Genderlects in Film:
by Michi Saki (Ryukoku University)
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Abstract |
This paper talks about how gender plays a major role in how men and women communicate with each other. The American film "The War of the Roses" (1989)
is examined in terms of the ways in which the male and female characters are represented in terms of both linguistic and non-linguistic features.
It also examines the communicative approaches and textual features reflected in the characters' speech and non-verbal actions. Keywords: genderlects, communication styles, discourse analysis, dominance, contemporary American gender roles ![]() |
[ p. 70 ]
If women speak and hear a language of connection and intimacy, men speak and hear a language of status and interdependence, then communication between men and women can be like cross-cultural communication, prey to a clash of conversational styles. Instead of different dialects, it has been said they speak different genderlects. (p. 42)If this is so, it may be worth analyzing some types of communicative approaches and textual features used by men and women in order to understand their complex social relationships and how their distinctive gender identities are reflected in their speech.
"… gender involves not just features of observable behaviour, but our whole way of regarding ourselves as male and female. This includes ways of behaving as well as relating to others and ourselves." |
[ p. 71 ]
.. men who approach conversation as a contest are likely to expend effort not to support the other's talk but to lead the conversation in another direction, perhaps one in which they can take centre stage by telling a story or joke or displaying knowledge. But in doing so, they expect their conversational partners to mount resistance. Women who yield to these efforts do so not because they are weak or insecure or differential, but because they have little experience in deflecting attempts to grab the conversational wheel. (p.125)
…interruptions are violations of the turn-taking rules of conversation. The next speaker begins to speak while the current speaker is still speaking, at a point in current speaker's turn, which could not be defined as the last word. Interruptions break the symmetry of the conversational model: the interrupter prevents the speaker from finishing their turn, at the same time gaining a turn for themselves.
[ p. 72 ]
[ p. 73 ]
32) (Elke takes a bite of the food and smiles seductively across the table to Gavin. Through the glass table top, we can see Elke's foot stretching underneath the table, nuzzling into Gavin's crotch. Gavin reacts. Barbara notices Gavin's reaction.)
81) (…Carolyn, wearing an ice-skating outfit holds a pair of ice-skates over her shoulder.) 82) (…Josh, wearing a soccer uniform, gets out of the Volvo.)
[ p. 74 ]
24) OLIVER: (to Carolyn, with a kissing sound) Good night, sweetheart. 26) OLIVER: (to Josh) Good night, buddy.
9) MR DELL: Hell of a litigation.
52) (Mr. Marshall suddenly slams his palm on the table, startling everyone. Mr. Marshall leans over to Mr. Dell.) 53) MR. MARSHALL: Then we are paying our associates too much! (The guests laugh)
[ p. 75 ]
125) BARBARA: So I asked her if she really meant it and she said she did … so I took a pound over to her and collected thirty-five dollars. I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to make money. 126) OLIVER: You sold liver to our friends?
127) BARBARA: She paid me in cash, Oliver. Somehow that … felt different from the money I get cashing a check. It made me feel like … trading in the Volvo for one of those … four wheel-drive things with the big, knobby tires and the two-hundred horsepower engine. So I did … I'm gonna pick it up tomorrow. 127) OLIVER: Thank you so much for telling me. Uh … and you think that you … need this? I mean, a Volvo is a fine car.
[ p. 76 ]
56) BARBARA: Well, we were in Paris … 57) OLIVER: (interrupting) It was our fifth anniversary. 58) BARBARA: We just had lunch in this wonderful little place in the market district called the Paday Cushon. 59) OLIVER: (correcting her pronunciation) Pied de Cochon. 60) BARBARA: Thanks. We were wandering around and we came upon the … 61) …… Well, I looked at Oliver and Oliver looked at me, (chuckles) and then … Oh, no. (Oliver shakes his head wearily.) 62) BARBARA: Well, before that there was this big black limousine out on the street. Now, now, this is important. Well, actually, before the limousine … 63) OLIVER: (interrupting) To make a long story short, a wealthy French couple had ordered a special design for their anniversary. By the time it was ready, they were getting a divorce. So the women smashed her half and I convinced the man to sell us his half cheap just to spite her.
