A comparative analysis on the discourse of american and vietnamese movie trailers

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON THE DISCOURSE OF AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE MOVIE TRAILERS SO SáNH Đối chiếu đặc điểm DIễN NGÔN QUảNG CáO PHIM Mỹ Và PHIM VIÖT M.A COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: LINGUISTICS CODE: 60 22 15 HANOI – 2011 ABSTRACT Movie trailers now are an important and commonly used advertising device in movie industry An effective movie trailer can bring a huge audience for the movie To enhance the effectiveness of a movie trailer, the structure and language used in it must be carefully selected The study aims at identifying, studying, and comparing the similarities and differences in terms of structure and linguistic features between American and Vietnamese movie trailers The subjects of the study are 50 movie trailers including 25 American and 25 Vietnamese ones To achieve its objective, the study uses two main methods: descriptive and comparative to investigate structure and linguistic features (consisting of grammatical, lexical and rhetorical features) of the subjects After the investigation, some significant findings have been discovered American and Vietnamese movie trailers are different in structure yet similar to each other in the language used The study goes beyond mere description by providing some explanation for the findings, which are expected to have some contributions, both linguistically and pedagogically ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is not solely my efforts, but, in fact, contains many contributions of individuals to whom I would like to express my gratitude My special gratitude goes to Prof Nguyen Hoa for all his support and encouragement over the past few months and for his useful comments and advice on the drafts of the study Without his generous help, this study could not have been written I also wish to express my gratitude to all my lecturers as well as officers working at Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International studies – VNU for their great help and numerous suggestions concerning this thesis Finally, I owe a particular debt of gratitude to my beloved family for their love, care and support during my MA course, especially the fulfillment of the thesis Hanoi, 2011 Nguyen Thi Hong Ha TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Certificate of originality ……………………………………………………………… Abstract Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………… Table of contents ……………………………………………………………………… PART A: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………… Rationale ……………………………………………………………………… The aims and scope of the study ……………………………………………… The research questions ………………………………………………………… Methodology…………………………………………………………………… Significance of the study ……………………………………………………… Design of the study …………………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT …………………………………………………………… Chapter I: Theoretical background …………………………………………………… Theories of discourse ………………………………………………………… 1.1 The concept of discourse …………………………………………………… 1.2 Discourse analysis ………………………………………………………… 1.3 The functions of language …………………………………………………… 1.4 Register and genre in discourse analysis …………………………………… 1.4.1 Register …………………………………………………………………… 1.4.2 Genre ……………………………………………………………………… 1.4.3 Register and genre in discourse analysis ………………………………… 1.4.4 Advertisements as “style”, “register” and “genre” ………………………… 1.5 The language of advertising ………………………………………………… 1.5.1 Definition of advertising ………………………………………………… 1.5.2 Functions of advertising …………………………………………………… 1.5.3 A model of advertising process …………………………………………… 1.5.4 General features of advertising language ………………………………… 1.6 Movie trailer ………………………………………………………………… 1.6.1 What is a movie trailer? …………………………………………………… 1.6.2 History of movie trailers ………………………………………………… 1.6.3 Media used to advertise movie trailers …………………………………… Chapter II: Features of American movie trailers …………………………………… 2.1 Structure of American movie trailers………………………………………… 2.1.1 Defining discourse mode of movie trailers ……………………………… 2.1.2 Structure of American movie trailers …………………………………… 2.2 Features of language used in American movie trailers……………………… 2.2.1 Grammatical features ……………………………………………………… 2.2.2 Lexical features …………………………………………………………… 2.2.3 Rhetorical features ………………………………………………………… 2.3 Explanation of the relationship between discourse processes and socio-psychological processes in movie trailers …………………………… 2.4 Concluding remarks ………………………………………………………… i ii iii iv 1 2 7 8 8 11 11 12 12 13 15 15 17 18 19 20 20 22 23 25 25 25 26 33 33 38 42 42 50 Chapter 3: Features of Vietnamese movie trailers and a comparison between American and Vietnamese movie trailers …………………………………………… 3.1 Structure of Vietnamese movie trailers and a comparison between American and Vietnamese movie trailers’ structure ……………………………………… 3.2 Linguistic features of Vietnamese movie trailers and a comparison between American and Vietnamese movie trailers’ linguistic features …………………… 3.2.1 Grammatical features ……………………………………………………… 3.2.2 Lexical features…………………………………………………………… 3.2.3 Rhetorical features ………………………………………………………… 3.3 Concluding remarks ………………………………………………………… PART C: CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………… Summary of the study ………………………………………………………… Summary of the main findings ………………………………………………… 2.1 Similarities ………………………………………………………………… 2.2 Differences ………………………………………………………………… Conclusion …………………………………………………………………… Implications for English language teaching and learning …………………… Suggestions for further study …………………………………………… REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX …………………………………………………………………………… 51 51 53 53 57 60 65 67 67 67 67 68 69 69 70 71 I PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale The primary goal of any industry is sales – producers spare no efforts to sell as many of their products as possible The same trend can be seen in movie industry in which the product is of a very special kind: it is “an experience of an entire show that eventually would feature one special film that would run only for a certain period of time and be replaced by a similar – but different – movie” (Cinema Journal, Vol 29, No 3, Spring 1990) Adapting the notion that merely supplying the movie is insufficient in new age of film development, film producers, distributors and exhibitors accept the prevailing idea that demand for a movie can be stimulated, directed and controlled by industrially produced representations To achieve the stimulation, direction and control over the demand, a very effective advertising tool – movie trailers - is used to persuade audiences to “buy” the experience of a show In movie trailers, language is used as an effective means of conveying advertising messages It is obvious that language used in movie trailers is different from that used in other fields such as tourism, technology or law; it has its own characteristics and serves its own functions; and the task of linguists and interested people is to discover and understand these characteristics and functions for broadening human knowledge and exploiting them to the full in human life A number of studies have been done on advertising such as commercials or technology advertisements; however, research on movie trailers is still a new area Hence, I realize that filling this gap of knowledge is absolutely a necessity The study of movie trailers can be approached in different directions, each of which provides different aspects of knowledge on the subject As a Vietnamese student studying English, I am determined to make a comparative analysis of Vietnamese and American movie trailers which is hoped to provide some helpful knowledge for such people who are concerned as advertisers, EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers and students In short, it is clear that studying this issue is beneficial for English teaching and learning Therefore, I decided to carry out the study: “A comparative analysis on the discourse of American and Vietnamese movie trailers.” The aims and scope of the study 2.1 The aims The principal purpose of this study is to contribute a richer and more systematic conceptual understanding of advertising language used in movie trailers Specifically, this study focuses on finding out the structure and linguistic features of advertising language of American and Vietnamese movie trailers It identifies, studies, and compares the similarities and differences in terms of structure and linguistic features between English and Vietnamese movies trailers Besides, it helps teachers, learners, advertisers and translators to have better understanding and interpretation of movie trailers 2.2 The scope This study focuses on describing and presenting only the structural and linguistic features in movie trailers and analyzing those characteristics of the two languages in American and Vietnamese movie trailers Within a limited time and knowledge, it is not my ambition to mention all issues of movie trailers such as music, sound, ect; but only discourse structure and linguistic features of movie trailers The research questions This study seeks the answers to three research questions: What structure characterizes American and Vietnamese movie trailers? What are the most effective linguistic features characterizing American and Vietnamese movie trailers? What are the similarities and differences between American and Vietnamese movie trailers in terms of structure and linguistic features? Methodology 4.1 Methods The descriptive method and comparative analysis have been applied to this study + The descriptive method The study follows the descriptive approach as it “involves a collection of techniques used to specify, delineate or describe naturally occurring phenomena without experimental manipulation” (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989:124) Therefore, the collection of data will be conducted via non-intrusive and non-manipulative processes The descriptive approach provides an investigation into the frequency of the occurrence of some linguistic features in American and Vietnamese movie trailers The aim of this type of study is to find out more about the phenomena and capture it with detailed information + A comparative analysis: According to Carl (1980:18), a comparative analysis is viewed as an interlinguistic, bidirectional phenomenon which is concerned with both the form and function of language As such, comparative analysis must view language psycho-linguistically and socio-linguistically as a system to be both described and acquired The comparative analysis is suitable for the study because it is concerned with the comparison of two subjects: Vietnamese and American movie trailers Furthermore, both the form of the language and its functions in real life are considered The analysis of movie trailers is in close relation with psychological and social basis because the language of movie trailers is only meaningful when not being separated from these bases 4.2 Data collection and processing 50 movie trailers are collected randomly, 25 American and 25 Vietnamese trailers mainly on the internet or some established television channels Data analysis After collection, each movie trailer is analyzed in terms of discourse structure and linguistic features Descriptive method is applied in this stage Then American and Vietnamese movie trailers’ features are compared and contrasted in terms of discourse structure and linguistic features The method of comparative analysis is exploited in this stage 4.3 Analytical framework 4.3.1 In terms of discourse structure: The analysis of discourse structure follows Labov’s model of narrative structure According to Labov (1972), at a high level of structural analysis, a fullform narrative includes five main parts It begins with an orientation, proceeds to the complicating action, is suspended at the focus of evaluation before the resolution, concludes with the resolution and returns the listener to the present time with the coda (see the table below) Abstract Orientation Complicating action Evaluation Climax Resolution Coda Table 1: Labov’s model of narrative structure 4.3.2 In terms of linguistic features Linguistic features including grammatical, lexical and rhetorical features have been taken into consideration 4.3.2.1 Grammatical features It is obvious that English and Vietnamese have different grammatical systems because Vietnamese is an analytic language while English is a morphologic-analytic one However, the writer has made an effort to find a shared coding system between language used in American movie trailers and that in Vietnamese ones and the analysis of grammatical features is based on English traditional grammar Time reference - In English: According to Bernard Comrie (1976:6), the semantic concept of time reference is grammaticalised in English , i.e it may have a grammatical category that expresses time reference, in which case we say that English has tenses As FabriciusHansen (2006) states in "Tense", in the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, tense is usually indicated by a verb or modal verb In English, there are basically two tenses: present and past tense What is commonly called the future tense in English is not a true tense, but a modal construction that does not always appear (it is optional in subordinate constructions such as I hope you (will) go tomorrow, and is prohibited with other modals as in I can go tomorrow) - In Vietnamese: Bernard Comrie (1976) also states that many languages (including Vietnamese) lack tense, i.e not have grammatical time reference However, Vietnamese can lexicalise time reference, i.e have temporal adverbials that locate situations in time Present time reference: is expressed by “đang”, “bây giờ”, “hôm nay”, “hiện thời”… Past time reference: “đã”, “vừa mới”, “xong”, “rồi”… Future time reference: “sẽ”, “sắp”… Voice reference - In English, there are two voices: active and passive The passive voice, which provides information about the roles of different participants in an event, is formed with the auxiliary "be"and the "-ed"participle form of the lexical verb ... Chapter 3: Features of Vietnamese movie trailers and a comparison between American and Vietnamese movie trailers …………………………………………… 3.1 Structure of Vietnamese movie trailers and a comparison... rhetorical devices are taken into consideration: hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy, parallelism, contradiction 7 Significance of the study ? ?A comparative analysis on the discourse of American and Vietnamese. .. However, the writer has made an effort to find a shared coding system between language used in American movie trailers and that in Vietnamese ones and the analysis of grammatical features is based on