Politeness Strategies Found in the Movie Mr. Popper’s Penguins
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ISSN: 2302-920X
Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Unud
Vol 18.2 Pebruari 2017: 211-218
Politeness Strategies Found in the Movie Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Ni Kadek Dwik Yuvita Sari1*, I Wayan Resen2, I Gusti Agung Istri Aryani3 English Department – Faculty Of Arts – Udayana University
*Corresponding Author
Abstrak
Penelitian ini berjudul “Politeness Strategies Found in the Movie Mr. Popperʼs Penguins”. Adapun tujuan dari penelitian ini yakni, untuk mengidentifikasi jenis dari Strategi Kesopanan yang ditemukan di dalam film Mr.Popperʼs Penguins, dan untuk menganalisa faktor yang mempengaruhi pemilihan strategi oleh pembicara di dalam film Mr.Popperʼs Penguins.
Sumber data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini diambil dari percakapan antara karakter yang terdapat di dalam film Mr.Popperʼs Penguins, yang mana dalam hal ini menggunakan metode dokumentasi, serta mencatat data yang telah didapat sebelumnya. Dalam penelitian ini, untuk menganalisa jenis strategi kesopanan yang ditemukan didalam film, serta untuk mengidentifikasi faktor yang dapat mempengaruhi pemilihan strategi diterapkan teori yang dikemukakan oleh Brown dan Levinson (1987).
Berdasarkan teori yang telah disebutkan diatas, terdapat empat jenis strategi kesopanan yang ditemukan didalam film Mr.Popperʼs Penguins, diantaranya strategi bald on record, kesopanan positif, kesopanan negatif, dan strategi off record. Terdapat dua jenis strategi bald on record yang ditemukan didalam film, sembilan strategi pada kesopanan positif, dan hanya lima strategi kesopanan negatif yang dapat ditemukan. Sementara terdapat tiga jenis strategi off record yang ditemukan pada film ini. Selain jenis strategi kesopanan, adapun beberapa faktor yang muncul didalam film, yakni faktor payoffs, dan faktor keadaan.
Kata kunci: Strategi Kesopanan, Film, Pembicara
Communication is a process of sending and receiving messages or information between two people or a group which has function as a tool to interact with others. Communication usually begins with a conversation which includes the speaker and hearer as the main participants in it. One way of making a good conversation with each other is by applying politeness.
Brown and Levinson (1978) state that politeness is a complex system for face threats. In this case, when the speaker and hearer are interacting with each other, they should be aware of people’s face in order to maintain relationship with others. Politeness strategies are developed for the main purpose of dealing with
FTA (Face Threatening Acts). The strategies of politeness means the use of words or sentences that speaker and hearer choose in doing a conversation.
The use of politeness strategies can be influenced by some factors. According to Brown and Levinson (1987), there are two factors that influence the choice of strategies, they are the payoffs (a priori consideration, and the circumstances (sociological variables). Politeness is not only found in daily life, but it can also found in the movie. Movie is one of the media which is made as the reflection of the real life itself, and also shows many things in it. The characters which appear in a movie are the characters as the speaker, and another character as the hearer.
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a. What types of politeness strategies are found in the movie Mr.Popperʼs Penguins?
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b. What factors influence the choice of strategies used by the speaker in the movie Mr. Popperʼs Penguins?
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a. To identify the types of politeness strategies found in the movie Mr. Popperʼs Penguins.
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b. To analyze the factors that influence the choice of strategies used by the speaker in the movie Mr. Popperʼs Penguins.
The data to support of this study were taken from a movie entitled Mr. Popperʼs Penguins written by Sean Anders, which is distributed by Twentieth Century Fox, and released on June, 17, 2011 in the United States. Documentation method was used in this study, and the process of collecting the data was done by watching the movie and reading the movie script and underlining the sentence which could be considered types of politeness strategies. Descriptive qualitative method was used in this study; the data were analyzed using the theory proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987:96).
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5. Analysis
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a. Cases of non-minimization of the face threat
Example: “Whatever it is, I’m here for you, sweetie”.
In the scene, their conversation took place in the Popper’s apartment, and this conversation occured after Janie received the message from someone, known as Cooper Keegan. Cooper Keegan is the boy whom Janie liked. Before this scene , actually Janie was angry and disappointed with his father, because she thought that her father did not care with her condition at that time. Their relation is close one; Janie as Popper’s daughter. The sentence above can be categorized into (sympathetic advice or warning), which refers to show the way the speaker of being respectful to the hearer. This sentence shows that the speaker, Popper, cares about the hearer’s condition. In this case, as a father, Popper gave advice to his daughter to remind her that she’s not alone when facing the problems.
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b. Cases of FTA-oriented Bald on Record Usage
Example: “Come on, Janie”
The sentence above is from the scene of this movie which took place in a park near the Popper’s apartment. Janie chose to sit in the park, while waiting for her father and brother playing with their penguins. When the speaker (Popper) was saying the sentence above, it was considered bald on record usage (inviting). This strategy can be expressed by the speaker in the form of imperative, such as invitations. Then, when Popper used the phrase “come on”, it can be seen that the speaker insisted that the hearer was playing with him and, in this case, his utterance is in the form of invitation. From his utterance, there was a factor which influenced it, namely their relation as family members.
