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4 - Compliments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

Carmen Fought
Affiliation:
Pitzer College, Claremont
Karen Eisenhauer
Affiliation:
North Carolina State University
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Summary

This chapter begins the sociolinguistic journey of the book, focusing on quantitative analysis of compliments alongside more detail-oriented qualitative analysis. Compliments, as a speech act, work to attribute ‘goods’ to others and thus naturally carries larger value judgments about what a society views as ‘good.’ Compliments in childrens’ movies likewise act as a lens to reveal what the filmmakers consider worthy of praise in their characters — and importantly, whether that varies by gender. In Disney and Pixar films, compliment giving is not presented as particularly gendered but receiving compliments skews towards female recipients. Qualitatively, female characters on-screen together are portrayed as using compliments as a routine politeness strategy and female villains use the guise of this practice to hide more nefarious purposes. This chapter also finds some tentative initial evidence linking femininity and politeness. While compliments are used by both male and female characters, the female characters use compliments as a routine politeness or rapport-building strategy, whereas male characters complimenting another outside task-based settings is less routine, and at times even framed as a climatically “big deal.” This suggests that although characters of either gender can compliment, compliments as a routine politeness strategy is still associated more closely with femininity.

Type
Chapter
Information
Language and Gender in Children's Animated Films
Exploring Disney and Pixar
, pp. 76 - 104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Compliments
  • Carmen Fought, Pitzer College, Claremont, Karen Eisenhauer, North Carolina State University
  • Book: Language and Gender in Children's Animated Films
  • Online publication: 01 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108894586.005
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  • Compliments
  • Carmen Fought, Pitzer College, Claremont, Karen Eisenhauer, North Carolina State University
  • Book: Language and Gender in Children's Animated Films
  • Online publication: 01 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108894586.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Compliments
  • Carmen Fought, Pitzer College, Claremont, Karen Eisenhauer, North Carolina State University
  • Book: Language and Gender in Children's Animated Films
  • Online publication: 01 September 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108894586.005
Available formats
×