A Pragmatic Study of Gratitude Representations in Selected American Film

Abstract

Through respectful communication, gratitude is a key pragmatic phenomena that fosters social peace and improves interpersonal relationships. This study examines how gratitude tactics are realized and how they relate to politeness methods in a few lines from Denzel Washington's 2016 film Fences. The study's analytical approach is based on Brown and Levinson's (1987) Politeness Theory and Cheng's (2005) taxonomy of gratitude techniques. It seeks to discover the gratitude tactics utilized in the chosen data, look at the politeness strategies that go along with them, and find out which strategies are more commonly used. Four movie excerpts were subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Only two gratitude techniques thanking and positive feeling are used equally. In terms of politeness, the most common method is Positive Politeness, which is followed by Bald-on Record and Negative Politeness. The Off-Record strategy is not used. The results show that gratitude is conveyed in both direct and indirect ways and is mostly used to show appreciation and improve connections with others. The study comes to the conclusion that politeness and gratitude are strongly related and work together to sustain harmonious and successful communication in cinematic discourse.