LANGUAGE AS RESISTANCE: ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS IN CONSTRUCTING POWER AND HOPE IN THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47701/f8bc7059Keywords:
Illocutionary acts, Pragmatics, Film discourse, Power and hope, English language educationAbstract
Language serves not only as a medium of communication
but also as a powerful social instrument through which
individuals negotiate authority, express resistance, and
construct hope. Within cinematic discourse, illocutionary
acts provide valuable insights into how characters employ
language to achieve interpersonal and ideological goals.
This study investigates how illocutionary acts construct
resistance, institutional power, and hope in The Shawshank
Redemption. Employing a qualitative descriptive design, the
study analyzed 67 utterances produced by the two main
characters, Andy Dufresne and Ellis "Red" Redding. The
data were collected through repeated observation of the
film, transcription of dialogues, and classification based on
Searle's (1979) taxonomy of illocutionary acts. The findings
reveal that all five categories of illocutionary acts are
present in the characters' interactions, with assertive acts
emerging as the most dominant, followed by directives,
expressives, commissives, and declaratives. Beyond their
linguistic classifications, these speech acts perform broader
pragmatic functions. Assertive acts function as acts of
resistance by challenging institutional oppression and
affirming personal convictions, while directive acts
negotiate interpersonal and institutional power within the
prison environment. Commissive and expressive acts
contribute to the construction of hope by reinforcing
solidarity, trust, and future aspirations among the
characters. These findings demonstrate that language in
the film extends beyond information exchange, functioning
as a strategic resource for preserving identity, resisting
domination, and sustaining psychological resilience. The
study contributes to pragmatic scholarship by extending
speech act theory from descriptive categorization toward a
discourse-oriented interpretation of language as social
action, while also highlighting the pedagogical value of film dialogue for developing learners' pragmatic competence in
English language education.
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