Pragmatics in the Movie "A Beautiful Mind" (Movie Review Sample)

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Pragmatics in the Movie ‘A Beautiful Mind’
Pragmatics is used extensively in linguistics to put language in a specific context. According to Rismayanti et al. (140), pragmatics gives the speaker the necessary skills to communicate messages efficiently to the listener. As a result, pragmatism is highly utilized in the film industry to add realism to the characters to help them connect with the viewers. In the movie A Beautiful Mind, John Forbes Nash, Jr. uses speech acts in many instances to communicate to his peers which help him overcome his social awkwardness. This paper analyzes one case in the movie where pragmatics is used efficiently.
Case
Martin Hansen: I’ll take another.
Nash: Excuse me?
Hansen: A thousand pardons. I simply assumed you were the waiter.
Sol: Play nice, Hansen.
Ainsley: Nice is not Hansen’s strong suit.
Hansen: An honest mistake…
Nash: Well, Martin. It is Martin, isn’t it?
Hansen: Why yes, John, it is.
Nash: I assume you’ve gotten used to miscalculations. I read your pre-prints. Both of them. And I’m convinced there wasn’t one seminal or innovative idea in either one of them. Enjoy your punch. (Howard)
Case Analysis
The use of pragmatics is evident in the movie excerpt above. The excerpt begins with a locutionary act, which refers to a propositional utterance (Rismayanti et al. 141). Hansen offers a direct directive to Nash “I’ll take another”. The locutionary act is the request to have another drink. The directive is followed by an illocutionary force, which refers to a performative function (Rismayanti et al. 141). The illocutionary force is Hansen extending his glass to Nash, signaling him to refill his glass. However, Nash is offended and expresses it through a direct expressive “Excuse me?”. Hansen