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a. Strategy 1: Notice, attend to H (his interest, wants, needs, goods) Example: “Wow. You actually look beautiful
This conversation took place in a boutique where Janie bought a dress. In the scene, Janie got an invitation from her friend to come to the snowball dance, so she went to a boutique with her dad, and also her brother to get a beautiful dress. While waiting for Janie to choose a dress, Billy and his father sat on the sofa in the
boutique. At that time, Janie put on her dress, and made Billy and his father very amazed to see her appearance. The sentence above can be categorized as the strategy ‘notice’ or ‘attend to H’. The thing under the speaker’s notice or being attended to was the hearer’s goods, namely Janie’s dress. In this case, Billy’s utterance showed the manner how the speaker was maintaining or satisfying the hearer’s wants or interest. In this situation, their relation is close, where Billy is Janie’s brother.
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b. Strategy 2: Exaggerate ( interest, approval, sympathy with H )
Example: “No little ones this weekend, Mr. P ?”
This conversation took place in the apartment. The speaker (Daryl) was a receptionist in the apartment where the Mr. Popper stayed. At that time, Daryl saw that Mr. Popper came without his children to the apartment. In the scene, indirectly Daryl wanted to know where the Mr. Popper’s children were by saying “no little ones this weekend, Mr. P?”, which shows how the speaker gave his sympathy to the hearer. From the conversation above, their relation is not close.
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a. Strategy 5: Give deference
Example: “Please, sir, can we just say goodbye”?
Their conversation took place in the zoo, exactly in Nat Jones’s office. The participants are Billy and Nat Jones. Billy came to the zoo with his family to see the condition of their penguins. In Billy’s utterance it can be seen that there is a difference of social distance between the speaker and hearer, and also show that how the relation between them is not close. In order to satisfy the hearer’s face want to be treated as superior, Billy was giving the deference to hearer, Nat Jones, using the words “sir” in his utterance. At the same time, he also used the word “please” to smoothen his utterance.
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b. Strategy 6: Apologize
Example:”Mr. Popper, sorry to waste your time, but I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to sell”.
This conversation occured in Mr.Gremmin’s office. The participants Mr.Gremmins, Popper, and his assitant. In the movie, Popper and Mr.Gremmins are
actually business partners before Mr.Gremmins decided his cooperation. Popper and his assitant came to Mr.Gremmin’s office and wanted to present his paperwork and give something for Mr.Gremmins. But, at that time, he was saying the sentence above and wanted to decide his cooperation with the hearer without selling his building. By saying this sentence, the speaker tried to maintain the hearer’s feeling.
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a. Strategy 2: Give association clues
Example: “Can we come over again tomorrow night?”
Their conversation took place in an outside apartment; in this situation Billy would be back to Amanda’s house. Before this scene, Billy and his family spent time together celebrating his birthday. Billy was shocked after seeing some penguins in the apartment, and he thought that his father gave the penguins as his birthday’s gift. In the conversation above, Billy’s utterance referred to indirect request of the speaker for the hearer at that time. In order to give clues for the hearer, the speaker was saying the sentence above, which means that Billy actually wanted to come to the apartment so that he could see the penguins and played with them.
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a. By going on record
Example: Whatever it is, I’m here for you, sweetie
The factor of payoffs was used by the speaker, Popper. Before this scene, Janie was actually angry with his father and thought that his father did not care with her. At that time, to maintain the hearer’s feeling, Popper tried to give an advice for his daughter, Janie, by saying the sentence above. In this case, the speaker could also avoid any misunderstanding that might occur in the scene.
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b. By going on positive politeness
Example: Wow. You actually look beautiful
This sentence can be categorized as a notice to H which refers to the hearer’s goods. In the conversation the speaker, Billy, wanted to satisfy the hearer’s feeling and convince the hearer, Janie, whom he considered ‘the same kind’, meaning that he liked her wants.
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c. By going on negative politeness
Example: Please, sir can we just say goodbye?
“please, sir” is categorized as the strategy of negative politeness, namely giving deference. In this scene, the speaker (Billy) wanted to see the condition of their penguins in the zoo. He used the word “sir”, in his utterance showing that Billy was being polite with hearer, Nat Jones. In other words, by giving deference, he could maintain the social distance between the hearer.
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d. By going on off record
Example: It’s too late, we’ve lost him. Popper, you’re fired (6)
This sentence was said by the speaker Franklin. In the scene, Franklin was angry with and felt doubtful to the hearer, Popper. However, the speaker (Franklin) could be responsible for the potential face damaging on the part of the hearer. In this case, although the speaker (Franklin) gave a bad statement to the hearer (Popper), Popper was able to maintain his positive face and give a positive response to the speaker.
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a. Social distance
Example: “Look, sweetheart”.
The word sweetheart which was said by the speaker (Popper) could be
influenced by the factor of social distance, which, in this case, the social distance or close relationship between the speaker and hearer .
b. Relative power
Example: Daryl Popper Daryl
: No little ones this weekend, Mr. P ?
: No, Daryl. They don’t like me right now.
: Well, I like you, sir.
In this conversation there was a difference of position between the speaker and hearer in it. In the scene, Daryl played as receptionist in the apartment where the hearer, Popper, stayed. . In order to be polite with the hearer, Popper saied the sentence above. From Daryl’s utterance, it can be seen that the speaker, Popper, had higher position than him.
Based on the result of the discussion and data analysis, the conclusion can be presented as follows. In the movie Mr. Popperʼs Penguins four types of Politeness Strategies were found. The first strategy was bald on record politeness; two types of the strategies were found. There are 9 strategies of Positive Politeness found in this movie, the strategies of Negative Politeness include only 5 strategies, and the last strategy was Off Record Politeness, which in this case include 3 strategies .
Furthermore, in this movie several factors that influence the choice of strategies were found. They are payoffs (a priori consideration), and the circumstance (sociological variables). From the data mentioned above, it can be concluded that the politeness strategies and the factor that influence the choice of strategies are relations among the characters.
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