Flouting and hedging maxims in “Kung Fu Panda” movie

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on analyzing flouting and Hedging maxims of conversational maxims spoken by the main character in the movie of Kung Fu Panda. Maxims are the rules of cooperative principle: Maxims of Quality, Maxims of Quantity, Maxims of Relevance, and Maxims of Manner. If these maxims are used in the conversation, they can go smoothly, but when people make conversation they often break the maxims overtly (flouting the maxims) and sometimes breaks the maxims secretly (hedging the maxims). The characters (players) especially in movie often flout and hedge the conversation. Based on that background, the researcher about flouting and hedging maxims of conversation in the movie of Kung Fu Panda was conducted with the following problem: what maxims are flouted and hedged in the Movie of Kung Fu Panda?

This research was conducted using descriptive qualitative research based on the theory known as Grice’s Maxims theory, specifically in Cooperative Principles. Descriptive qualitative method is chosen because this research deals with words not number. Besides, the data were described descriptively in the form of conversation from the characters based on the Grice’s theory of Cooperative Principle, what and how the maxims are flouted and hedged in the Kung Fu Panda Movie.

Data analysis revealed some findings covering the formulated research question. The maxims could be flouted or hedged by all speakers. There are three maxims to be flouted; maxim of relevance, maxim of quantity is flouted when the speaker breaks using the utterance in the form of tautology, overstatement, and understatement and maxim of quality is flouted if the speaker breaks the maxims when using the utterance in the form of metaphor and rhetorical question. On the other hand, there are two kinds of maxims to be hedged, maxims of quantity and maxim of manner. Maxims are hedged when the information is not totally accurate or not clearly stated but seems informative, well founded and relevant.

Based on the data analysis and findings, it is suggested to the readers try to obey the role of conversation that although it is very difficult to obey and use all of the maxims in the conversation. Especially in movie, to make their communication can go on smoothly players or characters in the movie are ordered to obey the director’s command, and then the story can run properly. Moreover, it is suggested to the next researchers to use other relevance theories in investigating the same area of the research briefly and clearly to find the best result of research, especially for the subject beside the movie. Hopefully, the next researcher could find the ethnography of speaking using Hymes’ theory on conversational maxims in the newspaper or advertisement.