Email this article Politeness Strategies and Cultural Scripts in the Past Lives Movie: a Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Analysis
Abstract
This study examines how politeness strategies are used and interpreted across cultures in the Past Lives (2023) screenplay. The research addresses the problem of how characters from Korean and American backgrounds express politeness differently based on their cultural values. Using a qualitative descriptive method and purposive sampling, selected dialogue excerpts were analyzed through Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory and Wierzbicka’s cultural scripts framework. The findings reveal that the characters employ various strategies; bald-on-record, positive politeness, negative politeness, and off-record, depending on context, relationship, and cultural background. Hae Sung often uses indirect and deferential strategies, shaped by Korean norms of emotional restraint and relational harmony. In contrast, Nora tends to express herself directly and openly, in line with American cultural scripts that favor autonomy and emotional clarity. Additional data show how teasing, refusal, and naming function as sites of cultural negotiation. The study concludes that politeness is not a universal formula but is deeply influenced by culturally specific expectations about language, identity, and emotional expression.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Bartali, V. (2022). A cross-cultural and
intercultural investigation of request realisation strategies in Italian and British-English and the issue of how culturally-bound understandings of politeness can affect intercultural interactions (Doctoral dissertation, University of Warwick).
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987).
Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press.
Fitri, Z. (2022). A pragmatic analysis of
politeness strategies in Mulan movie. English Education
Journal, 13(2), 185-201. https://jurnal.usk.ac.id/EEJ/article/view/21980
Glotov, S. (2023). Film Literacy and
Intercultural Dialogue. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-03-2771-2
Hu, Z., Ismail, R., & Wang, C. (2024). Identity and cultural allegory amidst the Chinese new era:
Analyzing narrative strategies of the Chinese science fiction film. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1), 2313339.
Handriani, P., Dinata, A. P., Siregar, F. A., & Siregar, D. Y. (2025). Politeness Strategies in Cross-
Cultural Communication: A Pragmatic Approach. Semantik: Jurnal Riset Ilmu Pendidikan, Bahasa dan Budaya, 3(1), 126-132. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2313339
Hennink, M. M. (2008). Language and communication in cross-cultural qualitative research.
In Doing cross-cultural research: Ethical and methodological perspectives (pp. 21-33). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.
Imran, L. O., Moelier, D. D. ., &
Asyrafunnisa, A. (2023). Politeness Strategies Of The Characters In Becoming Jane Movie Script By Kevin Hood And Sarah Willimas. Humaniora: Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Education, 3(2), 84–96. https://doi.org/10.56326/jlle.v3i2.4137
Khasan, O. A. (2024). The Symbolism And Its
Representation Of Meaning In The Film Before Sunrise (1995) (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Islam Sultan Agung Semarang). http://repository.unissula.ac.id/id/eprint/34444
Li, Y., & Wongwaropakorn, W. (2024).
Analyzing politeness and refusal speech acts in popular Chinese television drama series. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1), 2367327. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2367327
Linell, P. (2011). Approaching dialogue:
Talk, interaction and contexts in dialogical perspectives. John Benjamins publishing company.
Mahida, R. G. (2023). Film Tourism In India:
A Cinematic Journey Towards Economic And Cultural Growth. Rising A Journal of Researchrchers, 7(2), 70-80.
McConachy, T., & Spencer-Oatey, H.
(2021). Cross-cultural and intercultural pragmatics. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/135397
Musyafaah, L. A., Yuliasri, I., & Pratama, H.
(2022). Politeness strategies of the main characters of Pride and Prejudice movie. English Education Journal, 12(3), 410–418. http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej
Nelmes, J. (Ed.). (2011). Analysing the
screenplay (pp. 17-20). London: Routledge.
Putri, S., & Fitrawati. (2022). Politeness
strategies of request used in Yes Day (2021) movie. E-Journal of English Language and Literature, 11(4), 523–530. http://ejournal.unp.ac.id/index.php/jell
Rehman, Z., Muhammad Ramzan, R., &
Fatima Alvi, S. (2025). Pragmatic Failure And Misunderstanding In Intercultural Communication: A Theoretical Analysis. International Premier Journal of Languages & Literature, 3(2), 175-188. https://ipjll.com/ipjll/index.php/journal/article/view/95
Scher, L. (2011). Reading screenplays: how
to analyse and evaluate film scripts. Oldcastle Books.
Sulalah, A. (2025). Cross-cultural pragmatic
analysis of politeness strategies used by the Australian and Indian characters in Lion. Lire Journal: Journal of Linguistics and Literature, 9(1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.33019/lire.v9i1.388
Vaishnav, P. (2025). Thinking Through
Language: Revisiting Linguistic Relativity in Cross-Cultural Communication. Available at SSRN 5240999. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5240999
Wierzbicka, A. (1991). Cross-cultural
pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction. Mouton de Gruyter.
Wierzbicka, A. (2003). Pragmatic and
cultural values: The cultural scripts approach. In C.
Christie (Ed.), Contemporary approaches to
pragmatics (pp. 92–135). Palgrave Macmilla
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26499/surbet.v20i2.30846
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.