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Another example of intangible gift was demonstrated by Carl. This was in the conversation between Carl and Allison when they were secretly at the
Hollywood an open stage. They were talking about their job and what made them happy in their life. Dialogue 7 shows the scene where that event happened. The
sub- strategy is labeled with ‘PP’.
Dialogue 7 Time
: 00:58:25
– 00:59:00
Setting :
Hollywood Bowl an open stage
Situation :
Carl and Allison are talking about their life.
Participants : Carl and Allison
Carl :
How many people can this place even hold?.
Allison :
I think 17.000.
Carl :
So each one of us invites …cut by Allison
Allison : No need. I know our music isnt that mainstream, but I love doing it.
Its like my photography. I know there isnt much demand for blurry pho
tos taken while running, but … not finishing her words
Carl :
I wasnt going to say anything.
Allison : You know, who cares? The world is a playground. You know that
when youre a kid, but somewhere along the way everyone forgets it.
Carl :
I love your music. PP In dialogue 7, Allison explained that her music was not that mainstream.
In responding that, Car l said, “I love your music”. Carl showed an admiration to
the thing possessed by Allison. By doing that, Carl gave the intangible gift and he cared for Allison’s positive face.
2. Negative Politeness
Negative politeness is a strategy that is addressed to hearer’s negative face.
It focuses on redressing an action that contains threat to hearer’s negative face. Negative politeness demonstrates the function of a redressive action in
minimizing the imposition of an FTA that is unavoidable. Negative face is on e’s
desire of being not imposed or the desire of freedom to act. Thus, negative
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politeness is the way a speaker minimizes the imposition addressed to that desire. Negative politeness is also the way to maximize the social distance and it is
generally used to put a social brake in the interaction. The negative politeness was used by all of the characters. The strategy was
used when the characters were aware that the action they were about to do was kind of threat to the hearers’ negative face. As an example, the strategy was
demonstrated when the characters were about to ask or to order something from the hearer. There were 5 mechanisms of negative politeness namely being direct,
avoiding presumptionassumption,
avoiding coercion
to the
hearer, communicating
speaker’s want to not impinge on hearer and redressing other wants of hearer’s. However, the last two strategies were not found in the movie.
The most apparent sub-strategies of those 3 mechanisms were being conventionally indirect, using questions and minimizing imposition.
Conventional indirectness is the way of conveying thing which has meaning more than or different from what it literally means. One of the examples
of this strategy was demonstrated in the scene where Carl and Peter were in the bar with Roney, their best friend. Carl was apologizing for not wanting to see
them in the past few months. Carl was also explaining that at the time he was in a ‘yes’ program that required him to say yes to anything that came to him. Peter saw
this as an opportunity to get another drink. He knew that when Carl was asked to pay for the bill, he would not say no. Once the waitress passed by, Peter asked for
another round of drinks. Dialogue 8 shows how the conversation was. The label ‘NP’ indicates the negative politeness.
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Dialogue 8 Time
: 00:30:53
– 00:31:33
Setting :
Bar
Situation :
Carl is apologizing and explaining his situation now.
Participants : Carl and Peter
Carl :
I have been such a dick and a douche. More of a douche than a dick probably. Im sorry. I should have been there. I mean really.
Peter :
Youre preaching to the choir, Carl.
Carl :
Im telling you man. Things are different.
Peter :
So wait, you have to say yes to everything? Carl
:
Yeah, exactly. Its like you said, I wasnt open to stuff, and now that I am, things are changing for me. Its like the era of yes has begun.
Peter :
Alright. Look, if it gets you out of the house Im all for it. See the waitress is passing by excuse me. Can we get another round of drinks?
NP Actually, were going to start a tab, and our good friend here, Carl Allen, will be taking care of it. Youre okay with that right buddy?
Carl :
Yes, yes I am. In dialogue 8
, Peter said, “Can we get another round of drinks?” to the waitress. This question was kind of conventional indirectness. When Peter asked
that question to the waitress, he did not mean to ask about their ability of getting another round of drinks. The question conveyed something more than its literal
meaning. What Peter actually meant by asking that was an order for the waitress to bring another round of drinks. By doing that, Peter redressed the threat to the
negative face that was carried within the actual message. Presuming and assuming the wants of the hearer are the things that have to
be avoided in negative politeness strategy. Avoiding those two are the mechanisms of negative politeness. The sub-strategy of this mechanism that
frequently demonstrated in the movie was the use of question. One of the examples of the use of question was in the scene where Carl brought a lot of
oranges and he gave it to his clients in the bank. There was a long queue in front of his office. He greeted the clients and began to give the oranges to some clients
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in the front line. After he gave the oranges to some clients, he gave the basket of oranges to a client
and he said, “Pass those out, will you?” Carl demonstrated the avoidance of presuming and assuming by that. He did not presume or assume that
the hearer might want to do that but he asked the hearer and gave the hearer option instead. Therefore, the hearer could choose to do the act that was asked by
Carl or not and in other word, the infringement toward the hearer autonomy was lowered.
The last mechanism of negative politeness found in the movie was avoiding coercion to the hearer. One of the sub-strategies of this mechanism is
minimizing the imposition of the FTA directed to the hearer’s negative face. This was accomplished by demonstrating euphemism. The scene where Peter was in
the office and Norman suddenly called him showed the demonstration of euphemism. Carl was in his office talking to Lee, his best friend that wanted to get
a loan. Norman came in because the guy from the corporate came to see Carl. Dialogue 9 shows how the conversation was. The negative politeness is labeled
with ‘NP’.
Dialogue 9 Time
: 00:59:41
– 00:59:50
Setting :
Brea Federal Savings and Loan office
Situation :
Carl and Lee are having a conversation when Norman suddenly comes.
Participants :
Carl, Lee and Norman
Carl :
Walks into the room and sees Lee is there Lee?
Lee :
Hey.
Carl :
What up? My brizzo? Sees Lee’s upset face That is not right, is it?
Norman:
Comes in the office Carl, I need you for a second. NP
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In dialogue 9 Norman said, “Carl, I need you for a second.” By saying that,
Norman minimized the imposition of the FTA he made. The action of asking Carl to go with him was the threat to Carl’s negative face. It threatened Carl’s
autonomy. The ‘for a second’ was the euphemism used by Norman to reduce the threat of the FTA.
3. Bald on Record
