32 showed how Christine’s utterances were answered irrelevantly by Tony Stark. The
answer implied that he did not know the relationship between him and Da Vinci. He just worked to continue his fathers dream. Moreover, in the last answer, he
just uttered “That’s not bad”. Tony Stark committed the action of implying a meaning beyond and certainly he did not like the nickname, especially for the
The Merchant of Death Evidently, Tony Stark was the one who mostly flouted the utterances based
on the maxim of relevance. He applied it to show urgency, flattery, efficiency and effectiveness in speaking. “Id be prepared to lose a few with you” The statement
was used to seduce Christine. He also flouted the maxim of relevant to imply her for joining with him in his house. In another scene, Tony Stark felt annoyed and
was angry with Obadiah. It was because he did not attend the award ceremony to meet him and suddenly come to take his burger. Tony Stark uttered the maxim of
relevance by stating, “Theres only one left” His utterance was intended to not give it because it was the last one. Tony Stark showed there is an effective way to
communicate which we all accept as standard behavior. The maxim of relevance was often applied by Tony Stark in his
conversations as shown in dialogue 1 and 2. Table 4.2 presents the number of utterances based on maxim of relevance produced by each character. There were
totally forty four utterances. It was the first most maxims of conversation by the characters in Iron Man Movie.
33
Table 4.2: Utterances Based on Maxim of Relevance Produced by the Characters
Character Maxim of Relevance
Tony Stark 28 times
Pepper Potts 6 times
Colonel 2 times
Obadiah 4 times
J.A.R.V.I.S. 4 times
TOTAL 44
Of the five characters in the movie, five of them – Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Colonel, Obadiah, and J.A.R.V.I.S. produced some utterances based on
maxim of relevance in their dialogues. There were two utterances of Colonel concerning with maxim of relevance. He used it less frequently than the other
characters, because he never intended to surprise his addressees. He produced two statements only on maxim of relevance to show welcomes and efficiency in
speaking. Obadiah and J.A.R.V.I.S produced the utterances concerning with the maxim of relevance four times. Pepper Potts was involved in the dialogues and
mentioning maxim of relevance six times. Tony Stark was involved as many as twenty eight times. Thus, Tony Stark contributed more utterances based on
maxim of relevance in the dialogues. He uttered to apply the maxim of relevance more than the others because he was the one who mostly appeared in the movie.
He applied maxim of relevance to show urgency, flattery, efficiency and effectiveness way in speaking.
2. Utterances Based on Maxim of Quantity
According to Grice 1989, there are two specific maxims of quantity in conversation. The first one is about the contribution which provides information
than is required. The second one is the contribution that provides more
34 information than is required. On the other hand, this maxim deals with the amount
of information that is given by the speaker in conversation. This maxim of quantity frequently happens when the speaker aims to make an effective
conversation. Maxim of quantity was frequently used by some characters in the Iron Man
movie. Those characters are Tony Stark, Lt. Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Obadiah, Pepper Potts, and J.A.R.V.I.S who use the utterances based on maxim of
quantity. It was started when Tony Stark wanted to show up his technology in front of the soldier. The soldier tried to keep up and guarded him until the last
destination. On the way to a project of Tony Stark, he attempted to seduce soldiers with his words. Finally, Tony Stark was interviewed by the soldier.
Dialogue 3 Setting
: Desert, Kunar Province, Afghanistan.
Situation :
Guardianship of Tony Stark.
Participants :
Tony Stark and Soldier Soldier
: Is it true you went 12 for 12 with last years Maxim cover models?
Tony Stark : That is an excellent question. Yes and no.
March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately, the Christmas cover was twins. Anything else? Youre kidding
me with the hand up, right?
Soldier : Is it cool if I take a picture with you?
Tony Stark : Yes. Its very cool.
Soldier : All right.
Tony Stark : I dont want to see this on your MySpace page.
Please, no gang signs. No, throw it up. Im kidding. Yeah, peace. I love peace. Id be out of a job with peace.
