10 Harrison. Retrieved on June 10, 2013, from Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press AUTHOR Evelyn Purnama was born in Jakarta, on December 31 st The writer got her Bachelor degree in the English Department, Faculty of Humanities at Bina Nusantara University in 2013.