THE TYPES OF MAXIMS OF POLITENESS FOUND IN MOVIE THE GREAT GATSBY
on
1
THE TYPES OF MAXIMS OF POLITENESS FOUND IN MOVIE THE
GREAT GATSBY
I GUSTI AYU MIRAH HANDAYANI
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS AND CULTURE
UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
ABSTRAK
Tulisan ini berjudul “The Types of Maxims of Politeness Found In Movie The Great Gatsby” yang mana tulisan ini membahas penggunaan maxims of politeness oleh karakter-karakter di film. Tujuan dari tulisan ini adalah untuk menemukan tipe-tipe dari maxims of politeness yang digunakan oleh karakter-karakter di film “The Great Gatsby” dan faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi penggunaan politeness di film.
Data dari tulisan ini adalah library research yang mana sumber data di ambil dari sebuah transkrip di internet. Metoda dari mengoleksi data adalah metoda dokumentasi. Metoda kualitatif digunakan untuk menganalisis tipe-tipe dari maxims of politeness yang ditemukan di film the great gatsby. Data dianalisis berdasarkan teori maxims of politeness oleh Leech (1983),dan teori faktor-faktor politeness dari Holmes (1992) dan Wardhaugh (1986).
Hasil dari analisis menunjukkan bahwa ada banyak ekspresi-ekspresi dari maxims of politeness yang ditemukan di film “The Great Gatsby”, yaitu tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, agrement maxim, modesty maxim, symphaty maxim. Ada beberapa faktor yang mempengaruhi maxims of politeness, yaitu kontek situasi, tingkat formalitas, umur, status sosial dan hubungan darah.
Keywords: kesopanan, maxims of politeness, faktor-faktor kesopanan
Politeness in communication is very important because it can maintain the social relationship between the speaker and the hearer. Thus, the speaker and the hearer must be aware of it. Choosing the right words when people communicate with others is one of the polite ways to talk with others, such as in requesting, apologizing, refusing, thanking as well as greeting and parting. Politeness is difficult to practice because it is not just to speak in polite way but also involves cultural values of the community. Holmes (1992: 296) defines that being polite is a complicated business in any language. Politeness is difficult to learn because it
is not just a matter of understanding the language, but also involves the social and cultural values of the community.
Politeness also give the influence of someone’s feeling, it can make someone feel comfortable. According to Holmes (1992: 296) generally, speaking in polite way involves taking account of the feelings of others. A polite person makes persons feel comfortable. It means that being polite means to keep comfortable feeling of the hearer. In discussing the issue of politeness, Leech (1983:81) introduces “the politeness principle which principally minimizes the expression of impolite beliefs and maximizes the expression of polite beliefs”. The politeness principle is a series of maxims, which Leech (1983: 131) has proposed as a way of explaining how to talk politely to others.
This study focuses on the types of maxims of politeness and the reason of why someone applied politeness.. The maxims of politeness can be found in the movie. The movie was chosen as the data source because maxims of politeness need many conversations to be analyzed. Besides, there are many conversations used by characters which are categorised as maxims of politeness. The movie which will be analyzed here is The Great Gatsby Movie. This movie is an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, entitled ‘The Great Gatsby’.
Based on the background above, the problems of this study can be formulated as follows:
-
1. What types of maxims of politeness are used by characters in movie The Great Gatsby ?
-
2. What factors made characters apply the maxims of politeness in movie The Great Gatsby ?
Related to the problems above, there are two aims of study as follows:
-
1. To find out and analyze the types of maxims of politeness used by characters in movie The Great Gatsby.
-
2. To explain the factors of maxims of politeness applied by the characters in movie The Great Gatsby.
To carry out scientific research, we must follow the research method. Research method explains how to do the research. The research method of this study includes: data source, method and technique of collecting data and method and technique of analyzing data.
Data source in this study is primary data. The data were taken from a transcript of movie The Great Gatsby in internet. The transcript of this movie was downloaded from http://subscene.com/subtitles/the-great-gatsby-
2013/english/769949. The director of the movie is Baz Luhrmann. There are many places which are the setting of this film, such as Australia, Sydney, and New South Wales. This movie was released in Indonesia on 17 may 2013. The reason for selecting this movie as the data to be analyzed was because maxims of politeness need many conversations to be analyzed and there are many conversations used by characters which are categorised as maxims of politeness. In analyzing the data, it is focused on the utterances in the conversations of the movie.
The data source of this study is library research which the data source was taken from a transcript in internet. The method of collecting data is documentation method. There are some techniques of collecting the data in this study. First, watching the movie and listening carefully to the dialogue of every character. Second, reading and note taking the transcript of the movie to get the comparison between acts and the conversations between the characters in the movie and the transcript in order to find the type of maxims of politeness. Finally, the verbal utterances that contain maxims of politeness were taken.
The collected data were analyzed qualitatively. They were identified, classified, and analyzed. The data source identified to maxims of politeness. The data were classified into tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim and symphaty maxim. After that, the data were analyzed based on the theory maxims of politeness proposed by Leech (1983), and the factors of politeness proposed by Holmes (1992) and Wardhaugh (1986). In analyzing the data, it is focused on the utterances in the conversations of the movie.
There are some data in the movie “The Great Gatsby” that are categorized as tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim and sympathy maxim.