[ p. 77 ]
2) her non-assertiveness in telling her husband Oliver her ideas of starting her own catering business, as this exchange illustrates:
69) … It was so … so … pretty. I mean, I felt … whatever the word. (chuckles nervously)
3) her uneasiness in moving into a very large and beautiful house, as this snippet attests:
119) BARBARA: Excuse me, you working? 120) OLIVER: Yes. Is it important? 121) BARBARA: Yes. Kind of. I hope so.
4) her concerns about hiring a live-in maid to take care of her most prized and valued possessions, being her home as this pronouncement bears out:
106) BARBARA: Well, I just feel kind of strange. I mean, this house is so beautiful…and we live here.
150) BARBARA: The fact is, Susan, I don't need a live-in. This was my husband's suggestion. I mean, I have raised two kids on my own and now they're about to go off to college. They were both accepted at Harvard.
Character | Hedge | # of Occurrences |
Barbara | well | 6 |
I mean | 4 | |
kind of | 3 | |
maybe | 2 | |
I hope so | 1 |
[ p. 78 ]
48) MRS. MARSHALL: … Your crystal is lovely.
88) MAUREEN: Hello. 89) BARBARA: Oh, I was just leaving. 90) MAUREEN: How kind. Please, won't you come in? 90) BARBARA: All right. 94) MAUREEN: I don't believe we've met.
146) BARBARA: Somehow the thought of a stranger living in my house just seems weird, you know? Doesn't it? I don't mean just for us, but for you, too. Oh, but then I guess you do this all the time. 147) SUSAN: No, no. I try this as a means of finding room and board and a little money. I'm also attending a few classes at William and Mary College. But that won't interfere with my duties. 148) BARBARA: Well, that's great. I'm happy for you, really. 149) SUSAN: So do I get the job? 150) BARBARA: The fact is, Susan, I don't need a live-in. This was my husband's suggestion. I mean, I have raised two kids on my own and now they're about to go off to college. They were both accepted at Harvard. 151) SUSAN: Hmm, that's a nice school, too.
[ p. 79 ]
Speaker | Line | Question | Functions | |
Mrs. Marshall | 151) |
Oh my. Whatever flavour is this? No, don't tell me. Let me think now. It isn't apples. |
◌ to invite other speakers to participate in a conversation ◌ to politely facilitate an addressee's entrance into a conversation |
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50) | It's not Waterford? | ◌ to invite other speakers to participate in a conversation ◌ to politely facilitate an addressee's entrance into a conversation |
||
Barbara | 60) |
Oh my. Whatever flavour is this? You know, the kind with the raised flowers that always chip after a couple of weeks, hmm? And they were always yellow, too, remember? |
◌ to ascertain that what is being said is acceptable to the addressee | |
106) | Well, I feel kind of strange. I mean, this house is so beautiful…and we live here. This is who we are? This is me? | ◌ to express uncertainty | ||
146) | Somehow the thought of a stranger living in my house just seems weird, you know? Doesn't it? | ◌ tag questions used to 1) express uncertainty, 2) reflect concern for the addressee's feelings, and 3) check that what is being said is acceptable to the addressee | ||
156) | You would be this new element in the house, you see? | ◌ to reflect concern for the addressee's feelings. ◌ to check that what is being said is acceptable to the addressee |
"Barbara's character throughout the movie can be interpreted in terms of Coates' (1993) 'difference approach,' in which both the feminine and masculine characteristics appear to belong to different subcultures altogether." |
[ p. 80 ]
The screenwriter, Michael Leeson, may have purposely cast these characters in traditional roles in order to build up the story towards its climax, which portrays a shocking and ugly battle of the sexes. It may be argued that Barbara's character throughout the movie can be interpreted in terms of Coates' (1993) theory of a "difference approach," in which both the feminine and masculine characteristics appear to belong to different subcultures altogether.[ p. 81 ]