Critical Discourse Analysis of the Movie Love Actually
CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE MOVIE LOVE ACTUALLY
Love Actually is All Around…
Leon Koshcheyev
English 2010
Professor O. Pimentel
Love Actually is the ultimate romantic comedy written and directed by Richard Curtis. This film consist of dozens of different love stories that like a quilt are weaved together to make one story about love. It is about love in its many forms: love between family members, love between husbands and wives, innocent love, undeclared love, and romantic love. The cast has mostly British actors with famous people like Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Kiera Knightley, Alan Rickman, Billy Nighy, Liam Neeson, and Rowan Atkinson. This wonderful movie, with its talented cast, has many great things about it, but like all things, it can be analyzed and criticized deeply. The most important aspect of critical discourse analysis is that we must not accept things just as they are, but consider issues of race, ethnicity, gender, social class status, sexuality preference, religions aspects, and language. Using Huckin's article "Critical Discourse Analysis" and Giroux's article "Politics and Innocence in the Wonderful World of Disney" as guidance I will apply their main concepts to Love Actually to really review and analyze the film.
Before discussing the film, the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) theory must be explained. First, _critical_ means a careful evaluation and judgment - "a critical reading." Secondly, _discourse_ is the extended verbal expression in speech, writing, and visuals that in some cases cannot be seen which is purposely done. Third, _analysis_ is an investigation of the component parts of a whole and their relations in making up the whole. All three concepts together create CDA which helps us to be critical by looking at things through a critical lens. Referring to Huckin, in Critical Discourse Analysis societal issues like race, social economic status, sexuality preference, etc. may be considered. Also, Huckin
Love Actually is All Around…
Leon Koshcheyev
English 2010
Professor O. Pimentel
Love Actually is the ultimate romantic comedy written and directed by Richard Curtis. This film consist of dozens of different love stories that like a quilt are weaved together to make one story about love. It is about love in its many forms: love between family members, love between husbands and wives, innocent love, undeclared love, and romantic love. The cast has mostly British actors with famous people like Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Kiera Knightley, Alan Rickman, Billy Nighy, Liam Neeson, and Rowan Atkinson. This wonderful movie, with its talented cast, has many great things about it, but like all things, it can be analyzed and criticized deeply. The most important aspect of critical discourse analysis is that we must not accept things just as they are, but consider issues of race, ethnicity, gender, social class status, sexuality preference, religions aspects, and language. Using Huckin's article "Critical Discourse Analysis" and Giroux's article "Politics and Innocence in the Wonderful World of Disney" as guidance I will apply their main concepts to Love Actually to really review and analyze the film.
Before discussing the film, the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) theory must be explained. First, _critical_ means a careful evaluation and judgment - "a critical reading." Secondly, _discourse_ is the extended verbal expression in speech, writing, and visuals that in some cases cannot be seen which is purposely done. Third, _analysis_ is an investigation of the component parts of a whole and their relations in making up the whole. All three concepts together create CDA which helps us to be critical by looking at things through a critical lens. Referring to Huckin, in Critical Discourse Analysis societal issues like race, social economic status, sexuality preference, etc. may be considered. Also, Huckin
References: Huckin, Thomas. "Critical Discourse Analysis." E-reserve. University of Utah Marriott Library. 7 Jun 2005 < http://ereserve.lib.utah.edu/webpac-1.2- bin/DoReserve?coursenum=6796&instructor=pimentel> Giroux, H. "Politics and Innocence in the Wonderful World of Disney." University of Utah Marriott Library. 6 Jun 2005 <http://ereserve.lib.utah.edu/webpac-1.2- bin/DoReserve?coursenum=6796&instructor=pimentel> Love Actually. Dir. Richard Curtis. Prod. Duncan Kenworthy, Tim Bevan, and Eric Fellner. Perf. Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, and Martine McCutcheon. Universal Studious, 2004.