-
a. Tact maxim
TOM : Come on. We will get a great big room at the Plaza. A bucket of ice, a bottle of whiskey and it will be fun. Come on, it was your idea.
DAISY: Fine, have it your own way, Tom. Come on, Jordan.
TOM : (To Gatsby) Will you join us, Mr. Gatsby?
In the bolded statement, Tom offers Gatsby to join with him to go to Plaza. Tom’s expression is based on the rule of tact maxim. He maximizes the benefit to hearer (Gatsby). He gives a benefit in the form of invitation. Tom gives a benefit to Gatsby by offering him to go to a great big room at the plaza and at the plaza where Gatsby can enjoy a bottle of whisky.
Tom’s utterance is influenced by context of situation (the relation between participants). Although the relation between Tom and Gatsby is not really close, Tom still talks politely to Gatsby. Tom as the host tries to treat Gatsby well and makes Gatsby feel comofortable as the guest.
-
b. Generosity maxim
HENRY: Madame, the dinner is serving.
In this situation, Henry as the servant of Daisy told Daisy that the dinner was served. Henry follows generosity maxim which minimize a benefit to self, but maximize a cost to self by talk politely to Daisy. There are some factors in this situation which influence the politeness. First factor is social status. The social status of Henry is different from Daisy. Henry is a servant while Daisy is wife of Tom. Tom was the heir to one of America's wealthiest families. Thus, Henry must talks in a polite way to Daisy.
The other factor is age. Age has an important rule to the politeness expressions. It means that the younger person has to speak in a polite way to the older person. In this situation, Henry using “Madame” to call Daisy. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “Madame” is a french title given to an older woman especially to one who is married or a widow. Thus, it can be concluded that Henry speaks to older woman politely by calling Daisy “Madame”.
-
c. Approbation maxim
MCKEE : Hello..Oh, Chester, this must be the cousin. Oh, you are adorable.
NICK : Oh, thank you.
Mckee is Myrtle’s neighbor and Nick never meets her before. Mckee greets Nick politely, although she didn’t know Nick. She gives the praise to Nick by saying “Oh, you are adorable”. It can be concluded that Mckee maximizes praise to nick, and no dispraise in her statement.
The factor that influences Mckee’s statement is the context of situation (relation between participants). Although their relation is not close and it was the first time they meet, Mckee still speaks politely to Nick. Besides the degree of formality also influences Mckee’s statement. Mckee uses formal language to Nick, because it’s the first time for Mckee to meet Nick. Mckee shows high formality in her expression and she keeps her utterance in a polite way.
-
d. Modesty maxim
TOM : So, Nick, Daisy tells me that you're over in West Egg. throwing your lot in with those social-climbing primitive new money types.
NICK : My little shack's just a cardboard box at 80 per month.
From the Nick’s expression, he is very modest. He says that his house is just a cardboard box. Besides he uses the word ‘shack’ to his house. It means that his house is just like the shack. Nick really maximizes dispraise to himself. He applies modesty maxim very well.
The reason why Nick applies politeness maxim is social status. According to Holmes (1992: 149) family background may be source of status independently of wealth. In this situation, the family background of Tom is one of America’s wealthiest families. He was the heir to one of America's wealthiest families, because of that Nick is very modest and speaks politely to Tom.
-
e. Agreement maxim
NICK : I'm going to call Daisy and invite her to tea.
GATSBY : That's all right
NICK :What day would suit you?
GATSBY : I don't want to put you to any trouble.
NICK : Day after tomorrow all right?
GATSBY : Day after tomorrow?Well
Nick asked Gatsby about when he has free time for tea. Gatsby agrees with Nick’s suggestion if it is the day after tomorrow. Gatsby agrees by saying “well”. Gatsby follows a simple agreement maxim.
The factor of Gatsby’s stataement is the context of situation (topic). They were talked about free time for tea and Gatsby answer Nick’s question in a polite way. Besides Nick is Gatsby’s friendship, Gatsby didn’t want to put Nick to any trouble. Gatsby tries to be nice.
-
f. Sympathy maxim
Meyer: What a gentleman. From one of the finest families in the Midwest.
Sadly, all dead now.
Meyer’s expression shows the sympathy to Gatsby because Gatsby’s parents have passed away and now he live alone. Meyer feels pity for Gatsby because Gatsby doesn’t have family now. Meyer is following the sympathy maxim well.
The factor of Meyer’s expression applied politeness is the context of situation (relation between participant). Meyer has the close relation with Gatsby. He wants to maximize his friendship by showing sympathy to Gatsby.
Based on the analysis and discussion of the previous chapter, the following points can be drawn as the conclusion of this study. There are six types of maxims of politeness that can be found in movie the great gatsby. Those are: Tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim and sympathy maxim.
There are some factors that influence politeness maxims used by the characters in movie “the great gatsby”. Those are: context of situation of participant, context of situation of setting, context of situation of function, context of situation of topic, social status, age, kinship terms and the degree of formality.
Anonim. 2013. The Transcript of the Great Gatsby (cited on 2013 November 2 nd)
Available from: http://subscene.com/subtitles/the-great-
gatsby2013/english/769949
Holmes, Janet. 1992. An introduction to sociolinguistics. London: Longman Group UK Limited
Leech, G.N. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics, London: Longman.
Wardhaugh, Ronald. 1986. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. New York: Basil Blackwell Inc
Discussion and feedback