Can humour and politeness be combined?

Analysis of the series 'Friends'

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Drama, Anthologies
Cover of the book Can humour and politeness be combined? by Steffanie Bauer, GRIN Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Steffanie Bauer ISBN: 9783640677122
Publisher: GRIN Publishing Publication: August 6, 2010
Imprint: GRIN Publishing Language: English
Author: Steffanie Bauer
ISBN: 9783640677122
Publisher: GRIN Publishing
Publication: August 6, 2010
Imprint: GRIN Publishing
Language: English

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,7, Bielefeld University, language: English, abstract: Introduction This paper deals with an analysis of one episode of the American comedy series Friends and the question whether the constructed conversation used there can be regarded as polite or not. Since this series is very comic, I will look at how politeness and comedy can be combined. Concerning the notion of politeness, I will mainly stick to the theories of Brown and Levinson and Goffman, give brief summaries of their theories and discuss whether the characters in Friends violate the rules mentioned there in order to gain laughter from the audience. I have chosen one single episode and will look deeply at several smaller parts of it in order to answer the question if humour can be used with polite behaviour or if they are not able to coexist. My thesis is that, if you are strict in keeping the rules, is not possible to be polite and funny at the same time because funny utterances can only occur in cases of violation of politeness rules. I will not give a film analysis in this paper. I took the script of this episode and watched it in order to see where laughter is supposed to come, that means to see which phrases are supposed to be funny. These passages are marked in the script (which can be found in the appendix) by an asterisk.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,7, Bielefeld University, language: English, abstract: Introduction This paper deals with an analysis of one episode of the American comedy series Friends and the question whether the constructed conversation used there can be regarded as polite or not. Since this series is very comic, I will look at how politeness and comedy can be combined. Concerning the notion of politeness, I will mainly stick to the theories of Brown and Levinson and Goffman, give brief summaries of their theories and discuss whether the characters in Friends violate the rules mentioned there in order to gain laughter from the audience. I have chosen one single episode and will look deeply at several smaller parts of it in order to answer the question if humour can be used with polite behaviour or if they are not able to coexist. My thesis is that, if you are strict in keeping the rules, is not possible to be polite and funny at the same time because funny utterances can only occur in cases of violation of politeness rules. I will not give a film analysis in this paper. I took the script of this episode and watched it in order to see where laughter is supposed to come, that means to see which phrases are supposed to be funny. These passages are marked in the script (which can be found in the appendix) by an asterisk.

More books from GRIN Publishing

Cover of the book Multinational corporation and third world development by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book The EU External Relations after the Lisbon Treaty by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book Energy Efficiency of Server Grids by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book Die Urmonotheismustheorie von Pater Wilhelm Schmidt by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book Social Networks & Social Network Analysis in Companies by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book From Sudan to Suomi by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book Beendigung eines Syndikatsvertrages by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book Physician-assisted suicide in the United States by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book Recent Trends in English Word-Formation by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book Organizational behaviour. Google corporate culture in perspective by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book Cooperative Learning and Metacognitive Instruction by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book Solving the EU's democratic deficit through direct democratic veto rights? A critical assessment of Heidrun Abromeit's concept by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book Mass media in the 1920s by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book The Novel 'Tsotsi' and its Adaptation on Film by Steffanie Bauer
Cover of the book Implementing New Information Technology: Dealing with Management and Employee Rejection by Steffanie Bauer
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy