an analysis of impoliteness strategies in...
TRANSCRIPT
AN ANALYSIS OF IMPOLITENESS STRATEGIES
IN FILM THE FAULT IN OUR STARS FILM
A Thesis
Submitted to Letters and Humanity Faculty
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Strata One
RENITA ROSA
1110026000012
ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT
LETTERS AND HUMANITIES FACULTY
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH
JAKARTA
2017
i
ABSTRACT
Renita Rosa, An Analysis of Impoliteness Stretegies in the Film the Fault in Our Stars Film. Thesis:
English Letters Department, Letters and Humanities Faculty, State Islamic University Syarif
Hidayatullah Jakarta, August 2016.
Impoliteness strategies are used to create social disruption in the closed social-distance
among speaker and hearer. This research endeavors to analyze kinds of the impoliteness strategies
that occur in the film The Fault in Our Stars film, to classify the type of counter strategies used in
film, and to analyze the relation between power level difference and the choice of strategies.
Using Jonathan Culpeper theory in Impoliteness, the writers knows that the choices of the
strategies in some cases are different from the notion given that participant with lower power level
shouldn’t perform impoliteness strategies. It was found too that some characters used the strategies
as the notion explained. The strategies and the notion were compatible each other. Here, power
level did not really influence the choice of impoliteness strategies.
To sum up, the impoliteness strategies is not a static matter in communication that is used
to create social disruption, but depends on the speaker and the hearer consideration and goals.
Furthermore, many factor influenced the use of impoliteness strategies in communication although
the power difference of the speaker and the hearer is evident
Keywords: Pragmatics, Impoliteness, Jonathan Culpeper, Politeness, Brown and Levinson,
communication strategies.
ii
APPROVEMENT
AN ANALYSIS OF IMPOLITENESS STRATEGIES
IN THE FILM THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
A Thesis
Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
The Degree of Strata One
RENITA ROSA
NIM. 1110026000012
Approved by
Advisor 1 Advisor 2
Hilmi,M.Hum Rima Muryantina, S.Hum., M.ling.
19760918 100801 1 009
ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT
LETTERS AND HUMANITIES FACULTY
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH
JAKARTA
2017
iii
LEGALIZATION
Name : Renita Rosa
NIM : 1110026000012
Title : An Analysis of Impoliteness Stretegies in the Transcript of the Fault in Our Stars
Film.
The thesis entitled above has been defended before the Letters and Humanities Faculty’s
Examination Committee on {April 12th, 2017}. It has been accepted as a partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of strata one.
Jakarta, April 12th, 2017
Examination Committee
Signature Date
1. Drs. Saefudin, M.Pd.
19640710 199303 1 006
(Chair Person) ________ ________
2. Elve Oktafiyani, M.Hum.
19781003 200112 2 002
(Secretary) ________ ________
3. Hilmi, M.Hum.
19760918 200801 1 009
(Advisor I) ________ ________
4. Rima Muryantina,S.Hum., M.Ling.
5. Dr. H. Muhammad Farkhan, M.Pd.
19650919 200003 1 002
(Advisor II) ________ ________
6. Drs. Saefudin, M.Pd.
19640710 199303 1 006
(Examiner II) ________ ________
(Examiner I)
iv
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this submission is my own words and that, to the best of my knowledge
and belief. It contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material
which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of
the university or other institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgment has been
made in the text.
Jakarta, 12 Aprilth 2017
Renita Rosa
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
In the Name of Allah; the Merciful, the Compassionate. Pray, O Allah, for our Lord Muhammad
and his Family and the Men around him.
The present study never be completed without any helps, supports, advices, and
encouragements from many parties. The writer would like to express her honor for people in
department who gave massive helps in finishing this thesis, they are:
1. Mr. Prof. Dr. Sukron Kamil, M.Ag, as the Dean of Adab and Humanities Faculty, State
Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
2. Mr. Drs. Saefudin, M.Pd, as the Head of English Letters Department.
3. Mrs. Elve Oktafiani, M.Hum, as the Secretary of English Letters Department.
4. Mr. Hilmi, M.Hum and Ms. Rima Muryantina, S.Hum., M.Ling., as,the smartest and
kindest advisor. With their provisions, it is an ease to do this work.
5. All the lectures who sincerely (learned with and) taught the writer from the first semester
until she accomplished the study.
6. All the staff of English Letters Department, especially the kind-hearted Ka Jess.
The utmost gratitude goes to the writer’s parents Wilda Binti Sanusi and Sutan Panduko
Sati who always pray and believe for the writer’s success.. Although this thesis is none of perfect
but it is especially dedicated to them, hopefully it will make both of them proud. Special
appreciation and love to Melia Rizka and Dedi Surya; the writer’s best siblings all over the world.
Throughout all the ups and downs in finishing the undergraduate study, they are always there to
give support in their “special” way. Love you to the moon and back, sis and bro.
Warmest hug to the craziest best friend; Nisa Fitria Ansori, Inas Ghina, Asri Sukowati,
Saidah Turrahmah, Dewi Afrianti. To lovely friends: Nuriz Maya Mufti, Hafidzha Adha, Ujang
Juhari, Ilham Putra, Fiky Firmansyah and Rifky Nugraha. Thank you so much for paying a lot of
attention to the writer, experiences we had together are perfectly divine memory that she will never
forget.
The writer’s appreciation also goes to all friends in Elbie Family, KKN Carano Syahid,
Linguistics A class, RATLABindo, IRMAFA, GYPSY Volunteer, KSR PMI UIN, and other who
can’t be mentioned one by one. The writer’s will always remember all of them, thank you for the
priceless experiences.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………….......... i
APPROVEMENT………………………………………………………………... iii
LEGALIZATION………………………………………………………………… iv
DECLARATION………………………………………………….………………. v
ACKNOWLEDGMENT……………………………………………...…………. vi
LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………… viii
LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………… ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………….......... x
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION……………………………………………... 1
A. Background of The Study…………………………………... 1
B. Focus of The Study…………………………………………. 5
C. Research Questions………………………………….……… 5
D. Objective of The Study…………………………………...... 6
E. Significance of the Study………………………………….... 6
F. Research Methodology…………………………………….. 7
a. Method of The Study ………………………………...… 7
b. Technique of Collecting Data and Data Analysis …...... 7
viii
c. Instrument of the research………………...…………….. 8
d. Unit of Analysis…………………………………………. 9
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK………………..……….… 10
A. Previous Research…………………………………………. 10
B. The Concept of pragmatics and Discourse Analysis..……... 14
C. The Concept of Context in Pragmatics and Discourse,
and its Relation to Impoliteness ...………………………... 15
D. The Concept of Face in Politeness and
Impoliteness Theory .………………………………........... 17
E. Types of Politeness and Impoliteness Theory……..…......... 18
1. Brown and Levinson Politeness Theory……………....... 18
2. Politeness
Strategies………………………………………............. 19
2.a. Bald on record politeness.………...……...……... 19
2.b. Offrecord…………..…………..……..…………. 19
2.c. Positive politeness………………………..………
20
2.d. Negative Politeness………………………....…… 20
3. Jonathan Culpeper Impoliteness Strategy……..……..… 20
4. The Impoliteness Strategy…………………………...….. 21
4.a. Bald on record impoliteness………………....….. 22
ix
4.b. Positive Impoliteness ………………..…...……. 23
4.b.1. Ignore, snub the other……..…..……….… 23
4.b.2 Disassociate from other …………….…… 23
4.b.3 Be disinterest, unconcerned,
and unsympathetic…………….……….... 24
4.b.4. Use inappropriate identity
marker ………...…………….…….......… 24
4.b.5 Use obscure or secretive Language…….... 25
4.b.6 Seek Disagreement……………..………... 25
4.b.7 Make the other feel uncomfortable….….. 26
4.b.8. Use taboo words…………………..……... 26
4.b.7. Call the other names……………..……..... 26
4.c. Negative Impol iteness…………………….… 27
4.c.1 Frighten………………………………..… 27
4.c.2 Condescend, scorn, ridicule …………..… 27
4.c.3. Invade the other’s space ……………….... 27
4.c.4. Explicity associate the other with
a negative aspect…………………..…….. 27
4.c.5. Put the other indebtness in record….....…. 27
4.d. Off record Impoliteness…………………..…..…. 27
4.e Withold Impoliteness ……………….….…..….... 28
4.f. Sarcasm or mock politeness ………..………….... 28
x
5. The strategies to Counter the Face Attack ……..…...…. 28
5.a. Offensive Encounter Strategies………….…...….. 29
5.a.1 Escalation…………………..….……....….. 29
5.a.2. Repetition…………………...……...….… 29
5.b. Defensive encounter strategies..……….....……. 29
5.b.1 Inversion…………………...…..…...… 29
5.b.2. Abrogation……………………....…… 30
5.b.3. Opt out record…………………....…… 30
5.b.4 Insincere Agreement…………..…....... 30
5.b.5 Ignore the implied face attack……...… 31
F. Social Distance Scale and the Choice of
Impoliteness Strategy………………………….…………..…. 31
CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDINGS………………………………….….. 33
A. Data Description…………………………………………... 33
B. Data Analysis……………………………………………… 40
1. Datum 1………………………………………………... 40
2. Datum 2……………………………………………..….. 42
3. Datum 3 …………………..………………………....... 44
4. Datum 4…………………………………………...…… 47
5. Datum 5………...………………………………….….... 48
6. Datum 6………………………………………………… 49
xi
7. Datum 7………………………………………………… 51
8. Datum 8………………………………………..……….. 53
9. Datum 9……………………………………………..….. 55
10. Datum 10 ………………………………………………. 56
11. Datum 11 ………………………………………………. 57
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS……………………. 59
A. Conclusions…………………………………………….….. 59
B. Suggestions………………………………………………... 60
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………... 61
APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………. 64
xii
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Communication through languages can not be separated with many rules.
The concept of politeness is one of many communication rules which is existed
universal in all society. Everyone who communicates ideally pays attention to
politeness when he is speaking. Politeness is a border to make both speaker and
hearer comfortable with one another in order to keep the social relationship well. In
Pragmatics, politeness means affability in utterance (linguistic action) when
conveying the communication to express the relational function.1
A number of scholars have carried out research on linguistic politeness in a
wide range of culture. According to Goffman, the speaker and the addressee should
feel as member of a same society whose wants and personality traits are known and
liked, so that the positive image can be realized.2 Brown and Levinson propose
politeness principles as conflict avoidance; it is the strategy to maintain public self-
image when the public self-image attack happens, the public self-image then known
as term face.3
Brown Levinson’s theory of politeness first appeared in 1978. Their theory
of Politeness is certainly the most influential since it has witnessed innumerable
1 George Yule. Pragmatics. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996). p. 60.
2Erving Goffman, Interaction Ritual: Essay on Face-to-face Behaviour (New York:
Anchor Book, 1967), p.5.
3 Penelope Brown and Stephen C. Levinson, Politeness: Some Universals in Language
Usage. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 61 et seq.
2
reactions, applications, critiques, modifications, and revision. The names of Brown
and Levinson have become almost synonymous with the word politeness as it is
impossible to talk about politeness without referring to them. They see politeness
in terms of conflict avoidance; thus, politeness makes possible communication
between potentially aggressive parties.4
While hardly we do maintain the face we may trip over of politeness
inversion, because not all of people pay attention of the politeness principle
whenever they are speaking. There are, however, still other times in which people
consciously making an impolite remark to attack face, later the strategy known as
linguistic impoliteness.5 Impoliteness can be said as an extension of Brown and
Levinson’s theory of politeness; they write that “it is intuitively the case that certain
kinds of acts intrinsically threaten face”.6
The first scholar to mention when talking about impoliteness is Jonathan
Culpeper (1996). He uses the term impoliteness to refer “communicative strategies
designed to attack face, and thereby cause social conflict and disharmony”. 7
Another scholar is Bousfield who claimed that impoliteness is not seen as failed
politeness but strategy to attack face. It is the reason why impoliteness has become
increasingly popular object of study in recent years. Locher and Bousfield define
impoliteness as behavior that is aggravating in particular context. To account for
the aspect of impoliteness, Culpeper proposes an impoliteness framework which is
4 Ibid. p. 5.
5 Richard J Watt, Politeness: Key Topics in Sociolinguistics, (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2003), p. 5.
6Penelope Brown and Stephen C. Levinson, op. cit., p. 65.
7 Jonathan Culpeper, “Toward an Anatomy of Impoliteness”, in Journal of Pragmatics,
vol. 25 (Oxford: Elsevier, 1996), p. 349.
3
parallel but opposite to Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness.8 Thus, the key
difference between politeness and impoliteness is a matter of intention: whether it
is the speaker’s intention to support face (politeness) or to attack face
(impoliteness).9 In summary, in particular contexts, certain impoliteness activity is
not regarded as marginal activity but actually an essential part of communication
process.
Linguistic impoliteness has not received closely as much attention as
linguistic politeness, in Journal of Pragmatics only few of scholars have carried out
research on it. On the other hand, there are amount of individual journal papers
about politeness are written by renowned researcher such as in 1990 Bruce Fraser
wrote Perspective on Politeness10, in 2003 Geoffrey Leech wrote Toward an
Anatomy of Politeness in Communication,11 in 2004 Miriam A. Locher wrote Power
and Politeness in Action: Disagreement in Oral Communication12. Fortunately,
several well-known scholars have begun diminished the imbalance since the
beginning of 20th century. Jonathan Culpeper started in 1996 wrote Toward an
Anatomy of Impolitenesse13, in 2003 he together with Dereck Bousfield and Anne
8 Derreck Bousfield, Impoliteness in Interaction, (Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Publishing Co., 2008)., p.2.
9 Jonathan Culpeper, “(Im) Politeness in Dramatic Dialogue” in Exploring the Language
of Drama: From Text to Context eds. Jonathan Culpeper, M. Short, and P. Verdonk, (London and
New York: Routledge, 1998), p. 86.
10 Bruce Fraser, “Perspective on Politeness” in Journal of Pragmatics 14 (Oxford:
Elsevier, 1990), p. 219-236.
11 Jonathan Culpeper, “Toward an Anatomy of Impoliteness” in International Journal of
Pragmatics 14 (Oxford: Elsevier, 2003), pp. 101-123.
12 Miriam A. Locher, Power and Politeness in Action: Disagreement in Oral
Communication (Berlin, Mouton De Gruyer, 2004)
13 Jonathan Culpeper (1996), op. cit., pp. 349-367.
4
Wichmann wrote Impoliteness revisited: With special reference to dynamic and
prosodic aspects.14
This study established because the impolite behavior in communication is
more likely to be commented and judged by wide range of culture, the judgment
often refers impoliteness as rudeness, abusive language or aggravating language
whereas none of that term is the notion of impoliteness.15 Moreover, this study is
contributed to increase the number of research in linguistic impoliteness although
there are other studies about linguistic impoliteness but still the amount of research
on linguistic impoliteness lesser than linguistic politeness. Last but not the least, it
is expected could add some understanding for linguistic student who wants to learn
linguistic impoliteness.
Film is chosen as the object of the study because it can reflect the linguistic
phenomena in general. There are many conflictive conversations in the film which
trigger the threats of the face. This film tells about Hazel Grace Lancester, an
intelligent girl who has terminal thyroid cancer that spread to her lungs and
Augustus Waters who has lost a leg from bone cancer. Those characters were
discredited by their families and friends because they suffer cancer.
In communication, both of characters above communicate with utterances
and/or expressions which are implicitly licensed to attack the addressee’ face only
because they are cancer patients. The situation makes them emotionally intractable.
14 Jonathan Culpeper, Derek Bousfield, and Anne Wichman, “Impoliteness revisited:
With Special Reference to Dynamic and Prosodic Aspects” in Journal of Pragmatic 35 (London:
Elsevier, 2003), p. 1545.
15 Ibid. p. 38.
5
Although they were seriously ill, but there are some times they frustrated with their
family and snap them all.
The climax of the film started when they frustrated with an abrupt novel
ending and wanted to ask about it personally to the author. The situation
unexpectedly worsens when they intentionally flew from the USA to Netherland to
have direct explanation from the author yet they were shocked to find the author is
a mean-spirited alcoholic.
Film the Fault from Our Stars is a film based on novel of the same title; the
Fault in Our Stars and the corpus of this research use transcript of the film.
Transcript is one of discourse forms; therefore the analysis of this research
performed using discourse analysis with pragmatic approach. 16 Furthermore, one
of purposes of this research is to analyze the unity, meaning and purpose of the
transcript. Referring to Joan Cutting, both of discourse analysis and pragmatics
study the meaning in context about how the interaction creates more information
than the word use in communication.17
B. Focus of the Study
The study is limited to pragmatic analysis of impoliteness communicative
strategies on struggle for authority, which is applied in the main characters dialogue
with other characters film transcript entitled The Fault in Our Stars.
C. Research Question
16 David Nunan, Introducing Discorse Analysis, (London: Penguin Book, 1993), p. 7. 17 Joan Cutting, Pragmatics and Discourse: A Resource Book for Students, (Florence:
Rouledge, 2002), p. 1.
6
According to background of the study, the research questions are formulated
as follows:
1. What impoliteness strategies that are used by characters in film The
Fault in Our Stars?
2. What encounter strategies used to respond the impoliteness strategies?
3. How power level difference affects the using of impoliteness strategies
in the film The Fault in Our Stars?
D. Significances of the Study
This research is expected to be beneficial in enriching an insight about
impoliteness concept in the approaches of pragmatics. It is also expected to be
useful in providing better understanding that there are different ways to use the
impoliteness strategy or the encounter strategy specifically in the Fault in Our Stars
film, so the audience will appreciate the movie in diverse perspective. It also
expected to be beneficial in enriching the perceptivity that the social distance and
the emotional closeness can influence the use of the encounter strategy.
E. Research Methodology
1. Objective of the Study
The research objectives are stated as follow:
1. To analyze the types of the impoliteness strategy used by characters in
The Fault in Our Stars film.
2. To analyze variety encountered strategies used by hearer to respond
impoliteness strategies used by speaker in the film.
7
To analyze how the main character’s power affects the using of
impoliteness strategies in The Fault in Our Stars.
2. Method of the Study
This research is qualitative research. Qualitative research is relied
on verbal and non-numerical data as the basis of analysis and solving the
problem appears.18 Qualitative research is descriptive, the writer
meticulously the data in the from of words, in this case is the film
transcript.19 This study is the description of impoliteness strategies in The
Fault in Our Stars film transcript, to get understanding and deep
information without any statistical equipment on how impoliteness and
closeness are interact in the transcript.
3. Technique of Data Collecting and Data Analysis
The writer is the primary instrument for data collection and analysis. 20 Data
have been obtained by the author are written into a card called data card, the data
cards contains data that has been take in the script of the film.21 Then, the data card
also used as instrument beside the writer herselfg.The data is collected in the
following steps:
18 David Nunan, Research Methods in Language Learning, (Cambridge:Cambridge
University Press, 1992) p. 77 19 Edi Subroto, Pengantar Metoda Penelitian Linguistik Struktural (Surakarta:Sebelas
Maret University Press, 1992) p. 77 20 Sharan B. Miriam, Qualitative research: A Guide to Design and Implementation (San
Fransisco: Jossey Bass, 2009) p. 15
21 Subroto. P. 42
8
1. To download the transcript of the Fault in Our Stars film;
2. To read the transcript;
3. To mark the utterances that might be contained the impoliteness
strategies;
4. To classify it by using Jonathan Culpeper’s impoliteness strategy22;
5. To write the chosen data onto a data card
6. To number the dialogue.
After the data has been collected, the next step is the data analysis. It is to
gain the specific data that concerned to analyze. The steps run as follows:
1. To categorize the utterances using Culpeper’s impoliteness
strategies
2. To access the relation between impoliteness strategies and the
characters’ closeness.
3. To assign how the addressees encountered the characters’
impoliteness strategies.
4. To ake conclusions based on the description analysis.
4. Instrument of the research
To analyze the corpus, data card is used as instrument of research. Data card
is cards in certain shape and size where the object of the study is written as the
entry, it is used in order to write, to identify and to classify the data which is
22 Jonathan Culpeper (1996), op. cit., pp. 349-367.
9
contained the face attack and other impoliteness strategies from the transcript. 23
The data that is collected in the data card then can be analyzed.
5. Unit Analysis.
The unit analysis of this study is the transcript of The Fault in Our Stars
film, which is taken from www.imdbs.com24
23 Edi Subroto, op. cit. 77
24 The transcript accessed on January 21, 2015, from
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Fault-in-Our-Stars,-The.html
10
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Previous Research
Research about linguistic impoliteness is still new in Indonesia because only
few of study about linguistic impoliteness found in some repository among some
state universities. It had not been studied specifically as the main topic of study yet
its theory is stated explicitly or implicitly in some politeness research as follows:
In repository of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, one of the studies about
Politeness is An Analysis of Politeness Strategy in Putra Nababan’s Interview with
Barack Obama written by Muh. Shohibussirri. This research used pragmatic
politeness approaches based from an interview between Putra Nababan and Barack
Obama. This qualitative research used Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategy
and supported by other theories such as Jonathan Culpeper’s impoliteness strategy
and Spencer-Oatey’s rapport management to analyse the data.
The politeness strategy and the relation between power level difference and
the choices of strategy are analysed in the research. In this research, it is mentioned
that impoliteness is parasite of politeness. It is defined as the language act that is
oriented towards face attacking in particular context which is desinged to create
social disharmony.25
25 Muh. Shohibussiri, An Analysis of Politeness Strategy in Putra Nababan’s Interview
with Barack Obama, the thesis is accessed on April 1st 2015 from
http://repository.uinjkt.ac.id/dspace/handle/123456789/3830
11
However, impoliteness studies are already within many e-journals. There
are some researchers who had already analysed linguistic impoliteness which also
discuss the relation of impoliteness and some behavioural context. In this section,
some previous studies will be listed compared to this research, those are:
The very first study about impoliteness is established by Jonathan
Culpeper’s journal in 1996 titled Towards an Anatomy of Impoliteness. It focused
on communicative strategies with orientation to attack one’s interlocutor and to
cause disharmony on the discourse of an army training camp and the discourse of
drama. Culpeper builds an impoliteness framework which is parallel but opposite
to Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness, then his study becomes the first
reference of impoliteness theory. He started by considering inherent impoliteness
and mock impoliteness, and then discussed the contextual factors that are associated
with impoliteness and the last he proposed a list of impoliteness strategies. He found
that in some circumstances impoliteness plays the main role in communication.26
In 2003, he and his friends; Derek Bousfield and Anne Wichmann, posted
another journal entitled Impoliteness Revisited: with Sspecial Reference to Dynamic
and Prosodic Aspects, this paper using television documentary recordings of
disputes between traffic wardens and car owners as the data. They revisit the
impoliteness framework mapped out in Culpeper’s paper in 1996.27
They explore the notion of impoliteness and consider whether the
impoliteness strategies identified in Culpeper can be found in another discourse
26 Jonathan Culpeper (1996), loc. cit.
27 Jonathan Culpeper, Derek Bousfield, Anna Wichmann, loc. cit.
12
type. They argue that for impoliteness to be fully appreciated they need to move
beyond the single strategy (lexically and grammatically defined) and examine both
how impoliteness pans out in extended discourse and the role of prosody in
conveying impoliteness. Their paper has important implications for politeness
theory and discourse studies in general, and the role of prosody in discourse in
particular.28
Derek Bousfield then released a book Impoliteness in Interaction in 2008.
In this book, he hypothesised some strategies of issuing and countering
impoliteness or even accepts impolite face attacks in certain discourse and certain
contexts in which impolite utterance may occur, when one is placed in a
confrontational, non-harmonious situation, such as military and civilian police
training, vehicle parking disputes, metropolitan and motorway policing and a
restaurant kitchen. This book showed how impoliteness may potentially be
countered, controlled and managed.29
Another book is edited by Derek Bousfield and Miriam A. Locher entitled
Impoliteness in Language: Studies on Its Interplay with Power in Theory and
Practice. This book contains collection of papers on impoliteness after the
conference Politeness: Multidisciplinary Perspective on Language and Culture in
Nottingham in March 2005. This collection of papers on impoliteness and power in
language seeks to look at impoliteness systematically by discussing the different
28 Ibid. 29Derek Bousfield, (2008), op. cit., p. 4.
13
theoretical stances towards the study of impoliteness and the connection between
exercise of power and impoliteness.30
There is also an article written in 2013 by Grace P. Wibowo and Esther
Kuntjara, student of English Department Faculty of Letters at Petra Christian
University in Surabaya. They investigate how impoliteness strategies are used on
online comments in Okezone, an Indonesian football website, and what strategy is
mostly used. From 50 utterances collected for a month through the Okezone
website, they tabulate the findings of impoliteness strategies used and percentage
them to get the mostly used strategy. They also found that more than one strategies
can be used in one utterance.31
Referring from the previous studies and some resource book, this research
is conducted based on Culpeper’s impoliteness theory. His impoliteness strategies
are used to know how the hearer reacts toward impolite utterances and also to
indicate the distance relationship between characters’ dialogue in The Fault in Our
Stars film transcript.
30 Derek Bousfield, Miriam A.Locher , eds., Impoliteness in Language: Studies on its
Interplay with Power in Theory and Practice (Berlin: Walter De Gruyter GmbH & Co., 2008), p.
2. 31Grace P. Wibowo and Esther Kuntjara, Impoliteness Strategies Used on Online
Comments in an Indonesian Football Website, the article is accessed on June 24th, 2015, from
http://studentjournal.petra.ac.id/index.php/sastra-iggris/article/view/418
14
B. The Concept of Pragmatics
This research is based on impoliteness theory from pragmatics study.
Pragmatics is one of approaches to studying language’s relation to the contextual
background features.32 It is concerned with the study of meaning as communicated
by a speaker and/or writer that is interpreted by a listener and/or reader. This study
necessarily involves the interpretation of what people mean in a particular context
and how the context influences what is said. This type of study explores how a
great deal of what is unsaid is recognized as part of what is communicated.33
Pragmatics largely emphasized on the meaning analysis of speaker at the
level of speech in a sentence. However, since one speech, trough defenition,
detracted in context (including linguistic contexct, for example the text),
pragmatics often ended with discourse analysis and sometimes it completely gives
the meaning of discourse analysis. If simplified, pragmatics analyses focuse on
the meaning, context and communication..34
Pragmatics approaches focus on the meaning of words interaction and how
interactions communicate more information than the word they use.35 Besides,
pragmatics look at the use of language, text, or pieces of spoken or written
discourse, concentrating on how stretches of language become meaningful and
unified for their user.36 Pragmatics also discuss interactional sociolinguistics and
32 Joan Cutting, Pragmaticss and Discourse: A Resource Book for Student (London and
New York: Routledge, 2002) p.1 33George Yule, op.cit., p. 3. 34 Deborah Schiffrin, Ancangan Kajian Wacana, terj. Unang, Sunatri, Majid, et. al., ed.
Prof. Dr. Abd. Syukur Ibrahim (Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 2007), p. 270 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid.
15
finally it has fact that pragmatics concerned with function: the speakers’ short-
term purposes in speaking, and long-term goals in interacting verbally.37
C. The Concept of Context in Pragmatics and Its Relation to Impoliteness.
Pragmatics study the meaning of words in context, the analysis of the
speaker’s meaning is dependent on assumptions of knowledge that are shared by
both speaker and hearer.38 Take a look at this example, “SAVE WATER”, the
sentence will make sense whenever it has connection with the writer/reader of the
sentence, time and place. The sentence will create solid discourse if it was putted
on the top of sink, wash basin and toilet. Function of the sentence will be clear in
that as a warning for everyone to use water wisely.39
Another example is a famous word by Queen Victoria “We are not
amused.”. Pragmaticss would consider the contextual background features; why
Queen Victoria said this, and it was said to whom, where was she say it.
Pragmaticss and discourse analysis would take into the fact that, Victoria had been
in prolonged depression because of her husband death, and the words is shown to
her court.
While If we analyse what the word mean by themselves as they are in the
dictionary the word “we” indicates the person speaking, “are” identifies a state
rather than action, “amused” has a sense synonymous with “entertained” or
37 Ibid. 38 Ibid 39Untung Yuwono, “Wacana” in Pesona Bahasa , eds. Kushartanti, Untung Yuwono,
Multamia RMT Lauder, (Jakarta: PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2007), p. 93.
16
“distraced”, this way is semantic analysis. Semantics is out of context, the analysis
would not consider who said it to whom, where and why.40
The context in which somebody says something has an effect on how people
understand it. Smiling may seem a straightforwardly nice thing to do, but imagine
if it was respond to a friend who has announced personal tragedy. The context is
also crucial in influencing the degree of suffering you experience as a result of
impoliteness.
Context may prime face components that are highly emotionally sensitive
or not, for example comments on somebody’s shoe who is fashion conscious.
Moreover, context may affect the extent of perceived face exposure and face in
not an issue if it has no exposure. To sum up, the potential for face loss is related
to the degree of sensitivity of the face component at issue and also the perceived
degree of exposure.
D. The Concept of Face in Politeness and Impoliteness Theory.
The term face is a central concept in studying linguistic politeness and
impoliteness. Face is a concept that was first coined by Goffman.41 The best-
known figures that take the concept of face into the realm of pragmatics are Brown
and Levinson who derived the concept of face in their politeness theory.42 They
40 Joan Cutting (2002), loc. cit. 41 Endang Fauziati,” Linguistic Impoliteness: A Brief Literature Review” in Markhamah,
Agus Wijayanto, Miftakhul Hudaa, eds., Prosiding Seminar Nasional: Ketidaksantunan
Berbahasa dan Dampaknya Dalam Pembentukan Karakter, Surakarta 25 Januari 2014
(Surakarta: Muhamadiyah University Press, 2014), p. 12. 42 Penelope Brown and Strepen J. Levinson (1987), loc. cit.
17
define face as an individual’s feeling of selfworth or self-image, reputation or
good names that everyone has and expects everyone else to recognize.43
Such self-image can be damaged, maintained or enhanced through
interaction with others such as warning, threatening, commanding, ordering, etc.
Brown and Lavinson then introduced the term FTA; Face Threatening Act to refer
acts that damage the self-image. The purpose of politeness, therefore, is to soften
the FTA since it is in everyone’s mutual interest to do so.44 . However, there are
other times in some particular context where face threatening is not regarded as
marginal activity but actually an essential part of communication so through
communication the damage toward self-image can’t always be avoided. Sometimes,
people intend to attack face to cause social disruption and the purpose of
impoliteness is to strengthen the face threat of a linguistic act.45
E. The Concept of Politeness Theory and Impoliteness Theory
1. Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory
In social relation, it is common for people to use linguistic strategies to
maintain or promote harmonious relations. Brown Levinson’s theory of politeness
first appeared in 1978, their theory of politeness is certainly the most influential
since it has witnessed innumerable reactions, applications, critiques,
modifications, and revision.46
43 Ibid. 44 Ibid., pp.59-60 45 Endang Fauziati (2014), loc cit. 46 Ibid.
18
The names of Brown and Levinson have become almost synonymous with
the word politeness as it is impossible to talk about politeness without referring to
Brown and Levinson.47 They see politeness in terms of conflict avoidance; thus,
politeness “makes possible communication between potentially aggressive
parties.48
2. The Politeness Strategies
Any rational speaker wants to avoid FTAs and therefore uses certain
strategies to mitigate the threat. Brown and Levinson strategies for performing
FTA, namely:
a. Bald On-record politeness
This strategy is used in situations where people know each other well or in
a situation of urgency.49 For example, when face concerns are suspended in an
emergency, when the threat to the hearer’s face is very smal;
[01] Close the door!
[02] I want some beer.
or when the speaker is much more powerful than the hearer;
[03] “You there, gimme beer” said by a boss to his servant.
b. Positive Politeness
47 Penelope Brown and Strepen J. Levinson (1987), loc. cit.
48 Ibid. 49 Penelope Brown and Stephen C Levinson, Politeness: Some Universals in Language
Usage (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 65.
19
This strategy tries to minimize the threat to the audience’s positive face. The
speaker recognizes that the hearer has desire to be respected. The strategy also
confirms that the relationship is friendly and expresses group reciprocity.This can
be done by attending to the audience’s needs, hedging or indirectness, avoiding
disagreement, using humor and optimism, making offers and promises, and
invoking equality and feelings of belonging to the group. 50
[04] Could you please close the door?
[05] Is it OK for me to have a beer?
c. Negative Politeness
This strategy tries to minimize threats to the audience’s negative face. Here,
the speaker recognizes the hearer’s face but in the same time also recognizes that in
some way the speaker imposing the hearer. An example of when negative politeness
would be used is when the speaker requires something from the audience, but
intends to maintain the herarer’s right to refuse.This can be done by being indirect,
using hedges or questions, minimizing imposition and apologizing.51
[06] I don’t want to bother you but would you mind to close the door?
[07] I hope it’s not too forward, but would it be possible for me to have
a beer?
d. Offrecord
50 Ibid. pp. 101-129.
51 Ibid.pp. 129-210
20
This strategy is more indirect. The speaker does not impose on the hearer.
As a result, face is not directly threatened. By using this strategy, the speaker is
trying to asking for something. Instead the speaker would rather it be offered to
himself once the hearer sees that the speaker want one. This strategy often requires
the hearer to interpret what the speaker is saying.52
When you give hints to your friend to close the door:
[08] I feel cold. The weather is windy.
When you indirectly want your friend to offer you some beer
[09] It’s so hot. It makes you really thirsty.
3. Jonathan Culpeper Impoliteness Theory
Politeness strategies are seen as a presumptive strategy; it is unmarked and
socially neutral, the natural presupposition underlying all communication.
However, there are other times in which people use linguistic strategies to attack
face or to strengthen the face threat of an act, i.e. they tend to be impolite. For this
reason, there comes the emergence of the theory of impoliteness.53
The first scholar to mention when talking about impoliteness is Culpeper.
He uses the term impoliteness to refer “communicative strategies designed to attack
face, and thereby cause social conflict and disharmony”54. Another scholar is
Bousfield who claimed that impoliteness is not seen as failed politeness but strategy
52 Ibid. pp. 213-227. 53 Endang Fauziati (2014), loc. cit.
54 Jonathan Culpeper (1996), op. cit., p. 350.
21
to attack face.55 It is the reason why impoliteness has become increasingly popular
object of study in recent years.
Bousfield states that “impoliteness constitutes the communication of
intentionally gratuitous and conflictive verbal facethreatening acts (FTAs) which
are purposefully delivered: (1) unmitigated, in contexts where mitigation is
required, and/or, (2) with deliberate aggression, that is, with the face threat
exacerbated, ‘boosted’, or maximized in some way to heighten the face damage
inflicted”56.
Thus, the key difference between politeness and impoliteness is a matter of
intention: whether it is the speaker’s intention to support face (politeness) or to
attack face (impoliteness).57 To account for the aspect of impoliteness, Culpeper
proposes an impoliteness framework which is parallel but opposite to Brown and
Levinson’s theory of politeness. In summary, in particular contexts certain
impoliteness activity is not regarded as marginal activity but actually an essential
part of communication process.
4. The Impoliteness Strategy
Based on Brown and Lavinson’s model of politeness strategy Culpeper
wrote a seminal article on impoliteness. He identified impoliteness as “the parasite
of politeness” and the politeness strategies are the opposite of impoliteness
strategies.58 The opposite here refers to its orientation to face. Politeness strategy is
utilized to enhance or support face which can avoid conflict while impoliteness
55 Derek Bousfield (2008), op. cit., p. 72.
56 Ibid.
57 Jonathan Culpeper (1998), op. cit., p. 86.
58 Jonathan Culpeper (1996), op.cit. p. 8.
22
strategies are used to attack face which cause social disharmony. As Culpeper
defines impoliteness as the use of strategies to attack the interlocutor's face and
create social disruption. For this Culpeper proposes five super strategies that
speaker use to make impolite utterances as follows:
a. Bald on record impoliteness
Bald on Record impoliteness strategy directly produced FTAs and
impositions of the same kind as in the politeness strategy. The FTA is performed in
a direct, clear, unambiguous and conciseway in circumstances where face is not
irrelevant or minimised. More importantly it is the intention of the speaker to attack
the face of the hearer.59
When you offer some food to you brokenhearted friend:
[10] Eat! Starve won’t bring him back!
This is a command without any regressive action, and therefore, it is a
typical bald on record FTA
b. Positive impoliteness
The use of strategies designed to damage the addressee’s positive face
wants. An individual positive face is reflected in his desire to be liked, approved of,
respected and appreciated by other. This can be done through the following ways,
such as:
1. Ignore, snub the other
Fail to acknowledge the other's presence.
59 Jonathan Culpeper, Derek Bousfield, Anne Wichmann (2003), op. cit., pp.1553 -1554.
23
[09] Witness: And I note for the record that in my deposition I Clarified
that – Lawyer: Thank you, Sir.
This example is from a courtroom setting where the lawyer interrups the
witness and ignores what he is about to say
2. Disassociate from the other
For example, deny association or common ground with the other; avoid
sitting together.
[11] GUS: I am not going anywhere with that monster.
LIDEWIJ: He is not invited.
August not allow himself to going around with Van Houten by saying that
he is monster. August keeps away the distance between them, the contact among
them is constrained by him who refused to go together with Van Houten
3. Be disinterested, unconcerned, unsympathetic
[11] HAZEL: ugh you can’t make me.
MICHAEL: Of course we can. We’re your parent
Data [11] gives an example about having no personal involvement of or
receiving no personal advantage of something,. In this situation, Hazel should be
worried or interested with her dad, but she is not. She is not showing that she
understands or cares about his father attention, and therefore Hazel feels free to act
fairly.
4. Use inappropriate identity markers.
24
For example, use title and surname when a close relationship pertains, or
a nickname when a distant relationship pertains.
[12] GUS: Tell me you did not go to Disney World. Hazel Grace!
HAZEL: And Epcot Center.
Calling someone’s full name is not suitable for the situation in example
[12] above, because the way between Hazel and Gus feel and behave toward each
other is very close. They know each other very well, like each other a lot and they
see and talk each other a lot. Using full name makes their relationship look awkward
and makes them seem like strange to each other.
5. Use obscure or secretive language
For example, mystify the other with jargon, or use a code known to others
in the group, but not the target.
[13] HAZEL: Hey listen douchepants. You’re not gonna tell me
anything I don’t know about illness.
Hazel is talking to Van Houten and she doesn’t call him by his name but
with an unclear, difficult to understand and undefined name. In the [13] example,
the word “douchepants” is not known to many people which is like rude and
offensive name and it expresses that she is very angry to Van Houten and shows
that she doesn’t respect him.
6. Seek disagreement
The criterion of the strategy is to select a sensitive topic in conversation.
[14] MICHAEL: Hazel, you need to get out of the house. Make friends.
Be a teenager.
HAZEL: ugh you can’t make me.
MICHEL: Of course we can. We’re your parents. Hazel you need to
get out of the house. Make friends. Be a teenager.
25
The FTA performed in the example [14] is seek disagreement where
Hazel gives argument in which she doesn’t have the same opinion with her father.
By giving that argument or opinion, she wanted to cause his father to be upset or
angry so he won’t ask her to go outside home.
7. Make the other feel uncomfortable
For example, do not avoid silence, joke, or use small talk.
[15] HAZEL: If you want me to be a teenager, don’t send me to
support group, make me a fake ID so I can go to clubs and drink
gimlets and take pot.
MICHEL: You don’t take pot
Hazel tries to frighten her dad to stop forces her hanging out because her
father always get a bit anxious if she does not go outside home for a while. She
wants her dad to know that problems or unpleasant things may happen if she
hanging around with other teenager.
8. Use taboo words
Swear, or use abusive or profane language.
[16] I’m doing good. I get to knock off an hour early today. You
know why? because I kissed my boss’ ass.
It is not appropriate for someone to use such as kiss someone’s ass.
Furthermore, it is not appropriate to tell about personal problem with the boss to
other.
9. Call the other names - use derogatory nominations.
[17] You’re yellow, you Moron.
26
c. Negative impoliteness
The use of strategies designed to damage the addressee’s negative face
wants60. This can be done through the following ways, such as:
1. Frighten - instill a belief that action detrimental to the other will occur.
2. Condescend, scorn or ridicule - emphasize your relative power. Be
contemptuous. Do not treat the other seriously. Belittle the other (e.g. use
diminutives).
[18] In those two minutes that you spent actually looking at the book that
was the center of this controversy, was there anything in that two-
minutes review that you saw that you objected to?
The speaker is a lawyer who is ridiculing the witness, he is belittling the
witness’ knowledge about the matter at hand.
3. Invade the other's space - literally (e.g. position yourself closer to the
other than the relationship permits) or metaphorically (e.g. ask for or
speak about information which is too intimate given the relationship).
4. Explicitly associate the other with a negative aspect - use the pronouns
'I' and 'you'. Personalize someone.
[19] You should have told me about that at the time, shouldn’t you
be truthful?
The situation above is about a lawyer that is implying that the witness
has not been truthful earlier.
60Ibid. p. 1555.
27
5. Put the other's indebtedness on record.
d. Off Record Impoliteness
The FTA is performed by means of an implicates but in such a way that one
attributable intention clearly outweighs any others.
e. Withhold Impoliteness
This refers to the absence of politeness work where it would be expected.
For example, failing to thank somebody for a present may be taken as deliberate
impoliteness.61 To Culpeper, Brown and Levinson touch on the face-damaging
implications of withholding politeness work by saying that “...politeness has to be
communicated, and the absence of communicated politeness may be taken as the
absence of a polite attitude”62
f. Sarcasm or mock politeness
Culpeper’s sarcasm or mock politeness is of course the opposite of Brown
and Levinson's social harmony that is achieved through off-record politeness. The
FTA is performed with the use of politeness strategies that are obviously insincere,
and thus remain surface realisations.63
[20] PATIENT : I had a couple headaches last month and I have trouble
concentrating. I was also thinking it might be fibromyalgia.
DOCTOR : Excellent diagnosis.
61 Jonathan Culpeper (1996), op. cit., pp. 356-357.
62 Ibid. 63 Jonathan Culpeper (1996), op.cit, p. 356.
28
As the patient thinks he is an expert on diagnosing himself with the hekp of
internet, the doctor decides to play along and agree with the patient.
5. The Strategies to Counter the Face Attack
Both politeness and impoliteness study tended to overlook what the
recepient of face threat or attack does because the replay to an utterance can reveal
much about how utteranceis to be taken.64 Theoritically, when recepient of an
utterance perceive a strategic impoliteness act they have two choices to open to
them; they can either respond or not respon to it (i.e. stay silent).65
Participant who choose to respond to the impoliteness act have a further
theoritical set of choices to open to them; accept (apology) or they can counter it
(offensive and difensive).66 Offensive strategies primarily counter face attack with
face attack, and defensive strategies primarily counter face attack by defending
one’s own face.67
Further, offensive strategies are listed as follows:
a. Escalation
Where each speaker uses a stronger strategy than previous speaker.
[21] Vallerie: I’ll slap you on the face
Jerry : I’ll kick you on the face, you gonna have bloody nose
b. Repetition
[22] Boy : Shut up you beer belly.
Girl : Go to hell.
Boy : Go on diet.
64 Jonathan Culpeper, Derek Bousfield, Anne Wichmann, op. cit., pp.1562. 65 Ibid. 66 Ibid. 67 Ibid. p. 1563.
29
Girl : Go to hell.
Turning now to defensive counter strategies, they are:
a. Inversion
Direct contradiction of what was said.
[23] Tamtam : Eat that you dodo!
Kiki : I am not dodo, you dumb-dumb.
Tamtam : Absolutely yes, you are.
Kiki : Automatically no, I am not.
b. Abrogation
Personal responsibility for the action or event that caused the interlocutor to
issue a face damaging utterance in the first place.
[24] Alpha : Don’t you think this is a bit ridiculous?
Beta : Well, I am jus doing what is ordered.
Alpha : Yeah well I am asking you as your best friend don’t you
think this is a bit stupid?
Beta : Well, yes and no.
c. Opt Out on Record
This strategy attempts to “seal off” the face threathening and attack act.
[25] Mom: Dee, explain to me how can you get F on English?
Child: Mom, I am hungry.
Mom: Let me know why, first.
Child: Can I have a plate of blueberry pancake?
Mom: Dewi Lestari, I am asking you!
Child: Mom, I am starving and diying here.
d. Insincere Agreement
To allow the locutor express his anger by surface agreement with the face attack.
[26] X: You’ll get problem, you create it.
Y: Yeah.
X: No banned sign but you ticketed me for ilegal parking. Take the
cars off and bar the cars.
30
Y: Allright Sir, too many cars on road.
e. Ignore the implied face attack
The hearer accept the surface meaning of the utterance not the implied sarcastic
barb.
[27] A: Now you can go.
B: (sarcastically) Have a nice day.
A: I will do.
F. Social Distance Scale and the Choice of Impoliteness Strategy
There are factors in communication process which influence the choice of
politeness and impoliteness strategies and these factors become scale to measure
politeness and impoliteness level.68 Brown and Levinson list three sociological
variables that speaker employ in choosing the degree of politeness to use and in
calculating the amount of threat to their own face:
(1) The social distance of speaker and hearer
(2) The relative power of speaker
(3) The degree of imposition associated with the required expenditure of
goods or services.69
The greater the social distance between speaker and hearer or if they know
each other very little, the more politeness is generally expected. The greater the
perceived relative power of hearer over speaker, the more politeness is
recommended. The heavier the imposition made on the hearer or the more of their
68 Brown and Levinson (1987), op.cit. p. 74. 69 Ibid.
31
time required, or the greater the favor requested, the more politeness will generally
have to be used.
According to Leech, every interpersonal maxim has scale which defines the
utterance’s politeness level. Leech’s scales are:
(1) Cost-benefit scale : Representing the cost or benefit of an act to speaker
and hearer
(2) Optionally scale : Indicating the degree of choice permitted to speaker
and/or hearer by a specific language act.
(3) Indirectness scale : Indicating the amount n of inferencing required of
the hearer in order to establish the intended speaker meaning
(4) Authority scale : Representing the status relation between speaker
and hearer.
(5) Social distance scale : Indicating the familiarity between speaker
and hearer.70
Referring to both scale above, politeness serves to both reflect and regulate
social distance, it is an integral part of life in human society; it may affect social
distance only within an acceptable range of politeness.71
Social norms specify the acceptable range of politeness in a specific
situation, within which the speaker may choose to be more or less polite and
thereby reduce or increase the sense of interpersonal closeness72
70 Geoffery N. Leech, Principle of Pragmatics, ( London: Longman, 1983), p. 13. 71 R. Kunjana Rahardi, Pragmatik: Kesantunan Imperatif Bahasa Indonesia, (Jakarta:
Erlangga, 2005), p. 231. 72 Ibid.
32
Obviously, Brown and Levinson scale and Leech scale above complete one
and another. Both reflect the potential for doing politeness and impoliteness is
related to specific situation, and social norm and social distance. Those scales will
be combined in analyzing the relation between impoliteness and social distance.
32
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH FINDINGS
A. Data Description
Bibliography technique is used to find the source of this research. 139 The
Fault In Our Starts film transcript was downloaded on the internet.140After the
corpus is found, it is read carefully to find the data that implied impoliteness
strategies and the strategies to encounter impoliteness by using Jonathan Culpeper
Impoliteness theory. The found strategies then marked, numbered, and total there
are about 43 (fourty three) strategies compiled into data card.141
Table 1. Data Finding of Impoliteness Strategies in Data Card
No. Impoliteness Strategy Data Findings
1. Bald on Record 08
2. Positive Impoliteness 13
3. Negative Impoliteness 12
4. Sarcasm or Mock Politeness 10
5. Withhold Politeness -
Total 43
Furthermore, the data obtained then classified using purposive sampling, to
gain only the impoliteness strategies that encountered by the encounter impoliteness
139 Edi Subroto, Op. Cit. p.77 140 IMSDB, “The Fault in Our Stars”, the transcript accessesd on January 21, 2015, from
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Fault-in-Our-Stars,-The.html. 141 Edi Subroto, Loc. Cit.
33
strategies, then the data reduced into only 24 number of data to be analyzed.142
Some strategies from the same sequence of time and place are combined into one
analysis, in accordance to create a clear context of the dialogue. Based on that
condition, the data became into 12 (twelve ) dialogues of countered impoliteness.
Table 2. List of dialogues contain impoliteness strategies that encountered by
encounter impoliteness strategy
(NB: Bold utterances show impoliteness strategy, Italic utterances show the
strategy to encounter impoliteness)
No. Utterances Impoliteness
Strategies
Encounter
Strategies
1. FRANNIE: she reads the same
book over and over...
DOCTOR: She’s depressed.
HAZEL: I’m not depressed!
(Page 2.)
Bald on record
impoliteness
Defensive
(Inversion)
2. DOCTOR: If you’re depressed
–
HAZEL: (exasperated) I’m not
de—
DOCTOR: (ignoring her) --
support Groups are a great way
to connect with people who are...
HAZEL: What?
DOCTOR: (beat) On the same
journey.
HAZEL: “Journey?” Really?
FRANNIE : Hazel.
DOCTOR : Just give it a chance,
ok? For me.(Page 4.)
Negative
Impoliteness
(Challenging)
Negative
Impoliteness
(Scorn)
Defensive
(Ignore implied
face attack)
Defensive
(Ignore implied
face attack)
142 T Plays, “Purposive Sampling” in The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research
Methods, (vol.2), ed. L, M. Given (Los Angeles: Sage, 2008), pp. 697-698.
34
3. HAZEL: ugh you can’t make
me.
MICHAEL: Of course we can.
We’re your parent
HAZEL: If you want me to be a
teenager, don’t send me to
support group, make me a fake
ID so I can go to clubs and
drink gimlets and take pot.
MICHAEL: You don’t take pot.
(Page 7.)
Positive
Impoliteness
(be disinterest)
Positive
Impoliteness
Ofensive
(Escalation)
Defensive
(Inversion)
4. HAZEL: Are you gonna sit
here and wait the whole time?
FRANNIE: Of course not, no. I..
I have errands to run.
(Page 8.)
Negative
Impoliteness
(Condescend)
Defensive
(Inversion)
5. HAZEL: Why are you looking
at me like that? GUS: Because you are beautiful
(Page 13.)
Bald on Record
Impoliteness
Defensive
(Ignore the
implied face
attack)
6. GUS: No I mean now.
HAZEL: What?
GUS : Hmm?
HAZEL : What do you mean
“now?” GUS: I’ve got a car.
HAZEL: You could be an axe
murderer
GUS: There is that possibility.
Come on Hazel Grace… take a
risk. (Page 14.)
Positive
Impoliteness
(Disbelief)
Positive
Impoliteness
(Disbelief)
Bald on Record
Impoliteness
Defensive
(Escalation)
Defensive
(Abrogation)
Bald on Record
7. HAZEL: Oh my God. Oh my
God. You’re kidding right?
You just ruined the whole
thing
GUS: Whole thing?
HAZEL: What you think that’s
cool? Oh you idiot! What you
think that’s cool? Oh you idiot! : There’s always Hamartia,
isn’t there? And yours is –
even though you had
FREAKING CANCER you
give money to a corporation
for the chance to acquire
EVEN MORE CANCER!?
Overlapping
Strategies:
Positive
Impoliteness
(Taboo word)
Negative
Impoliteness
(Frighten)
Overlapping
strategies:
Negative
Impoliteness
(Frighten)
Defensive
(Ignore the
implied face
attack)
Defensive
(Ignore the
implied face
attack)
35
Ugh you were doing so well.
Let me tell you… not being
able to breathe? Suck. Totally
sucks.
GUS: Hamartia?
(Page 14-15.)
Bald on Record
Impoliteness
Negative
Impoliteness
(Frighten)
(Condescend)
(Frighten)
8. GUS: Don’t tell me you’re the
one of those people who
becomes their disease
HAZEL: No. I am just… I don’t
know… un-extraordinary
GUS: I reject that out of hand.
(beat, Hazel shrugs) Think of
something you love. First thing
that comes to mind.
HAZEL: “An Imperial
Affliction.” (Page 21.)
Negative
Impoliteness
(Condescend)
Defensive
(Abrogation)
9. HAZEL: (laughing) What? No.
GUS: Stormtroopers?
HAZEL: Seriously? (he shrugs)
It’s not that kind of book.
GUS: Sounds horrible.
(Page 22.)
Positive
Impoliteness
(Condescend)
Defensive
(Inversion)
10. GUS: Tell me you did not go to
Disney World. Hazel Grace!
You did not use your one dying
wish to go to Disney World!
HAZEL: And Epcot Center.
GUS: Oh my God!
HAZEL: We had fun on that trip.
GUS: That is the saddest thing
I’ve ever heard!
HAZEL: I met goofy…
GUS: Now I’m embarrassed.
HAZEL: Why are you
embarrassed? (Page 37.)
Positive
Impoliteness
(underestimate)
Positive
Impoliteness
(Swear)
Positive
impoliteness
(underestimate)
Positive
impoliteness
(deploring)
Defensive
(Ignore the
implied face
attack)
Defensive
(Abrogation)
Defensive
(Ignore the
implied face
attack)
Defensive
(Inversion)
11. GUS : Hazel Grace, like so
many before you - and I say this
with great affection - you spent
your Wish... moronically.
Negative
Impoliteness
(Ridicule)
Defensive
(Ignore the
implied face
attack)
36
HAZEL: I was thir—
GUS: Hush! I’m in the midst of
a grand soliloquy here.
HAZEL: Sorry. Please,
continue...
GUS: If you were smart, you
would have saved your wish till
the time in your life when you
really knew your true self.
HAZEL: But I … didn’t save
it.(Page 42.)
12. FRANNIE: Are you out of your
mind? It’s too much, Haze. We
can’t accept something like
that from a virtual stranger. HAZEL: He’s not stranger.
(Page 43.)
Negative
Impoliteness
(Disbelief)
and (Explicitly
associate the
other with a
negative aspect)
Defensive
(Inversion)
A. Data Analysis
As the main purpose of the research, the impoliteness and encountered
impoliteness strategies which are extracted from The Fault in Our Stars film
transcript are examined, then social distance among characters in the dialogue also
examined by using social distance scale in Leech’s theory and also Brown and
Levinson’s theory.
Datum 1:
Hazel’s mother, Frannie, thought that Hazel was depressed because of her
sickness then she brought hazel to meet Doctor. To prove what she thinking was
right, she reported Hazel’s habit to Doctor.
HAZEL : I’m not depressed.
37
Hazel’s legs dangle over the side of an exam table. Her mother FRANNIE (early
40s, younger than she feels) explains to the DOCTOR
FRANNIE : she eats like a bird. She barely leaves the house
HAZEL : I’m not depressed.
FRANNIE : she reads the same book over and over...
DOCTOR : She’s depressed.
HAZEL : I’m not depressed! (Page 2.)
The Doctor’s conclusion reflects Bald on record impoliteness strategy
because he diagnose without any effort to build effective communication with the
patient by examining further to Hazel.
There are steps in communication technique that should be followed by
doctor in order to build effective communication with patient. The communication
steps are giving attention, starting dialogue, finding solution or giving alternative
solution and concluding the result.143 However Hazel’s doctor misses that
procedure and the lack of such interaction seems like he has not given diagnosis but
judgement.
Hazel refused both of what Frannie and the Doctor taught using inversion
defensive strategy, she still insists that she is not depressed. Hazel knows she is not
depressed because she is just very ill. Hazel suffers stage IV thyroid cancer, she is
too sick to play outside, so she barely leaves the house and to kill the time she likes
reading her favorite book.
The relationship among Hazel, Frannie and Doctor is close enough. Frannie
is Hazel’s mother and they live together while the doctor is the one who evaluate
Hazel’s frailty every time Hazel comes for consulting or regular controlling. Since
143 Mulyohadi ali, Ieda Poernomo Sigit Sidi, eds., Komunikasi Efektif Dokter-Pasien
(Jakarta: Konsil Kedokteran Indonesia, 2006), p. vii.
38
they have quite a lot interaction, the Doctor can make diagnosis of Hazel’s condition
based on her record during her regular controlling plus with her mother report of
her daily in house. He can summarize up Frannie’s report into a diagnosis without
asking any further to Hazel.
However, Hazel’s refutation is also affect by their closeness. The repetition
of her refusing similar with kid when they believe of something then the kid will
insist about it all the times. She doesn’t want to be labelled as depressed one by her
own mother and her doctor yet she wants their understanding that it is normal to be
sad when someone is too sick.
Datum 2
Still in the Doctor’s office, Frannie keep continue reporting to the Doctor.
While Hazel keep dangling her feet, the Doctor asking to Hazel whether she ever
come to Support Group that he advised once. Support Group is a community where
many of cancer survivors gathered to share story.
DOCTOR : Have you been going to that Support Group I suggested?
Instead of answering, Hazel looks at her Mom.
FRANNIE : She’s gone a few times.
HAZEL : I’m not sure it’s for me.
DOCTOR : If you’re depressed –
HAZEL : (exasperated) I’m not de—
DOCTOR : (ignoring her) -- support Groups are a great way to connect
with people who are...
HAZEL : What?
DOCTOR : (beat) On the same journey.
HAZEL : “Journey?” Really?
FRANNIE : Hazel.
DOCTOR : Just give it a chance, ok? For me.
Hazel rolls her eyes, knows she’s lost this battle.
DOCTOR : Who knows? You might even find it... enlightening. (Page
4.)
39
Hazel doing Negative Impoliteness by challenging the doctor, whether the
support group that he advised is a community “the fighter” of cancer survivor or a
community where “the hopeless” cancer survivor gather. However, Hazel doesn’t
want to be labeled as a depressed cancer survivor, and she thinks that the Support
Group is not suitable with her because it is a place where lose hope cancer survivors
are gather.
The Doctor replied hazel’s challenge using defensive strategy, he ignored
the face attack then explained that Support Group is a place where cancer survivor
as her are gather. Here, the “same journey” which is mentioned by the doctor means,
same effort to fight and to struggle over cancer disease.
The doctor wants Hazel to positive thinking about that support group. The
Doctor believes that Hazel need to meet other cancer survivor. By joining that group
she won’t feel as the only unlucky person who suffers over cancer and she can share
her story to empower and embrace each other, then she will not be over thinking
about dying and ended up in depression.
However, Hazel still doesn’t believe with the doctor’s answer then she
replied using negative impoliteness strategy by requoting the doctor’s answer
“Same journey” with different intonation and she continued to ask “Really?” to
show her doubt as if the doctor’s answer is not something he really mean.
The doctor replied still using defensive strategy; he ignored the implied face
attack by Hazel and answered “Just give it a chance, ok? For me” which is mean
that he understand for Hazel’s disbelief of that group but Hazel need to believe him
as her personal doctor and his advice is for the sake’s of Hazel best condition.
40
In this dialogue illustrates that the doctor gave suggestion for hazel to visit
a support group of cancer survivor. He gave the suggestion based on his monitoring
and examination in every Hazel’s controlling schedule, and he knows that someday
Hazel would feel depressed whenever her cancer gets worst. It is not the first time
he suggest Hazel to visit the support group because he concern with Hazel’s health
progress. This kind of attention shows their closeness, that’s why the doctor keeps
being patient by ignoring the face attack and at last Hazel becomes soften and want
to follow his suggestion.
Datum 3
Hazel’s routines make her feels bored; watching reality shows, going to
doctor’s appointments, taking three times a day eight prescription drugs and worst
of all is attending support group. She thinks that Support group is something useless
because she doesn’t get it helpful but wasting of time. Hazel always feels lazy to go
there and every Support Group schedule is coming Hazel parents have to force her
to go there.
HAZEL : ugh you can’t make me.
MICHEL : Of course we can. We’re your parents. Hazel you need to get
out of the house. Make friends. Be a teenager.
HAZEL : If you want me to be a teenager, don’t send me to support
group, make me a fake ID so I can go to clubs and drink gimlets and take
pot.
MICHEL : You don’t take pot (Page 7.)
Positive Impoliteness strategy appears when Hazel refuses her parents
persuasion to go to Support Group. Although she knows that her personal doctor
suggests and forces her to go, yet she won’t to go there. Going to Support Group
41
becomes Hazel’s obligation since her personal doctor said it so, and Hazel’s refusal
to her parents’ persuasion means that she opposes and disobeys not only her parents
but also the doctor. By disagreeing with her parents, she expresses Positive
Impoliteness strategy because Hazel seeks disagreement of something urgent
related to her health and it causes her parents feels tired.
Michel replies Hazel’s Impoliteness strategy using escalation offensive
strategy whenever he says “of course we can”. His statement shows his will for
Hazel to obey him because he wants and knows what the best is for his daughter.
Moreover, when Michel continues to say “we’re your parent,” it reflects his power
as a father toward Hazel and it gives him authority to control and order what should
Hazel does. As a father, whenever he wants Hazel to go to Support Group for her
good, so she should go there without any excuse. He is worry about Hazel’s
psychological condition because he sees that Hazel always stay at home. He thinks
that she should to socialize like the other teenager at her age do. And going to
support group can help her to make some friends and also can help her to decimate
her stress.
Hazel comes again with Positive Impoliteness by seeking disagreement
toward his dad when her dad gives a piece of advice about being teenager. Michel
wants Hazel to go to Support Group where other cancer survivors on her age are
gathered. She confronts her dad that going to support group won’t make her
becomes a teenager. For her, become teenager is about having fun or doing some
juvenile delinquencies like going to clubs, drinking gimlets and taking pot. By
42
making her dad feel uncomfortable, she wants Michel to stop forces her attend to
Support Group and let her stay at home.
In reply, Michel expresses inversion offensive strategy by changing Hazel
last statement into negative form. Hazel says she would take pot, Michel replies that
she wouldn’t take pot. He knows Hazel is trying to threaten him, and he won’t fall
into it.
The relationship among Hazel and her parents is very close and private, they
live in the same home, they look after one and another and they are family. Since
Hazel diagnosed with cancer, her parents become a bit possessive to her. Therefore
Michel often regulating, trammeling, and imposing his will to protect her and get
the best for her.
Datum 4
Finally, Hazel wants to go to Support Group, but not because she wanted to
or because she thought it would help. She decides to go there only to make her
parents happy. Outside the Support Group church which is a small Episcopalian
sanctuary in suburban Indianapolis, Frannie’s car pulls up to the back entrance. She
is dropping Hazel for her first attendance in the group. As Hazel shuts the car’s
door, she asks her mom whether she will have an activity to do while she’s waiting
for her.
HAZEL : Are you gonna sit here and wait the whole time?
FRANNIE : Of course not, no. I.. I have errands to run. (Page 8.)
43
Negative Impoliteness is expressed by Hazel when she asking her mother,
whether she will wait without anything to do or go back home and then come again
to pick her up. Hazel doesn’t want to go to then Support Group because she thinks
there are other important things that her parents can do rather than accompany her
to the group.
Inversion offensive strategy is occurred when Frannie changing Hazel last
statement into negative form. Frannie denies that she would do nothing while
waiting for Hazel. She knows Hazel is trying to ease her but she won’t make her
worry by saying she has nothing to do except waiting for her. Waiting for Hazel is
a kind of responsibilities for her; it is a kind of her duty.
Datum 5
Hazel is waiting for her mom’s car to appear in the parking lot when
Augustus comes to greet her. They aren’t yet to be friend in the Support Group, but
Augustus already amazed with Hazel when she gave her opinion to respond
Augustus’ answer about his biggest fear in the middle of discussion on the group.
From that moment, Augustus interest with Hazel and he try to be her friend and get
closer to her.
HAZEL : Why are you looking at me like that?
GUS : Because you are beautiful (Page 13.)
Bald on record,is performed by Hazel in the form of short and clear,
expressing what needs to be said without unnecessary words. She does not like to
be starred by August, her uncomfortable feeling is expressed in a way which makes
44
it completely clear as what it is meant. She says what she thinks in a very honest
way without worrying about August respons.
August replies in defensive encounter strategy to ignore the implied face
attack is showed by Hazel, he just react toward the surface meaning of statement
“why” as a question and he doesn’t matter with the implied meaning that question.
He seriously amazed with Hazel’s beauty at that time, and when he says that he
really meant it.
Datum6
Still in the parking lot, Gus is asking Hazel to hang out with him.
GUS : Let’s watch a movie.
HAZEL : Oh. Um. Uh... (yes!) Sure. Yeah. I’m... pretty free this week—
GUS : No I mean now.
HAZEL : What?
GUS : Hmm?
HAZEL : What do you mean “now?”
GUS : I’ve got a car.
He shrugs. Hazel has never seen someone so confident.
HAZEL : You could be an axe murderer.
GUS : There is that possibility. (beat) Come on Hazel Grace... take
a risk. (Page 14.)
When Hazel says “what?”, she is expressing disbelief instead of merely
posing a question. Her disbelief of August intention shows positive impoliteness
because she damage August desire to be approved by other in communication. She
can’t go with August because she is barely knows him and his invitation is too
sudden. She couldn’t make any consideration toward sudden invitation from
stranger.
45
Defensive encounter strategy to ignore the implied face attack is showed by
August’s speechless response, he just react toward the surface meaning of statement
“what” as a question and he doesn’t matter with the implied meaning that question.
He seriously wants to go the cinema at that time. He waits for Hazel answer and he
want her to decide immediately.
Positive impoliteness appears once again when hazel asking and giving
emphasis on the word now “what do you mean now?” She still disbelief with
August and she refuses to answer before she makes sure whether August is serious
or not. She also perform Bald on Record Impoliteness by giving that question, the
question reflects that she can’t go at that time, yet she want to go in other time or
moment.
Once again Gus performs ignore the implied face attack from defensive
strategies. He insists with his intention to go with hazel and still doesn’t care much
with Hazel disbelieve of him. He has confident to ask her no matter what her
response is. He offer his car to make hazel sure that they can go wherever they can
at the time.
Hazel can accept that Gus has car, but she still can’t go with him because
she barely know him. Then, she performs bald on record impoliteness strategies
when she said “You could be an axe murderer” which mean she couldn’t go with
August because they has just meet, introduce and talk for a moment.
Offensive strategy comes up when Gus replied that Hazel must take the
challenge to go with stranger like him. He still tries to make her want to go with
46
him. He is not the only stranger, for him Hazel is also a stranger but he dares to ask
her to watch a movie. His challenge to Hazel makes Hazel look like a coward and
timid person.
Datum 7
It is still in the parking lot, and Augustus is still trying to make appointment
with hazel. As Hazel mulls this over, Gus reaches into his pocket and pulls out a
pack of cigarettes. He flips the box open, put a cigarette between his lips, it makes
Hazel in disbelieve.
HAZEL : What you think that’s cool? Oh you idiot! What you think
that’s cool? Oh you idiot! : There’s always Hamartia, isn’t
there? And yours is – even though you had FREAKING
CANCER you give money to a corporation for the chance
to acquire EVEN MORE CANCER!? Ugh you were doing
so well. Let me tell you… not being able to breathe? Suck.
Totally sucks.
GUS : Hamartia?
Hazel folds her arms and turns away from him.
HAZEL : A fatal flaw.
Gus takes a beat and then moves to face her, the smile still etched on his face.
GUS : They don’t hurt you unless you light them.
HAZEL : Sorry?
GUS : I’ve never lit one.
Hazel turns back to him.
GUS : It’s a metaphor. See? You put the thing that kills you between
your teeth. But you don’t give it the power to do the killing.
Hazel is floored and impressed.
HAZEL : Metaphor. (Page 15.)
Overlapping strategies released when Hazel mumbling. First, she shows
mock impoliteness when she say idiot more than once, she also performs Bald on
record impoliteness when she say “freaking cancer” that describes August condition
that has bone cancer. Negative impoliteness also appears when she tells “Oh you’re
47
doing so well” to frighten him that something bad will happen and condescend him
as if he does not know anything.
Gus doesn’t response to all Hazel’s statement; he just ask question about a
word that attached in his ear, the hamartia. His short answer that asking back to
Hazel performs one of the defensive strategies, opt out on record where he tries to
seal off Hazel’s threatening act.
Short answer from Hazel shows bald on record impoliteness. She only
answers what hamartia is. That direct answer reflects that she is upset with Gus. It
is clear that she doesn’t want to talk any further with him.
Gus knows Hazel is upset then he explains that he never smokes. He also
tells it is just a symbol when he put the cigarette on his lips but he never lit one. His
explanation that ignores that face attack act from hazel shows defensive strategy,
ignore implied face attack.
Datum 8
Finally, Hazel accept Gus invitation to hang out with him, he invites Hazel
to nowhere but his home. Hazel and Gus are sitting in Gus’ basement which already
turned into Gus’ bedroom while talking about their “normal” life, the life
experience without their cancer.
GUS : So what’s your story?
HAZEL : I already told you my story. I was diagnosed –
GUS : Not your cancer story. Your story. Interests, hobbies, passions,
weird fetishes...
HAZEL : Um...
GUS : Don’t tell me you’re the one of those people who become
their disease
HAZEL : No. I am just… I don’t know… un-extraordinary
48
GUS : I reject that out of hand. (beat, Hazel shrugs) Think of
something you love. First thing that comes to mind.
HAZEL : “An Imperial Affliction.”
GUS : Ok. What’s that?
HAZEL : It’s a novel. My favorite novel.
GUS : Does it have zombies?
HAZEL : (laughing) What? No.
GUS : Stormtroopers?
HAZEL : Seriously? (he shrugs) It’s not that kind of book.
GUS : Sounds horrible.
HAZEL : It’s not, it’s... kind of my bible actually
Gus is doing Negative Impoliteness strategy by belittle Hazel that she
becomes unconfident and life without enthusiastic because suffer the cancer. He
wants Hazel to tell something wonderful about her life because he know there are
much moment that is amazing in someone’s life including Hazel
Defensive abrogation encounter strategy is used by Hazel in replying to
August response that belittle her, she indirectly agree with Gus. Of course she has
wonderful life but she only think that her life is not really that wonderful from other
perspective.
Gus, again delivers positive impoliteness strategy when he won’t accept
Hazel’s reason. He sure that there is must something that hazel like and she
gratitude to have it in her life in he insists want to know that thing. He also uses
bald on record impoliteness strategy in expressing denial of Hazel opinion.
Defensive abrogation strategy is used by Hazel, she mention a name of a
book she like. That book is a novel which tells story about Ana, an imaginary
character who is cancer survivor. Hazdel life ia really affected with her disease and
since she was diagnosed had cancer it like she was born to suffer the cancer.
49
Once again Gus replies Hazel answer using bald on record impoliteness
strategy. He sure in that novel there are only sadness, hopeless and mellow thing
and feeling.
Offensive escalation encounter strategy is used by Hazel, she explain that
the novel is not like the things that Gus think. The novel has different perspective
about cancer that empowers Hazel to survive and still gratitude to God for gives
beautiful life for her.
Datum 9
Hazel and Gus walk together on the sidewalk. They are talking about
electronic correspondence with Van Houten, their favorite writer. Gus found his
assistant and emailed her, and she must have forwarded it to him. Hazel and Gus
sent email about their admiration to the book and ask some questions to him. From
the last email, Van Houten invites them to pay a visit at their leisure time to find
the answers of their questions. Hazel is very happy to go to Amsterdam, but she
doesn’t have the money and the expense of getting equipment over there.
GUS : Just use your wish.
HAZEL : I’ve used it already. Pre”Miracle.”
GUS : What’d you do?
Hazel doesn’t want to say. Gus realizes.
GUS : Not Disney.
HAZEL : I was 13...
GUS : Tell me you did not go to Disney World. (Hazel looks away)
Hazel Grace! You did not use your one dying wish to go to
Disney World!
HAZEL : (feeble) And Epcot Center.
GUS : (hands in the air) Oh my God!
HAZEL : (defending her selves) We had fun on that trip.
GUS : That is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard!
HAZEL : I met Goofy...
GUS : Now I’m embarrassed.
50
HAZEL : Why are you embarrassed?
GUS : How can I have a crush on a girl with such cliché wishes? (Page
35.)
August indicates overlapping strategies, bald on record impoliteness and
negative impoliteness when he guesses the Disney thing. Bald on record,is
performed by August in the form of short and clear word that is expressing what
needs to be said without unnecessary words. Negative impoliteness is occurred
from the implied meaning of the word Disney. Disney is refers to kid, childish, fairy
tale, princess, Gus is trying to say that it is impossible for a smart and logic girl for
Hazel even young Hazel to spent her dying wish to go to Disney.
Hazel doesn’t say anything but admit it, she performs defensive abrogation
strategy that say she is too young at the moment. It was a usual thing thet every girl
at her age did.
Datum 10
One afternoon, Gus is going to picnic with Hazel. There, he told her that he
still keep his “Pre-Miracle” wish, in exchange for his leg. He is not going to give
his wish for Hazel or anything, so she can go to Amsterdam. However, August also
have interest in meeting Peter Van Houten, and he think that it wouldn’t make much
sense to meet him without Hazel who introduced the book to him. Gus already
talked to the Genies, and they’ll leave soon on May third. Later at home, hazel
informs her mother about Gus intention.
FRANNIE : It’s too much, Haze. We can’t accept something like that
from a virtual stranger. HAZEL : He’s not a stranger.
51
FRANNIE : Really?
HAZEL : Don’t be gross.
FRANNIE : It’s still no. I’m afraid.
HAZEL : Can we at least ask Dr. Maria? (Page 43.)
When Frannie say too much, it expresses disbelief. Her disbelief shows
positive impoliteness because she can’t accept August intention. They can’t go with
August because she is barely knows him and his invitation is too sudden. She
couldn’t make any consideration toward sudden invitation from stranger.
Hazel replies using offensive inversion encounter strategy. For her, August
is not a stranger. He is friend, a special friend who willingly gives his dying wish
to her. She can’t accept her mother opinion which thinks it is too much.
Negative politeness showed when Frannie questioning Hazel with only a
word, “really”. The word can be mean like I have no idea what you are thinking
about and I am quite sure that you are not serious about the idea. That time, Frannie
scrorn and ridicule Hazel by asking it.
Datum 11
GUS : Hazel Grace, like so many before you - and I say this with great
affection - you spent your Wish... moronically.
HAZEL : I was thir—
GUS : Hush! I’m in the midst of a grand soliloquy here.
HAZEL : Sorry. Please, continue...
GUS : You were young. Impressionable. The Grim Reaper staring you
in the face. And the fear of dying with your one true Wish left
52
ungranted led you to rush into making one you didn’t really want,
for how could little Hazel Grace, having never read “An Imperial
Affliction” ever know that her one TRUE wish was to visit Mr.
Peter Van Houten in his Amsterdamian exile
Hazel nods in agreement
GUS : If you were smart, you would have saved your wish til the
time in your life when you really knew your true self. Gus stops talking. Hazel is confused.
HAZEL : But I... didn’t save it.
Bald on record impoliteness strategy is performed by August in the form of
short and clear word, expressing that Hazeel was so careless and was in a rush and
unstable condition when she decided to waste her dying wish in Disneyland. Hazel
performs defensive abrogation strategy, she replies she was too young at the
moment.
Gus once again performs bald on record impoliteness strategy, also negative
impoliteness at once. Bald on record when is represents in the surface meaning of
the utterance “if you were smart” which is mean young Hazel was silly and naïve.
The implied meaning shows negative impoliteness that frighten Hazel, that she
made a big mistake is her life.
Datum 12
In Hazel’s house, Frannie is folding clothes while Hazel pleads her case to
visit Mr. Peter Van Houten in Amsterdam with Gus.
FRANNIE : Are you out of your mind? It’s too much, Haze. We
can’t accept something like that from a virtual stranger.
HAZEL : He’s not stranger.
53
FRANNIE : Really?
HAZEL : Don’t be gross. (Page 43.)
Two different impoliteness strategies implied by Frannie. First, she does
bald on record impoliteness when she says “Are you out of your mind? It’s too
much, Haze “, because Hazel never directly admits that she likes Gus or they were
more than just friend to her family, so her parent thought that the relation between
Gus and Hazel is just usual friend who met in support group. To accept unsual and
expensive gift from friend that you just met recently is indeed something that is too
much. Another strategy is negative impoliteness, because Frannie acts as if she
doesn’t know Gus. She ever told that Hazel has to make friend with someone in
Support Group then Hazel join the group and meet Gus. He ever visits their house
several times or invites Hazel to hangout. To say Gus is a stranger it means Frannie
disapprove him as Hazel’s friend, this act of disapproval performs negative
impoliteness.
Hazel replies using defensive inversion strategy, she refuses her mom
opinion and tell that Gus is not a stranger but friend. Even their relationship can be
said is more than just friend because recently they are close each other , although
in fact Hazel never say a word about it to anyone including her parents.
Once again Frannie does negative politeness, when asking “Really?” she
is actually belittling Hazel. She is unsure that Hazel couldn’t support her argument
with a strong proof, Frannie taught that Hazel’s point of view about Gus is like
opinion of teenager who just experience romance. She’ll never agree about Hazel
pledge to go to Amsterdam with Gus.
54
To sum up, based the above analysis, we can conclude that more positive
impoliteness used than other strategies and the most used encountered impoliteness
strategy is Defensive strategy; Ignore the Implied Impoliteness. According to
Leech’s scales and the Brown and Levinson’s variable, social distance indeed
determined strategy choices in the dialogue above.
However, from the analysis we can see that Hazel’s sickness and her status
as the only child in relation with her parents made the social distance among them
getting closer. That closeness relation made her parents sometimes used bald on
record impoliteness to Hazel, to remind her when Frannie asked her to life as a
teenager and to make friend in joining the support group.
Both of Gus and Hazel sometimes also use impoliteness strategy in the
beginning of their introduction, when Gus invited Hazel to hang out with him and
Hazel tried to reject it. At the time they started to get closer, when Gus wanted to
give his pre miracle wish to Hazel, Bald on record impoliteness also occurred
sometimes.
Hence, the writer concluded that most of the choices of strategies in the
dialogue among characters were influenced by the social distance. As long as the
other factors like power, and the speakers intention aren’t put by the characters in
communication, social distance will influence the choice of strategy.
55
56
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
According to research findings, it can be concluded that there are some points
which can answer the research questions.
Based on the analysis, the most used strategy is Positive Impoliteness where the
speaker tries to damage the hearer wants to be approved, to be respected and to be
appreciated. Frannie and Michel often obtrude their will toward Hazel wants that is
sick. Hazel is also hardly to accept their parent’s attention that makes her look like
helpless. Peter Van Houten, the favorite writer that Hazel and Gus admire also do the
positive im politeness since the first time they met. Van Houten doesn’t welcome them
nicely in Amsterdam.
Other strategies that used are, Bald on Record where the speaker performs the face
threatening act directly. It is followed by Negative Impoliteness, the strategy that
damages the hearer desire to have the freedom as he choose. Mock Impoliteness rarely
appears among the dialogue where the speaker allows the hearer to arrive at the
offensive point of his remark.
The encounter strategy that is used in general is defensive strategy were the
speaker allows the speaker to deliver the face attack but try to defending his own face.
57
Offensive strategy is not really hard to find in the analysis, it is also appear in some
data findings but not as much as the defensive strategy.
In this research, can be seen that the social distance among character really affect
the use of the impoliteness strategies and the encounter strategy. When the speaker and
the hearer have close social distance, the speaker prefers to decrease the use of face
attack. However, when the the FTA appears, the hearer trying not to against back.
B. Suggestions
This research may give a few suggestions for the next researchers who want to
concern about Pragmatics especially in Impoliteness by using the corpus taken from
film transcript, and give benefit to linguistic research. Also, this research may give
awareness about impoliteness strategies because there are times when people speak,
they have intention to damage the hearer face. Besides Pragmatics, this corpus can be
analyzed through some theories in Psycholinguistics, Discourse, and also other features
in Conversation Analysis (CA).
62
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bousfield, Derek and Locher, Miriam (ed.). Impoliteness in Language Studies on its
Interplay with Power in Theory and Practice. Berlin: Mouton, 2008
Bousfield, Derek. Impoliteness in Interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing
Company, 2008.
Brown, Penelope and Levinson, Stephen C. Politeness: Some Universals in Language
Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992
Culpeper, Jonathan. “Toward an Anatomy of Impoliteness,” Journal of Pragmatics,
vol. 25. Oxford: Elsevier, 1996.
_______________. “(Im)Politeness in Dramatic Dialogue” Jonathan Culpeper, M.
Short, and P. Verdonk. (eds.) Exploring the Language of Drama: From Text to
Context London: Rouledge, 1998.
Culpeper, Jonathan, Dereck Bousfield, nd Anne Wichman. “Impoliteness Revisited:
Special Reference to Dynamic and Prosodic Aspects” Journal of Pragmatics,
vol. 25. London: Elsevier, 2003.
Cutting, Joan. Pragmatics and Discourse: A Resource Book for Student. London:
Rouletge, 2002
David, Nunan. Research Methods in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992.
Fauziati, Endang. “Linguistic Impoliteness: A Brief Literature Review” Markhamah,
Agus Wijayanto, Miftakhul Huda (eds.). Prosiding Seminar Nasional:
63
Ketidaksantunan Berbahasa dan Dampaknya Dalam Pembentukan Karakter.
Surakarta:Muhammadiyah University Press, 2014
Fraser, Bruce. “Perspective on Politeness” Journal of Pragmatics. Oxford: Elsevier,
1990.
Goffman, Erving. Interaction Ritual: Essay on Face-to-face Behaviour.New York:
Anchor Book, 1967.
Leech, Geoffery N. Principle of Pragmatics. London: Longman, 1983.
Locher, Miriam A. Power and Politeness in Action: Disagreement in Oral
Communication. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyer, 2004.
Rahardi, Dr. R. Kunjana M.Hum. Pragmatik: Kesantunan Imperative Bahasa
Indonesia. Jakarta: Erlangga, 2006.
Schiffin, Debortah. Ancangan Kajian Wacana (terj.) Unang, Sunatri, Majid, et.al. (ed.)
Dr. Abd. Syukur Ibrahim. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 2007.
Subroto, Edi. Pengantar Metoda Penelitian Linguistik Struktural. Surakarta: Sebelas
Maret University Press, 1992.
Watt, Richard J. Politeness: Key Topics in Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2003.
64
Websites:
Sohibussiri, Muh. An Analysis of Politeness Strategies in Putra Nababan’s Interview
with Barrack Obama
http://repository.uinjkt.ac.id/dspace/handle/123456789/3830 accessed on 1st
April 2015
Wibowo, Grace P., Esther Kuntjara, Impoliteness Strategies Used on Online Comments
in an Indonesian Footbal Website
http://studentjournal.petra.ac.id/index.php/sastra-iggris/article/view/418
accessed on June 24th, 2015 at 08.35 PM
65
APPENDIXES
Transcript: “The Fault In Our Strars”
Downloaded from: http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Fault-in-Our-Stars,-The.html on January 21,
2015
IN THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE – ONEDAY
Hazel’s mother, Frannie, thought that Hazel was depressed because of her
sickness then she brought hazel to meet Doctor. To prove what she thinking was right,
she reported Hazel’s habit to Doctor.
HAZEL : I’m not depressed.
Hazel’s legs dangle over the side of an exam table. Her mother FRANNIE (early 40s,
younger than she feels) explains to the DOCTOR
FRANNIE : ... she eats like a bird. She barely leaves the house,
HAZEL : I’m not depressed.
FRANNIE : ... she reads the same book over and over...
DOCTOR : She’s depressed.
HAZEL : I’m not depressed!
Frannie continues to talk to the doctor. Hazel continues to dangle her feet.
FRANNIE : ... some days she won’t even get out of bed.
The Doctor scratches his beard, thinking.
DOCTOR : I may switch you to Zoloft. Or Lexapro. And twice a
day instead of once.
HAZEL : Why stop there?
DOCTOR : Hmm?
HAZEL : Keep ‘em coming. I can take it. I’m like the Keith
Richards of cancer kids. The Doctor looks at Frannie who
just shakes her head.
DOCTOR : Have you been going to that Support Group I
suggested?
Instead of answering, Hazel looks at her Mom.
FRANNIE : She’s gone a few times.
66
HAZEL : I’m not sure it’s for me.
DOCTOR : If you’re depressed –
HAZEL : (exasperated) I’m not de—
DOCTOR : (ignoring her) -- support Groups are a great way to
connect with people who are...
HAZEL : What?
DOCTOR : (beat) On the same journey.
HAZEL : “Journey?” Really?
FRANNIE : Hazel.
DOCTOR : Just give it a chance, ok? For me.
Hazel rolls her eyes, knows she’s lost this battle.
DOCTOR : Who knows? You might even find it... enlightening.
SMASH CUT TO: CHURCH BASEMENT – ANOTHER DAYS
PATRICK (30s, pony-tail). He has a guitar.
PATRICK : ... we are gathered here today literally - in the heart of
Jesus.
Angle on Hazel who just shakes her head. This is the lamest thing she could be doing
right now.
PATRICK : Who would like to share their story with the group?
The basement is filled with Sick people and Hazel is among them. Most are under the
age of 18.
PATRICK : Who else would like to share? (no response) Hazel?
Oh no. Patrick gestures for her to speak. Reluctantly she stands, sighs...
HAZEL : I’m, uh, Hazel. 16. (beat) Thyroid originally but with
quite the impressive satellite colony in my lungs.
Not much more to say, Hazel is about to sit down.
PATRICK : And how are you doing Hazel?
Hazel has no idea how to answer that.
HAZEL : Alright? I guess...?
Isaac tries not to laugh at this. Hazel sits back down.
67
ALL IN UNISON : “We’re here for you Hazel.”
Hazel exhales. This is not at all helpful. A few more beats.
PATRICK : Maybe now I’ll play a song...
OUTSIDE THE CHURCH – LATER
Frannie sits in the car in the parking lot, reading from a book, waiting for Group to be
over. She sees the church door open and puts the book away. Hazel comes out. Frannie
looks at her like “well, was it great?” Hazel just exhales and gets in the car.
HAZEL’S LIVING ROOM - ANOTHER DAY
“America’s Next Top Model” is on the TV. Hazel sits on one side of the L-shaped
couch, flipping through her novel. Frannie and Hazel’s dad MICHAEL (40s, kind,
doing his best to stay positive) sit on the other side, watching her - but trying not to
make it seem that way.
FRANNIE : It’s Friday night.
HAZEL : Hmm?
FRANNIE : I was just thinking... you should call your friends, see
what they’re up to.
HAZEL : (disinterested) That’s ok.
Frannie and Michael look at one another, don’t say anything.
MICHAEL : Wanna see a movie?
Hazel looks up from the book. Sees her parents. Gets an idea.
HAZEL : Why don’t you guys go to a movie? You haven’t been
out in a while. Go. Have fun. Take the night off.
Frannie and Michael look at one another again.
MICHAEL : This is a really good show.
Hazel sighs. And just like that, everyone goes back to what they were doing
HAZEL’S KITCHEN - ANOTHER DAY
Hazel and her parents are in the kitchen.
HAZEL : Ugh. You can’t make me.
MICHAEL : Of course we can, we’re your parents.
68
Hazel frowns.
MICHAEL : Hazel, you need to get out of the house. Make friends.
Be a teenager.
HAZEL : If you want me to be a teenager, don’t send me to
Support Group. Buy me a fake ID so I can go to clubs
and drink gimlets and take pot.
MICHAEL : You don’t take pot..
HAZEL : See, that’s the kind of thing I would know with a fake
ID. FRANNIE : Get in the car.
Hazel mock stabs herself in the stomach with an invisible sword.
OUTSIDE THE CHURCH
Frannie’s car pulls up close to the back entrance.
HAZEL : Are you gonna sit here and wait the whole time?
FRANNIE : Of course not, no. I... (she totally is) I have errands to
run. Hazel knows she’s not planning to run any errands. She doesn’t press the issue.
HAZEL : Ok.
FRANNIE : Love you.
HAZEL : Love you too Mom
FRANNIE : Make some friends!
Hazel just shakes her head.
CUT TO: In the CHURCH
Hazel walks towards the elevator. An extremely sick-looking kid holds it open for her.
Hazel thinks better of it.
HAZEL : I’ll take the stairs.
The kid nods. The doors shut. Hazel is reminded - it could always be worse. She turns
to go, walking right into:
GUS : Ooph.
HAZEL : Sorry!
GUS : My bad.
For a brief moment, the Earth stops. They stand looking at one another. Hazel is
speechless.
69
HAZEL : Excuse me.
CUT TO: In the CHURCH BASEMENT – LATER
Hazel sits in the Circle of Sick.
PATRICK : Who would like to begin?
No volunteers. Hazel catches sight of the Beautiful Boy, sitting next to Isaac. He seems
to be watching her, that same flirty smile on his face. She self-consciously looks away.
PATRICK : Isaac, I know you’re facing a challenging time. Perhaps
you would like to say something...
Isaac nods rises.
ISAAC : Yeah, um... I’m Isaac. 17. Eye cancer. (beat) It’s
looking like another surgery in a couple weeks. After
which, well, I’ll be blind...
Hazel tries to focus on what Isaac’s saying but it’s difficult. She still feels Gus’ gaze
on her.
ISAAC : Not that I’m complaining or anything. I know a lot of
you have it way worse but, still, I mean, you know, being blind’s
gonna suck...
As Isaac shares, Gus doesn’t look away from Hazel. Hazel finds this intimidating. And
intimidation irritates her. So she decides to play the game with him, meeting his gaze
and holding it just as firmly. A staring contest.
ISAAC : .My girlfriend helps. And friends like Augustus
here...
Isaac nods towards the Gus who now has a name AUGUSTUS. He still doesn’t look
away from Hazel.
ISAAC : So... yeah. That’s what’s up.
ALL IN UNISON : “We’re here for you Isaac.”
The staring contest continues another few beats until…
PATRICK : And does your friend want to speak?
This causes the Gus to momentarily look away. Hazel smiles, flicks her eyebrows up
as if to say “Victory is mine!” He smiles back at her, the most radiant smile on the
planet. He turns back to the Group.
70
GUS : Hi. I’m Augustus Waters. 17. Had a touch of
osteosarcoma bout a year and a half ago - lost this baby
as a result...
Gus holds up his right leg - a prosthetic.
GUS : But really I’m just here at Isaac’s request.
PATRICK : And how are you feeling Augustus?
GUS : Me? Oh I’m grand. I’m on a roller coaster that only
goes up, my friend.
Hazel smiles. Gus catches this. Embarrassed, she stops smiling and looks away.
PATRICK : Perhaps you’d like to share your fears with the group,
Augustus.
GUS : My fears? Oblivion.
PATRICK : Oblivion?
GUS : Yeah, see... I intend to live an extraordinary life. To be
remembered. If I’m scared of anything it’s... not doing
that.
Patrick doesn’t quite have the tools to deal with that.
PATRICK : Would, uh, anyone like to speak to that?
And Hazel’s hand goes up. Even Patrick is surprised by that.
PATRICK : Hazel! That’s unexpected.
Hazel stands, takes a second to gather her thoughts. Augustus watches her, waits for it.
HAZEL : I just wanna say... there will come a time when, you
know, all of us are dead. Gus is now even more fixed on
her than before. It might be tomorrow. Might be a million
years from now but... it’s gonna happen. And when it
does, enough generations will come and go, there’ll be
no one left to remember Cleopatra. Or Mozart. Or
Muhammad Ali, let alone any of us, right? The look on
Gus’s face is unreadable. HAZEL Oblivion’s inevitable.
And if that scares you, well, I suggest you ignore it. God
knows it’s what everyone else does.
A beat. And then an enormous smile spreads across Gus’s face, not a flirty smile but a
surprised one, a real one.
71
CUT TO: OUTSIDE THE CHURCH – LATER
Hazel waits for her Mom’s car to appear. Across the parking lot, she sees Isaac going
at it with a redhead, MONICA (17), sucking face like there’s no tomorrow against the
door of her green Pontiac Firebird. Between kisses, we can hear…
ISAAC : Always.
MONICA : Always.
And Hazel hears….
GUS : Literally.
Hazel turns to find Augustus, standing right next to her.
GUS : I thought we were in a church basement but apparently
we were literally in the heart of Jesus.
Hazel smiles.
HAZEL : Someone should probably tell him, don’t you think?
Jesus? Seems kinda dangerous keeping all these kids
with cancer in your heart.
Gus laughs.
GUS : What’s your name?
HAZEL : Hazel.
GUS : No your full name?
HAZEL : (confused) Hazel Grace Lancaster.
Gus nods to himself, smiles. Still fixated on her.
HAZEL : What?
GUS : I didn’t say anything.
HAZEL : Why are you looking at me like that?
GUS : Because you’re beautiful.
Hazel is taken aback. No one’s ever said that to her before.
GUS : I enjoy looking at beautiful people and I decided a while
back not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of
existence. Particularly given that, as you so astutely
pointed out, we’re all gonna die pretty soon.
HAZEL : (beat) I’m not beaut –
GUS : Let’s watch a movie.
72
Hazel is again surprised.
HAZEL : Oh. Um. Uh... Sure. Yeah. I’m... pretty free this week—
GUS : No I mean now.
HAZEL : What?
GUS : Hmm?
HAZEL : What do you mean “now?”
GUS : I’ve got a car. (He shrugs.)
Hazel has never seen someone so confident.
HAZEL : You could be an axe murderer.
GUS : There is that possibility. (beat) Come on Hazel Grace...
take a risk.
As Hazel mulls this over, Gus reaches into his pocket and pulls out, of all things, a pack
of cigarettes! Hazel is in disbelief. He flips the box open, puts a cigarette between his
lips.
HAZEL : Oh my god. Oh. My. God. You’re kidding right? (off
his look) You just ruined the whole thing!
GUS : Whole thing?
HAZEL : What, you think that’s cool? Oh you idiot! There’s
always a hamartia, isn’t there? And yours is - even
though you had freaking cancer you give money to a
corporation for the chance to acquire even more cancer!?
Ugh. And you were doing so well.
As she rants, Gus continues to look at her with that smile on his face. Hazel does not
find it so amusing.
HAZEL : Let me tell you... not being able to breathe? Sucks.
Totally sucks.
GUS : Hamartia?
Hazel folds her arms and turns away from him.
HAZEL : A fatal flaw.
Gus takes a beat and then moves to face her, the smile still etched on his face.
GUS : They don’t hurt you unless you light them.
HAZEL : Sorry?
GUS : I’ve never lit one.
73
Hazel turns back to him.
GUS : It’s a metaphor. See? You put the thing that kills you
between your teeth. But you don’t give it the power to do
the killing.
Hazel is floored. And impressed.
HAZEL : Metaphor.
Gus holds her gaze. And it’s at this point Frannie pulls up.
FRANNIE : Hi sweetheart. Ready for some “Model?”
Hazel looks at Gus, cigarette dangling from his lips. Cool as anything. Handsome as
hell. She looks back at her mom.
HAZEL : Can’t tonight. (off her confused look) I’ve made plans
with Augustus Waters.
CUT TO: IN GUS’S CAR – LATER
Hazel is terrified. Turns out, Gus is the world’s worst driver. When braking, her body
flies forward against the seatbelt. And when he hits the gas, seconds later, her neck
snaps back in the seat. Gus sees the look on her face.
GUS : I failed the test a couple times.
HAZEL : You don’t say.
GUS : Most amputees can drive with no problem but... yeah.
Not me
HAZEL : I’m surprised you have a license.
GUS : Tell me about it!
Another brake forces Hazel against the seat belt.
GUS : The fourth time I took the test... it was going about how
this is going... and when it was over, the instructor looks
at me and goes, “you’re driving, while unpleasant... is not
technically unsafe.”.
HAZEL : Aha. Cancer perk
GUS : Total cancer perk.
A few beats of silence.
GUS : So what happened to you?
74
Hazel takes a deep breath., then she tells her story. Gus has one eye on the road, the
other on Hazel. He was impressed with her before. He’s totally dazzled now.
HAZEL : Tumors shrank, my Mets have hardly grown since Of
course my lungs still suck but, theoretically, they could
continue to suck in just this way for, I dunno, a while
maybe.
GUS : Wow.
HAZEL : Yeah.
GUS : So are you back in school or...?
HAZEL : Can’t.
GUS : Why not?
HAZEL : Got my GED.
GUS : A college girl! Well that explains the aura of
sophistication...
He smiles at her. She smiles back. They’re easing into each other. Eventually Gus’s car
pulls into his driveway.
GUS : We’re here.
He’s as good at parking as he is at driving.
CUT TO: GUS’ HOUSE
Hazel follows Gus inside. She quickly notices all sorts of engraved plaques and framed
signs with phrases like “Home is Where the Heart Is” and “True Love is Born from
Hard Times.” Hazel looks at Gus quizzically.
GUS : My parents call them “encouragements.” (rolling his
eyes) Don’t ask.
Gus’s MOM and DAD (40s) are in the kitchen making dinner.
GUS : Hey guys.
GUS’S MOM : Augustus, hi. New friend?
Gus’s parents don’t seem surprised to see Gus with some random girl in their house.
Hazel takes note of that.
GUS : This is Hazel Grace.
HAZEL : It’s just... Hazel.
GUS’S DAD : How’s it going, Just Hazel?
75
GUS : (abruptly) Downstairs if you need us!
Gus drags Hazel to the next room. As she’s pulled…
HAZEL : Nice to meet you!
They walk down the carpeted stairs - Gus having an easier time with his one leg than
Hazel is with her oxygen tank and weak lungs. Eventually they arrive at Gus’s
basement bedroom. There’s a TV with a video game console, a few band posters, and
a whole host of basketball memorabilia (autographed sneakers, school trophies, framed
images etc.) Gus sees her looking at them.
GUS : I used to play.
HAZEL : Must have been pretty good.
GUS : These are mine. And these. The rest of it’s just cancer
perks
Gus grabs a DVD from his stack of DVDs. Hazel sits down on the bed, her breathing
noticeably heavier.
HAZEL : Need to sit.
Gus sits down next to her on the bed
HAZEL : Don’t get any ideas. (catching her breath) All that
standing... and stairs... and then more standing... lotta
standing for me.
GUS : I understand.
HAZEL : I’ll be fine in a minute. Unless I faint. I’m a bit of a
Victorian lady, fainting-wise.
Gus smiles. He waits for her breathing to slow down.
GUS : You ok?
Hazel nods, smiles.
GUS : So what’s your story?
HAZEL : I already told you my story. I was diagnosed –
GUS : Not your cancer story. Your story. Interests, hobbies,
passions, weird fetishes..
HAZEL : Um...
GUS : Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who becomes
their disease.
HAZEL : No. I’m just... I don’t know... unextraordinary.
76
GUS : I reject that out of hand. (beat, Hazel shrugs) Think of
something you love. First thing that comes to mind.
HAZEL : “An Imperial Affliction.”
GUS : Ok. What’s that?
HAZEL : It’s a novel. My favorite novel.
GUS : Does it have zombies?
HAZEL : (laughing) What? No.
GUS : Stormtroopers.
HAZEL : Seriously? (he shrugs) It’s not that kind of book.
GUS : Sounds horrible. HAZEL It’s not, it’s... kind of my
bible actually.
GUS : Interesting. What’s it about?
HAZEL : Cancer. (off his look) But not in that way, trust me. The
guy who wrote it, Peter Van Houten, he’s... well, the only
person I’ve ever come across who seems to understand
what it’s like to be dying and not have died.
GUS : (intrigued) In that case... I am going to read this horrible
book with the boring title that does not contain zombies
or stormtroopers. And in exchange.... all I ask is that you
read this brilliant and haunting novelization of my
favorite video game.
GUS : Your hands are cold.
HAZEL : Not so much cold as underoxygenated.
GUS : Ooh Hazel Grace... (beat) I love it when you talk
medical to me.
CUT TO: HAZEL’S BEDROOM - ANOTHER NIGHT
Hazel sits in bed reading Gus’s novella. Frannie stands in the doorway, notices the new
book.
FRANNIE : That’s different.
Hazel shrugs. Frannie looks intrigued.
FRANNIE : Did he give it to you?
HAZEL : By “it” do you mean herpes?
77
Frannie rolls her eyes. Hazel’s phone buzzes. She excitedly checks it - only to be
disappointed. Frannie notices.
FRANNIE : I’m sure he’ll call, don’t worry.
HAZEL : I’m not worried. Please. It’s not like I’m waiting for
him to call or anything. I just... we hung out. No big deal.
Frannie says nothing to that. Her silence says it all. Hazel rolls her eyes.
IN HAZEL’S DINING ROOM – NIGHT
Hazel sits around the dinner table with her parents. She’s a little sullen, barely touching
her food. Hazel’s phone buzzes. She tries not to seem too eager to check it, what with
her parents watching and all. She subtly looks down at her lap. And sure enough: a text
from Gus! Her eyes bug out..
GUS’ TEXT :“Tell me my copy is missing the last ten pages or
something.”
Hazel smiles. Goes back to eating. Frannie and Michael share a quick glance. A second
later, there’s a follow-up text.
GUS’ TEXT : “Tell me I have NOT reached the end of this book!”
Hazel smiles again. And then a third text:
GUS’ TEXT : “A BOOK CAN”T END IN THE MIDDLE OF A
SENTENCE?! WHAT IN GOD’S NAME IS THIS
MADNESS! AAAAHHHH!”
Hazel now laughs out loud. Michael clears his throat. Hazel looks up.
MICHAEL : Would you like to be excused?
HAZEL’S HOUSE - BACKYARD - MOMENTS LATER
Hazel sits down on a patio chair and dials the phone. Gus answers on the first ring.
HAZEL : Welcome to the sweet torture of reading “An Imperial
--”
At which point she hears a loud WAIL coming from the other end of the phone.
HAZEL : What the -- are you ok?
GUS : Me? Yeah. I’m excellent. I am, however, with Isaac.
Hazel hears more wailing. Has no idea what to make of
it.
78
Hazel genuinely has no idea what the hell is going on.
GUS : Isaac! Focus. On. Me.
Hazel waits a few beats for Gus to come back on.
GUS : (to Hazel) How fast can you get here
GUS’S BASEMENT – LATER
Hazel descends the steps. She hears an ungodly moan before she sees anyone. What
has she gotten herself into? Gus appears at the base.
GUS : (calling to Isaac) Isaac, Hazel from Support Group is
coming downstairs.
Gus waits for a response. None comes. He gestures for her to follow him into the room.
Before he does…
GUS : (to Hszel) A gentle reminder: Isaac is in the midst of a
psychotic episode. You look nice, by the way.
HAZEL : How ya doing Isaac?
Again, no response. Hazel looks to Gus for an explanation.
GUS : Seems Isaac and Monica are no longer a going concern.
HAZEL : Oh I’m sorry. (beat) Do you want to talk about it? Isaac
starts to sob again.
GUS : He just wants to cry and play video games.
HAZEL : Fair enough.
GUS : It doesn’t hurt to talk to him, however. If you have any
sage words of feminine advice..
HAZEL : I actually think his response is appropriate.
GUS : “Pain demands to be felt.”
HAZEL : (lights up at that) You’re quoting my book!
Gus winks at her. At which point, Isaac lets out another howl. Gus gestures for Hazel
to sit. The two of them flank Isaac. He finally speaks.
ISAAC : She didn’t want to do it after the surgery. Said she
couldn’t handle it. I’m about to lose my eyesight and she
can’t handle it.
Hazel rubs his shoulder in sympathy.
79
ISAAC : I kept saying “always” to her. Always, always, always.
And she just kept talking over me and not saying it back.
It was like I was already gone, you know? “Always” was
a promise! You can’t break promises.
HAZEL : Sometimes people don’t understand the promises
they’re making when they make them.
ISAAC : Right, sure, but you keep the promise anyway. That’s
what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.
GUS : That could be an “encouragement.”
It’s silent for a beat. And then Isaac stands up, a funny look on his face. 26
GUS : Isaac...?
Suddenly Isaac starts kicking his chair across the room.
GUS : Here we go...
The chair lands against the bed. Gus hands Isaac something else to throw, a pillow.
Isaac grabs the pillow and slams it against the wall. He dives on it and beings
pummeling the pillow like a maniac.
GUS : That’s it! Punch that thing.
And so he does. As he continues to, Gus looks at Hazel, cigarette dangling from his
mouth.
GUS : I’ve been wanting to call you on a nearly minutely
basis but I have been waiting until I could form a
coherent thought in re: “An Imperial Affliction.” (she
smiles) I can’t stop thinking about it.
HAZEL : I know, right?
GUS : The only problem is the ending.
HAZEL : It is rather abrupt.
GUS : It’s torture! I mean, I totally get that she died or
whatever - Anna. But there is an unwritten contract
between author and reader and I think ending your book
in the middle of a sentence kind of violates that contract.
HAZEL : But that’s part of what I like about it. It portrays death
truthfully. You die in the middle of your life, in the
middle of a sentence. But I do - God, I do want to know
what happens to everyone else.
GUS : Yeah like her Mom.
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HAZEL : The Dutch Tulip Man...
GUS : Sysiphus the Hamster...
Hazel beams. Gus totally gets the book. A bond between them.
GUS : Have you tried contacting this... Peter Van Houten?
HAZEL : I’ve written letters. He’s never responded. Apparently
he moved to Amsterdam, became a recluse. Hasn’t published anything. Doesn’t do
interviews.
GUS : Sad. (beat) Hang on. (turns to Isaac) Isaac! Gus stands
and takes the pillow out of Isaac’s hand.
GUS : Pillows don’t break.
Gus hands Isaac one of his basketball trophy.
GUS : You need to break something..
Isaac looks at it, then back to Gus as if asking permission. Gus nods. Isaac holds it over
his head and smash! The trophy breaks into a million pieces. Isaac almost smiles. Gus
hands him another.
GUS : Go to town, my friend.
And Isaac does. Smashing them one by one. Hazel looks at Gus.
GUS : I’ve been looking for a way to tell my Dad that I kinda
hate basketball. Think maybe we’ve found it.
Isaac grabs more of the trophies, smashing them to pieces. Gus and Hazel enjoy the
spectacle. When there are none left Isaac is panting, standing over the bronze carnage.
GUS : Feel better?
Isaac thinks about it. Shakes his head no. Gus puts his arm around him but looks at
Hazel.
GUS : That’s the thing about pain... it demands to be felt.
Hazel smiles. And on her face.
CUT TO: HAZEL’S HOUSE - DINING ROOM - ANOTHER NIGHT
Hazel is having dinner with her parents
FRANNIE : Dr. Maria called today. The PET Scan is set for the
eighth.
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Hazel nods. This could be a source of worry but she’s not going to think about that
right now. She’s upbeat. And she’s actually eating, which her parents can’t help but
notice. Frannie and Michael look at one another, pleased.
FRANNIE : I told you Support Group was a good idea.
Hazel’s phone buzzes. “Augustus.” She looks to her parents.
MICHAEL : By all means.
OUTSIDE HAZEL’S BACKYARD - MOMENTS LATER
Hazel lay on the grass in her backyard staring up at the stars. She rings him
GUS : Hazel Grace.
HAZEL : Hello Augustus.
GUS : So I read it again. And I just kept feeling like... like it
was a gift. Like you’d given me something important.
HAZEL : (touched) You’re welcome.
GUS : On the other hand... we need closure, don’t we?
HAZEL : What we need is a sequel.
GUS : Yes. We need to know what happens to Anna’s family
after she dies.
HAZEL : That’s what I kept asking Van Houten for in my letters.
GUS : But he never wrote back.
HAZEL : That’s correct.
GUS : Because he’s a recluse.
HAZEL : Yeee-up.
GUS : Utterly unreachable.
HAZEL : Unfortunately so. Gus clears his throat, smiles. Hazel
waits.
GUS : “Dear Mr. Waters... I am writing to thank you for your
electronic correspondence received this 6th of April.
Hazel sits up. Could it be...?
GUS : “I am grateful to anyone who sets aside the time to read
my book...”
HAZEL : Augustus!?
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GUS : I found his assistant. I emailed her. She must have
forwarded it to him. (Hazel is stunned) Shall I continue?
HAZEL : Keep reading, keep reading!
GUS : “I am particularly indebted to you, sir, both for your
kind words about ‘An Imperial Affliction’ and for taking
the time to tell me that the book, and here I quote you
directly, ‘meant a great deal’ to you.”
Hazel pays attention to every word.
GUS : “To answer your question: No, I have not written
anything else, nor will I. I do not feel that continuing to
share my thoughts with readers would benefit either them
or me. However thank you again for your generous email.
Yours most sincerely, Peter Van Houten.
HAZEL : You’re making this up?
GUS : Hazel Grace, could I, with my meager intellectual
capabilities, make up a letter from the great Peter Van
Houten?
HAZEL : Holy hell.
GUS : Indeed.
HAZEL : Can I... would you mind...
GUS : (smiling) Go check your in-box.
Hazel jumps up as fast as her lungs will allow.
CUT TO: INT HAZEL’S BEDROOM - LATER THAT NIGHT
Hazel sits at her computer, Van Houten’s assistant’s email address staring her in the
face. The cursor blinks on a blank page. And then Hazel starts writing...
HAZEL (V.O) : “Dear Mr. Peter Van Houten, my name is Hazel Grace
Lancaster. My friend Augustus Waters, who read your
book - at my recommendation - just received an email
from you at this address. I hope you will not mind that he
shared that email with me.”
While Hazel reads the letter, we see a series of scene showing the next several days.
They include: -Hazel and Gus are drinking coffees at a cafe. He’s enthusiastically
telling a story and she’s enjoying every moment of it. - Hazel helping Gus become a
better driver. It’s no use.
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HAZEL (V.O.) : “I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind answering a few
questions I have about what happens after the end of the
book. Specifically, the following:”
- In his kitchen, laughing, trying to make omelettes.
HAZEL (V.O.) : “Does Anna’s Mom marry the Dutch Tulip Man; is the
Dutch Tulip Man up to something - or is he just
misunderstood? What happens to Anna’s friends
- Watching TV. Their bodies almost touching. But not quite.
HAZEL (V.O.) : Lastly, I was hoping you could shed some light on
Sisyphus the Hamster. These questions have haunted me
for years. And I don’t know how long I have left to get
answers to them.”
And finally, back in Hazel’s bedroom. She finishes reading this letter into the phone.
HAZEL : “I know these are not important literary questions and
that your book is full of important literary questions, but
I would just really like to know.”
INTERCUT with Gus bouncing a ball against the wall, listening.
HAZEL : (reading it aloud to him) “And of course, if ever you do
decide to write anything else, even if you don’t want to
publish it, I’d love to read it. Frankly, I’d read your
grocery lists. Yours with great admiration, Hazel Grace
Lancaster. Age 16.”
GUS : Not bad.
HAZEL : You think?
GUS : Bit pretentious. But then again, Van Houten uses words
like “tendentious” and... “bacchanalia” so I think he’ll
like it.
Hazel smiles, looks at a clock.
HAZEL : Is it really almost 1?
GUS : Guess so.
HAZEL : I gotta get to sleep.
GUS : Ok...
HAZEL : Ok...
Neither one of them want to hang up the phone.
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GUS : Ok...
HAZEL : Ok...
They both laugh at this.
GUS : Perhaps “ok” will be our “always.”
HAZEL : (Smiles) Ok.
GUS :Ok.
HAZEL : Ok ( Gus hangs up).
CUT TO: INT HOSPITAL - RECOVERY ROOM – ANOTHER DAY
Isaac lies in bed, bandages covering his eyes, now officially blind. A nurse attends to
him while Hazel sits by his side.
ISAAC : She hasn’t even visited. Fourteen months we were
together. What kind of person...
ISAAC’S NURSE : You’ll get over her Isaac. Just takes a little time. You’ll
see. (The Nurse exits the room.)
ISAAC : Is she gone?
HAZEL : Yeah.
ISAAC : Did she really just say “you’ll see?”
HAZEL : (shakes her head) Qualities of a Good Nurse. Go.
ISAAC : Doesn’t put your disability.
HAZEL : Gets blood on the first try.
ISAAC : That is huge. I mean, seriously, is this my freakin’ arm
or a dartboard?
HAZEL : (lays it on thick) “I’m gonna stab you with this needle
now, so there might be a little ouchie.”
They laugh and then lapse into silence for a moment.
HAZEL : You doing alright, Isaac?
ISAAC : I don’t know. To be honest, I think a hell of a lot more
about Monica than my eye. Is that crazy? That’s crazy.
HAZEL : It’s a little crazy.
ISAAC : But I believe in love, you know? I don’t believe that
everybody gets to keep their eyes or not get sick or
85
whatever, but everybody should have true love. Don’t
you think?
Hazel thinks about it as Isaac presses the button on his pain pump, self-administering
morphine.
ISAAC : Gus was here earlier.
HAZEL : (trying to be nonchalant) Was he?
Isaac exhales as the pain pump starts to kick in.
ISAAC : Mmm... that’s better.
HAZEL : The pain? (off his slow nod) Good. Good, Isaac. (Isaac
closes his eyes) What about Gus?
But Isaac is already asleep. Whatever he was going to say about Gus is gone.
Hazel nods, pats his hand.
HAZEL’S BEDROOM – MORNING
Hazel rolls out of bed, stumbles to her computer. She casually checks her in-box and
is shocked to discover - he’s written her back!
HAZEL : Holy shit! (reading aloud) “Dear Ms. Lancaster... I
cannot answer your questions, at least not in writing,
because to do so would constitute a sequel, which you
might publish or otherwise share on the internet. Not that
I don’t trust you, but how could I trust you, I barely know
you.”
Hazel’s jaw hangs open as she reads the next part
HAZEL : “Should ever you find yourself in Amsterdam, do pay
a visit at your leisure. Yours most sincerely, Peter Van
Houten” Son of a - WHAT IS THIS LIFE!!!
Frannie races in, clearly expecting a health problem.
FRANNIE : What’s wrong?!
HAZEL : (realizing she scared her) Nothing. Sorry.
FRANNIE : (confused) Nothing?
HAZEL : Everything! Look!
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Hazel shows Frannie the note. Frannie reads it.
HAZEL : Can we go to Amsterdam? Please?
Frannie thinks about how to respond for a beat.
FRANNIE : Hazel, I... I love you and... you know I’d do anything
for you, but we don’t... (pained) We don’t have the
money. The expense of getting equipment over there -
love, it’s just not possible...
HAZEL : (deflates) No, yeah, of course.
Clearly Frannie feels awful which makes Hazel feel awful too.
FRANNIE : I mean, I could talk to your father or –
HAZEL : Mom, no. Please. Don’t do anything. Forget I
mentioned it.
A beat between them, Frannie walks out sadly. Hazel sits on the bed, totally bummed.
SUBURBAN STREET – LATER
Hazel and Gus walk together on the sidewalk.
GUS : Just use your wish.
HAZEL : I’ve used it already. Pre- ”Miracle.”
GUS : What’d you do? (Hazel doesn’t want to say and he
realizes) Not Disney.
HAZEL : I was 13...
GUS : Tell me you did not go to Disney World. (Hazel looks
away) Hazel Grace! You did not use your one dying Wish
to go to Disney World!
HAZEL : (feeble) And Epcot Center.
GUS : (hands in the air) Oh my God!
HAZEL : (defending herself) We had fun on that trip.
GUS : That is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard!
HAZEL : I met Goofy...
GUS : Now I’m embarrassed.
HAZEL : Why are you embarrassed?
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GUS : How can I have a crush on a girl with such cliche
wishes?
HAZEL : Wait, what? (The word “crush” has taken Hazel totally
by surprise)
GUS : What?
She looks at him a beat. She quickly looks away, blushing. Gus continues on about
Disney but all Hazel can think about is “CRUSH”. She tries not to seem too excited.
P.E.T SCAN ROOM – ANOTHER DAY
Hazel, in a hospital gown, is slowly fed through the machine. A tech explains that she
should hold still, try and relax, etc.
CUT TO: FRONT OF HAZEL’S HOUSE – LATER
Gus is waiting on the front stoop when Frannie’s car pulls up. They’re home from the
hospital. He wears an Indiana Pacers JERSEY and carries a bouquet of bright orange
tulips. Michael gets out of the passenger’s seat to help Hazel out of the car. Gus rises
to assist them.
MICHAEL : Is that a Rik Smits jersey?
GUS : It is indeed.
MICHAEL : (beat) Man, I loved that guy.
Hazel sees Gus, wasn’t expecting him.
HAZEL : Gus?
GUS : Hi Hazel. (beat) How would you like to go on a picnic?
HAZEL’S LIVING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Gus is with Frannie and Michael downstairs.
FRANNIE : Something to drink?
GUS : I’m great Mrs. Lancaster.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Hazel gets ready for the date. She’s putting the orange flowers in
a toothbrush holder then putting on lip gloss. She can faintly hear the conversation
downstairs. Gus is sitting on the stairs and Michael is next to him.
MICHAEL : You’re a survivor yourself?
88
GUS : (taps his leg) Didn’t cut this fella off for the hell of it.
Though it is an excellent weight-loss strategy. Legs are
heavy!
MICHAEL : How’s your health now?
GUS : N-E-C for fourteen months.
MICHAEL : That’s fantastic.
GUS : I’m very lucky.
Hazel is checking herself out in the mirror. Seems to like what she sees a lot more than
before. Back on Gus and Michael, downstairs:
MICHAEL : Son, you have to understand... Hazel’s still pretty sick.
She will be the rest of her life.
Back on Hazel, who can hear all of this. She stops what she’s doing and listens.
MICHAEL : She’ll want to keep up with you she’s that kind of girl
- but the truth is, her lungs –
HAZEL : You ready Gus?
Hazel appears, silencing her Father mid-sentence.
PARK – LATER
Behind the Indianapolis Museum of Art is 152 Acres of Gardens and Grounds. Hazel
and Gus walk together.
HAZEL : Is this where you bring all your romantic conquests?
GUS : Every last one. (beat) Probably why I’m still a virgin.
HAZEL : (Hazel laughs, elbows him) You’re not a virgin. (off his
look) Are you really?
Gus picks a STICK up from the dirt, he draws a big circle in it.
GUS : See this? This circle is virgins... (and he draws a much
smaller circle inside that circle) and this... is 17 year old
dudes with one leg.
Hazel laughs. Point made. He grabs her hand, helps her walk up a tiny hill. Once up
there, Gus lays a blanket on the ground. They sit, looking out over a rather odd
sculpture - a set of giant white bones where children can jump and play.
GUS : (explaining) “Funky Bones” by Joep Van Lieshout.
HAZEL : He sounds Dutch.
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GUS : And he is. Much like Rik Smits. And tulips.
Hazel raises an eyebrow at Gus. He’s sure taking this Amsterdam/Dutch thing pretty
far. He removes some sandwiches and orange juice out of a basket.
GUS : Sandwich?
HAZEL : Let me guess –
GUS : (nods) Dutch cheese. And tomato. (she takes one) The
tomatoes are Mexican. Sorry.
They eat for a second; their eyes watching the children play on the bones.
GUS : How cool is that? A skeleton being used as a
playground.
HAZEL : You do love your symbols.
GUS : Speaking of which... (gus stands up, takes a cigarette,
puts it in his mouth. He clears his throat) You’re probably
wondering why you’re sitting here eating a bad cheese
sandwich and drinking orange juice with a guy in a Rik
Smits jersey.
HAZEL : It has crossed my mind.
GUS : Hazel Grace, like so many before you - and I say this
with great affection - you spent your Wish... moronically.
HAZEL : I was thir—
GUS : Hush! I’m in the midst of a grand soliloquy here.
HAZEL : Sorry. Please, continue...
GUS : You were young. Impressionable. The Grim Reaper
staring you in the face. And the fear of dying with your
one true Wish left ungranted led you to rush into making
one you didn’t really want, for how could little Hazel
Grace, having never read “An Imperial Affliction” ever
know that her one true wish was to visit Mr. Peter Van
Houten in his Amsterdamian exile.(Hazel nods in
agreement), if you were smart, you would have saved
your wish til the time in your life when you really knew
your true self.
Gus stops talking. Hazel is confused.
HAZEL : But I... didn’t save it.
GUS : (Gus smiles) Good thing I saved mine.
90
Hazel cocks her head to one side. What is he talking about?
GUS : Got it in exchange for the leg. And I still have it.
HAZEL : (She starts to realize) Are you saying –
GUS : I’m not gonna give you my Wish or anything. But I too
have an interest in meeting Peter Van Houten and it
wouldn’t make much sense to meet him without the girl
who introduced me to his book, now would it? (Hazel’s
eyes widen) I talked to the Genies and they’re in total
agreement. (beat) We leave on May third.
Hazel is so excited that she grabs Gus and pulls him into a hug. Their faces close, lips
inches apart, and just when it looks like something might happen –
HAZEL : Wait a minute. (beat) Are you only doing this so I’ll
kiss you?
A beat. Gus blinks a few times.
HAZEL : Cause I’d totally kiss you either way.
And kiss him she does. He’s surprised. And when it’s over, they sit back, look at one
another. A magic moment.
HAZEL : Seriously... why are you doing this?
GUS : Because Hazel Grace... I found my Wish.
And Hazel is beyond touched.
HAZEL’S UTILITY ROOM – ANOTHER DAY
FRANNIE : (overlap) Are you out of your mind?
Frannie folds laundry while Hazel pleads her case.
FRANNIE : It’s too much, Haze. We can’t accept something like
that from a virtual stranger.
HAZEL : He’s not a stranger.
FRANNIE : Really?
HAZEL : Don’t be gross.
FRANNIE : It’s still “no,” I’m afraid.
HAZEL : Can we at least ask Dr. Maria?
DOCTOR’S OFFICE - ANOTHER DAY
91
Hazel’s oncologist Dr. Maria shakes her head.
DR. MARIA : That’s out of the question.
HAZEL : You said the PET scan was encouraging!
DR. MARIA : The PET scan is encouraging. We just don’t know how
long it’ll stay that way. What if you get sick in a foreign
country?
HAZEL : They have doctors in Amsterdam. And cancer.
Someone will know what to do.
DR. MARIA : Be that as it may, without someone familiar with your
particular case, I can’t –
HAZEL : (turns to her Mom) So you’ll come too.
FRANNIE : What?
HAZEL : The Genies can hook it up. They’re loaded.
RANNIE : I –
HAZEL : You’ve never been to Amsterdam, have you Mom?
And judging from her face, seems she’d kind of like to. Dr. Maria looks at Frannie,
shrugs - kid’s got a point. Hazel smiles.
HAZEL’S BEDROOM – NIGHT
[Note: There’s no sound in this sequence. Just images.] Hazel wakes up screaming in
the middle of the night, shaking and holding her head. Frannie and Michael burst in.
Mom grabs her crying daughter, frightened beyond belief, waves to Michael to call for
help. He leaves the room to do so and Fran stays behind, rocking with her daughter,
promising her it’ll all be ok. Whatever nightmare this is, it’s going to end.
FRANNIE’S CAR - MOMENTS LATER
[Still silent.] Michael drives, trying to keep it together. Frannie’s in the back with
Hazel’s head in her lap. Hazel continues to scream in silence, whether from pain or
terror, we do not know.
EMERGENCY ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
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[There’s still no sound] Michael carries Hazel into the chaotic emergency room.
They’re practically running. The doctors rally to assist the screaming, crying child.
She’s wheeled away from her family who can only watch.
HOSPITAL ROOM - ICU – MORNING
[The sound returns.] We can hear the sound of a heart monitor. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
It’s also the sound of a working heart. Hazel has made it through. Her eyes open. A
nurse is there.
HAZEL’S NURSE : Hello.
HAZEL : Hi.
HAZEL’S NURSE : You’re ok, Hazel. (Even Hazel seems surprised by that)
Would you like to see your parents? (Hazel nods)
The Nurse goes to get them. Soon they come bounding in, crying and kissing her
repeatedly. So much relief.
CUT TO: LATER.
Hazel’s bed has been raised up so she can talk to her parents “comfortably.”
FRANNIE : They thought it was a brain tumor.
MICHAEL : It wasn’t - thank god –
HAZEL : So what happened?
FRANNIE : The usual. Fluid in the lungs, preventing oxygenation.
They put that in... (There’s a tube in Hazel’s side draining
fluid into a plastic bladder that hangs off her bed) Drained
a liter and a half last night.
MICHAEL : The good news is... no tumor growth. No new tumors
in your body (Hazel nods, that is a relief) We’re all so relieved.
FRANNIE : (Frannie embraces her daughter) This is just a thing
Hazel. It’s a thing we can live with. (Hazel nods again)
Only in the universe of Hazel Grace Lancaster is something like this just a thing.
MEANWHILE: WAITING AREA OF HOSPITAL ICU –LATER
Here’s Gus, his foot tapping nervously on the floor. It’s unclear how long he’s been
waiting there. He sees Michael walk down the hall, and races after him.
GUS : Mr. Lancaster! How’s she doing?
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MICHAEL : Better, thank you. Much better.(Gus nods, as relieved
as the rest of them)
GUS : They won’t let me in. Family only.
MICHAEL : I’m sorry –
GUS : No I get it. Will you just... will you tell her I was here?
MICHAEL : Of course I will.
Gus smiles. And sits back down. Though he won’t get to see her, he still wants to stay.
MICHAEL : Gus. (Michael really likes this kid) Why don’t you go
home, get some rest?
Gus looks up. That might be for the best.
HOSPITAL - CONFERENCE ROOM - DAYS LATER
Hazel and her Parents sit at a very large conference table along with Dr. Maria and
three other oncologist - her whole “Cancer Team.”
ONCOLOGIST #1 : The great news is... Phalanxifor continues to control
your tumor growth. (beat) The not so great news is we’re
still seeing serious problems with fluid accumulation.
(beat) So how should we proceed? (Silence)
Hazel looks around the room, waits for someone to answer. No one does.
HAZEL : Um, I feel like I’m not the most qualified person to
answer that.
ONCOLOGIST #1 : I was talking to Dr. Simmons.
DR. SIMMONS : It’s a strange case. Normally the tumors start resisting
the treatment. But that hasn’t happened here - yet. (Hazel
hears the “yet” the loudest.) Unfortunately, the drug may
be worsening the edema.
DR. MARIA : But if we stopped it entirely, we’re likely to face even
graver dangers.
MICHAEL : So we’re gonna do nothing?
DR. MARIA : That’s what we have to decide. The truth is... very few
people have been on Phalanxifor as long as Hazel has.
We don’t really know the long term effects. That
comforts no one.
HAZEL : Can’t I just get like a lung transplant or something?
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The Doctors look at one another like “who wants to take that one?” Eventually, Dr.
Maria speaks…
DR. MARIA : You would not be considered a... strong candidate for a
transplant.
Hazel takes that in, nods, tries to pretend it didn’t bother her. Sensitive Michael on the
other hand starts to cry a little bit. He grabs Frannie’s hand.
DR. SIMMONS : We’re trying to prevent endothelial growth while at the
same time preventing immunosorbent...
As Dr. Simmons drones on with some cancer gobbledygook, Hazel’s eyes remain
firmly fixed on her parents. She hates what she’s doing to them and seeing them holding
hands, crying but trying not to cry - it jogs a memory.
CUT TO: HOSPITAL ICU – FLASHBACK
It looks like the end for 13-year old Hazel. Her father is weeping off to the side while
her mom stands over her, holding her hand, and asking.
FRANNIE : (through the tears) Are you ready, sweetie? (13-year old
Hazel nods.)
The doctors get to work. The anesthetic takes hold and Hazel goes under but it is not
enough because she totally hears her mother say:
FRANNIE : I won’t be a mom anymore. (She falls into her
husband’s chest)
BACK TO: INT HOSPITAL - CONFERENCE ROOM
Hazel comes out of the memory when her parents see her staring at them. She tries to
shake it off. Dr. Simmons is still talking nonsense when suddenly Hazel speak up
HAZEL : I have a question.
DR. MARIA : Yes Hazel.
HAZEL : Can I still go to Amsterdam?
Dr. Simmons can’t help himself. He laughs. Everyone looks at him. He clears his
throat.
DR. SIMMONS : That would not be wise at this juncture.
HAZEL : Why not?
DR. SIMMONS : Excuse me?
95
HAZEL : Why not, Dr. Simmons?
DR. SIMMONS : I –
The doctors are trying to be delicate here.
DR. MARIA : It would... increase some risks –
HAZEL : So does going to the mall –
DR. MARIA : Yes but an airplane?
HAZEL : They have oxygen on airplanes.
FRANNIE : Hazel –
HAZEL : It’s my life, right?
DR. SIMMONS : You’re Stage IV –
HAZEL : I have this opportunity I may never have again. If the
medicine’s working, I don’t see why –
DR. SIMMONS : Because, Hazel. (beat) Look, I don’t know any other
way to say this... You’re just too sick.
And this is like a punch in the gut.
DR. SIMMONS : I’m sorry.
Everyone feels horrible now. Dr. Maria, Frannie and Michael, and even Hazel. This
meeting couldn’t have gone worse.
CUT TO: HAZEL’S BEDROOM – WEEKS LATER
Hazel is at her computer reading a new email from Lidewij Vliegenthart. Clearly Hazel
was not expecting this.
HAZEL (V.O.) : “Dear Hazel, I have received word via the Genies that
you will be visiting us with Augustus Waters and your
mother beginning on the 4th. A week away! Peter and I
are delighted and cannot wait to – (Hazel is confused. She
stands and walks into the hallway) Mom? (No response)
Mom! (still nothing) MOM!!!
Frannie races out of her room in a towel, dripping wet.
FRANNIE : What is it, what’s wrong?!
HAZEL : Sorry, I... I didn’t know you were in the shower.
96
FRANNIE : (exhausted) Bath. I was just... just trying to take a bath
for five seconds. What’s the matter?
HAZEL : Did you ever call the Genies to tell them the trip is off?
I just got an email from Peter Van Houton’s assistant. She
still thinks we’re coming.
Frannie purses her lips and squints past Hazel, clearly unsure what to say.
HAZEL : What?
Frannie can’t keep a straight face.
FRANNIE : I’m not supposed to tell you until your father gets home.
(beat) We’re going to Amsterdam.
HAZEL : (still not believing) Really...
FRANNIE : Dr. Maria called last night and made a convincing case
that you need to live –
HAZEL : (yelling) I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!
Hazel can’t move all that fast to hug her Mom so Frannie comes to her and they
embrace. After:
FRANNIE : I’m getting back in the tub now.
When she leaves Hazel grabs her cell phone. Hazel sends Gus the following text:
“STILL FREE MAY 3? :-)” A moment later Gus responds: “EVERYTHING’S
COMING UP WATERS!” Hazel is over the moon with excitement. She smiles, then
tries to calm herself, knowing it’s the best thing.
HAZEL : (whispering to her lungs) One week, lungs. Keep your
shit together one more week...
INT AIRPORT - WEEKS LATER Hazel with her oxygen tank, Gus with his noticeable
limp and Frannie helping with the equipment. A young couple gets up so that Hazel
and Gus can sit.
HAZEL : Oh that’s not necessary.
But they give up their seats anyway. Hazel and Gus take them. We see various
Passengers watching. Hazel ignores the attention until a little girl (6, cute braids)
appears.
LITTLE GIRL : What’s in your nose?
HAZEL : It’s called a Cannula. These tubes give me oxygen and
help me breathe.
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The girl’s mother swoops in, a little frantic.
GIRL’S MOTHER : Jackie... Oh, I’m sorry.
HAZEL : (sincere) No, no. It’s alright.
LITTLE GIRL : Would they help me breathe too?
HAZEL : I dunno. Wanna try?
Hazel removes her cannula and let’s the Little Girl try it.
LITTLE GIRL : Tickles.
HAZEL : Right?
LITTLE GIRL : I think I’m breathing better.
HAZEL : Well... I’d love to give you my cannula but... I kinda
really need the help.
The Little Girl nods, hands it back to Hazel, who quickly reattaches it.
LITTLE GIRL : Thanks for letting me try it.
They smile at each other before the Little Girl walks back to her family. She waves.
Hazel waves back.
AIRPORT ANNOUNCEMENT: (O.S.) We will now begin pre-boarding Flight
144 to Amsterdam. For those passengers in need of extra assistance...
HAZEL : I think that’s us.
AIRPLANE - MOMENTS LATER
Hazel sits in the middle with Frannie on the aisle and Gus at the window. He looks
around, antsy.
HAZEL : Have you never been on a plane before?
Gus shakes his head, he has not. And he’s nervous. He pulls a cigarette out of his pocket
and puts it in his mouth. Within seconds a flight attentdant rushes over.
FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Sir, you can’t smoke on this plane. Or... any plane.
GUS : (cigarette in his mouth) I don’t smoke.
The Flight Attendant shoots him a look
HAZEL : It’s a metaphor. He puts the killing thing in his mouth
but doesn’t give it the power to kill him.
FLIGHT ATTENDANT: (no nonsense) That metaphor is prohibited on today’s
flight.
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Gus nods and puts the cigarette away. PA SYSTEM “Flight attendants, prepare for
departure.” The engines roar to life and the plane accelerates towards take off. Gus is
getting more worried by the second. He grabs the arm rest, his eyes wide.
HAZEL : Ok? (Gus doesn’t say it back. Hazel laughs) This is
what it feels like to ride in a car with you.
Gus grabs Hazel’s hand as the plane lifts off. He looks out the window - they’re flying!
- and then back to Hazel.
GUS : We’re flying! Look! (Hazel smiles at his enthusiasm)
Holy -- look at that?! NOTHING HAS EVER LOOKED
LIKE THAT EVER IN ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY!
He’s adorable at this moment. Hazel can’t resist leaning over to give him a kiss on the
cheek.
FRANNIE : (not looking up from her magazine) Just so you know,
I’m right here. Sitting next to you. Your mother.
HAZEL : We’re just friends, Mom.
GUS : She is. I’m not. (Hazel shoots him a look. Gus shrugs)
what? it’s the truth.
Hazel just shakes her head.
CUT TO: AMSTERDAM HIGHWAY - TAXI CAB – MORNING
Hazel, Gus, and Frannie ride in the back of a yellow cab.
CAB DRIVER : Americans?
FRANNIE : We’re from Indiana.
CAB DRIVER : Indiana. They steal from the Indians but the keep the
name, yes? (Hazel and Gus share a look)
HAZEL : Something like that.
Meanwhile, the landscape outside is flat and dusty, with dirt tracks and the occasional
concrete building. In other words, it looks more like Indianapolis than Holland.
HAZEL : (to the Driver) This is Amsterdam?
CAB DRIVER : Yes and no. Amsterdam is like the rings of a tree. It gets
older as you get closer to the center.
Soon enough, the cab takes an off-ramp and turns a corner and suddenly, it’s as if
they’re transported - not only to another universe but to another time as well. We see
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multi-colored row house lined on both sides of a windy canal. Houseboats float against
the edges and everyone rides bicycles down cobblestone streets. They’re astounded.
IN THE HOTEL – LATER
Gus helps Hazel and Frannie bring their stuff into the room. We see a WICKER
BASKET of gifts - presents from the Genies welcoming their arrival. Hazel, exhausted,
sits on the bed.
GUS : I’ll be right down the hall. Hazel nods, already drifting
off to sleep.
CUT TO: INT HOTEL ROOM - HOURS LATER Some time later. Hazel stirs. Her
Mom is seated in a sagging, paisley chair across from the bed reading a TRAVEL
GUIDE.
HAZEL : Good morning.
FRANNIE : Actually, it’s five o’clock.
HAZEL : How was the park?
FRANNIE : Never made it.
HAZEL : Mom!
FRANNIE : What? I like watching you sleep.
Hazel shoots Frannie a look. Even in an exotic city, her Mom still can’t enjoy herself.
FRANNIE : I promise I’ll do crazy Mom stuff tonight while you and
Gus are at dinner.
HAZEL : What do you mean?
FRANNIE : You have reservations at a place called Oranjee. Mr.
Van Houten set it up. Very fancy according to the Book. And romantic.
HAZEL : Mom...
FRANNIE : I’m just saying...
HAZEL : A 16 year old girl running free with an older boy on the
streets of a foreign city famous for its vice and debauchery... is totally cool with you.
Is that what you’re saying?
FRANNIE : (beat, excited) Let’s get you dressed!
Hazel just shakes her head.
CUT TO: INT HOTEL ROOM – LATER
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Frannie opens the door to find Gus in a perfectly tailored black suit, cigarette dangling
from his mouth.
FRANNIE : (calling to the bathroom) Hazel! Gus is here. (to Gus)
Looking sharp.
GUS : Thank you ma’am.
A few beats later Hazel emerges from the bathroom. She wears a knee-length, pale blue
sundress. And she looks...
GUS : Wow.
HAZEL : I... (beat) Am I under-dressed?
GUS You look gorgeous.
Gus offers Hazel his arm. She takes it. They’re ready to go.
INT/EXT AMSTERDAM - ON THE TRAM – LATER
Hazel and Gus ride the crowded tram through the city. Elm trees line the canals, their
pale petals blowing into the wind like a spring snowstorm. An old couple stands to give
up their seats - this happens all the time. Hazel again tries to protest and again it falls
on deaf ears. She and Gus sit. They look out the window onto the city. Excited. The
night just beginning.
EXT ORANJEE RESTAURANT - LATER
At the edge of the canal, near an ancient bridge. Hazel and Gus are shown to a table
right next to the water.
HOSTESS Your table, Mr. And Mrs. Waters.
Gus pulls out Hazel’s chair for her. A waiter brings them a bottle of champagne as they
sit.
HOSTESS The champagne is our gift.
Hazel and Gus look at each other. Is this a dream? The champagne is poured and Gus
raises his glass.
GUS : Ok.
HAZEL : (Hazel raises hers.) Ok.
They clink glasses and sip.
HAZEL : Wow that’s good
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