Tony Stark felt that he was like a stranger in the car. He tried to be friendly with the soldier so that he made a conversation. He attempted to ask the soldier
like and to make a joke or to give them a strange statement. However, the soldiers
35 felt awkward to be near with him. Suddenly, one of the soldiers asked something
that was not relevant to the conversation. The soldier tried to lighten the situation by making a question about maxim cover models. Tony Stark loudly answered
and gave the response like this “That is an excellent question. Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately, the Christmas cover was twins.
Anything else? Youre kidding me with the hand up, right?” Based on the statement, Tony Stark just flouted the maxim of quantity when soldier asked “Is it
true you went 12 for 12 with last years Maxim cover models?” Tony Stark was flouting it by giving the more informative answer. The utterance implied that
Tony Stark just wanted to make a joke, because the soldiers seemed to be so serious in the car.
Tony Stark also employed the maxim of quantity in his conversation with Pepper Potts. It was shown by the intense of maxim of relevance that he had
applied at his conversation previously. After the incident, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts planned to have a vacation. The conversation indicated that the relationship
between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts took a favorable turn as boss and assistance. It was shown by the compliments they gave to one another optimistically.
Dialogue 4 Setting
: Tony Stark’s House Situation
: Pepper Potts was dressing up Tony Stark, before went to
vacation.
Participants :
Tony Stark and Pepper Potts Tony stark
: Tell me you never think about that night. Pepper Potts
: What night? Tony stark
: You know. Pepper Potts
: Are you talking about the night that we danced and went up on the roof,
and then you went downstairs
36 to get me a drink, and you left me there, by myself?
Is that the night youre talking about? Tony Stark
: Mmm-mmm… Pepper Potts
: Thought so. There are two specifications on maxim of quality according to Grice
1989, the first is the contribution is less informative than is required, and second is the contribution is more informative than is required. It was shown by one of
the characters based on the conversation above. Tony Stark was implying something else that had another meaning, especially the maxim of quantity by
giving uninformative answer. When Pepper Potts asked many questions about the night in the party, Tony Stark just uttered “Mmm-mmm…” to answer Pepper’s
question. He did not know what to say when she asked him the question again. This fact showed that she did not understand that Tony Stark was embarrassed
and speechless. He gave less information than what Pepper Potts wanted to know. His answer meant that he knew everything about that night. He just made Pepper
Potts curious and he just tried to entice her. Tony Stark was more selfish as a boss in front of her.
Moreover, based on the data that were calculated in this movie by main characters, Tony Stark was also the one who mostly applied this maxim. He
flouted it to show flattery, amusement, and efficiency in the conversation. Besides, the characters that implied maxim of quantity were Pepper Potts and
Colonel. The example taken from the movie showed the utterance was applied by saying, “Im not part of the press conference, but its about to begin right now”. It
was started when Agent Coulson wanted to ask Pepper Potts, but spontaneously she flouted the statement which implied something. She meant that for now she
37 did not want to be disturbed by everyone, she just focused on her boss so that her
statement really uninformative. In another scene, Tony Stark wanted to know more information about training exercise which was related to the conference.
Colonel just uttered “Its not that simple” He implied the utterance. It is because he wanted to make an effective conversation, and also he would save his secret in
front of many people. Colonel showed that there is an effective way to communicate as standard behavior. Thus, he gave less information than what
Tony stark wanted to know. Based on the utterances, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, and Colonel were
engaged in conversations where they frequently uttered maxim of quantity to each other. However, the total number of the utterances concerning with maxim of
quantity was smaller than the maxim of relevance. Therefore, the least utilized maxim among other maxim of conversation which shown in Iron Man movie was
owing to the fact that statements of friendship and solidarity were rarely shown by the characters. It was also uttered to show the effectiveness in speaking. Table 4.3
shows the number of utterances concerning with utterances based on maxim of quantity.
Table 4.3: Utterances Based on Maxim of Quantity Produced by the Characters
