Analysis on the Verbal Humor of Horseman Bojack on the Perspective of Politeness Principle

侯颖文+乔颖

【Abstract】Humor is an important part of human life and plays an indispensable role in peoples social communication. The acquisition of verbal humor is related to the violation of politeness principles， and it is because of the violation of the prescribed forms and standards that humor can be produced. The politeness principle is put forward by the famous linguist Leech to explain the speaking phenomena in daily life. Horseman Bojack tells a story about a personified and whiskey loving horse Bojack and his human partner Todd on how to deal with the personal crisis in humor and profound language style. This paper will analyze the verbal humor of Horseman Bojack on the perspective of politeness principles and find the application of politeness principles on the daily discourse.

【Key words】politeness principles； verbal humor； Horseman Bojack

1. Introduction

Humor is an important part of human daily life， at the same time， it plays an indispensable role in peoples social interaction either. Humor is everything that makes people laugh. It involves a wide range of issues， including jokes， sarcasm， irony， pun， comedy， anecdotes etc. It is not only the lubricant of social interaction， but also an important form of literature and art. Domestic and foreign scholars from different fields have studied the phenomenon of verbal humor from different angles， which mainly focus on sociology， anthropology and psychology. In the past more than 20 years， with the rapid development of pragmatics， the study of verbal humor with pragmatic theory has gradually emerged and has made some valuable achievements. This paper aims to use the classical theory of pragmatic—politeness principles as the theoretical basis and combine with the current popular cartoon Horseman Bojack to analyze the application of politeness principles and try best to provide another perspective on the generation mechanism of verbal humor. At the same time， this paper will provide a deeper perspective to interpret the verbal humor of Horseman Bojack .

2. Politeness Principle and Its Corresponding Criterion

2.1 Politeness Principle

The politeness principle was formally put forward by Leech， a famous linguist， in his Principles of Pragmatics. He came up with the principle of politeness because he found that the principle of cooperation has great limitations， such as the inability to explain why people sometimes violate the maxims of cooperative principles in conversation. According to the relationship between benefits and losses， Leech puts forward six principles of politeness： strategic maxim， generosity maxim， approbation maxim， modesty maxim， agreement maxim and sympathy maxim. Politeness is a very common phenomenon in many cultures， and it is usually considered as a strategy to maintain a harmonious interpersonal relationship. However， not all of the participants will follow the principle of politeness. Sometimes in order to achieve a specific effect， the speakers will intentionally or unintentionally violate the principle of politeness and verbal humor effect is one of the reasons.endprint

2.2 The Violation of the Politeness Principle

Under the politeness principle， conversations are polite but not vivid. So sometimes， the violation of politeness can cause the unexpected humorous effect. According to Ran Yongping（2006）， the violation of the politeness principle will cause some different effect in conversation， namely increasing the surprising effect of omedy， increasing the sense of humor of comedy and creating vivid comic characters.

Words are usually plain and clear in common expression. However， in some situation， the words are not presented as the formal ways which can cause the surprising effect. The violation of politeness principles can create the vivid comic characters. If we just express our complaint and worry in the common way. Our life will become boring. Just because the violation of some mixed rules or invariable norms， our life becomes more and more interesting. Analyzing from the opposite perspective， the violation of politeness principles also the important part of this theory for it widens the road of developing.

3. Analysis on the Verbal Humor of Horseman Bojack on the Perspective of Politeness Principle

3.1 the Violation of Strategic Maxim

Example 1：

Girl： on， hay.

Bojack： where？ Id love hay.

In this conversation， the girl said hey to Bojack to greet him. However， the word “hey” had the same voice with “hay”， so this misunderstanding made Bojack very excited because he thought he can eat hay. This example violates the strategic maxim and causes the humorous effect and leaves the watchers a rough expression of Bojack namely he was a impulsive and careless person.

Example 2： the plot that Bojack brings up three human children

Bojack， as a horse， did not have the ability to raise the human children. But this arrangement can reflect the violation of the norm and rules in the covert aspect. Therefore， many of the violation of strategic maxim has the function that indicate the unusual or even abnormal life of Bojack or to say the modern people. From this cartoon， we can Bojack is not a simple horse but a anthropomorphic image who has all the dilemmas and trouble as modern people. Through this violation， the satire style is formed.

3.2 the Violation of Generosity Maxim

Example 3：

Bojack： But also， you were my friend and you hurt my feelings. And its weird that you never apologized for that.

In real life， it is unnecessary and impolite to criticize our friends like Bojack， so it is the typical case of violation of generosity maxim. However， in this case， people may have sympathetic visage with Bojack because we also have encountered such a situation. We should not and need not to express our feelings so directly while Bojack does what we want. To some extent， this kind of violation of generosity maxim can reflect the real life than obeying the rules.endprint

3.3 the Violation of Sympathy Maxim

Example 4：

Lyrics： three little orphans one， two， three；

Without a home or a family tree；

Until this horse said “live with me”

And now weve got a new family；

We were lost and now were found

Horsin around

After hearing this song in the cartoon， we can see the disharmony of its lyrics and melody. The theme of this lyric is the the three orphans and the horse which should be poor， while the happy tune of this song reflect the kind and tender inner world of horseman Bojack. In fact， this song in cartoon is written by Bojack himself and he is very proud of it. This setting can reflect the unknown inner world of Bojack which is also presented in common life.

Example 5：

Women： I dont understand why you need me to like you so much？

Bojack： I do not need you to like me. It would be fun if you like me， because then I can prove to myself： my parents were wrong to never support me because I now earned the admiration of a certain authority figure， that is proving I have intrinsic worth.

In this case， the women sits beside Bojack is actually not a certain authority figure， but take the whole context into consideration， we can see that Bojack admires her for the sake of gaining acceptance and appreciation from his parents who never proud of him. After reading those sentences of Bojack， we can see that in fact， the object of sympathy is himself instead of the interlocutor so we regard it as the violation of Sympathy Maxim.

3.4 the Violation of Agreement Maxim

Example 6：

Host： anyway， we were talking about Horsin Around. To what do you attribute the shows wide appeal？

Bojack： charlie， listen， you know， I know that its very hip these days to shit all over Horsin Around， but at that time， I can tell you...

In this plot， the content of Bojack has no relation with the question the host puts forward. This behavior violates the agreement maxim. Seemingly they are heatedly talking with each other， while in fact， they dont care about what the other says. The agreement maxim requires the speaker to minimize the differences between himself and others and try to exaggerate the consistency with others. However， we can see in this conversation， the violation of agreement maxim is obvious.

Example 7：

Tenant： morning， sunshine. Why so gloomy， roomie？

Bojack： first of all， were not roommates. You are my house guest.endprint

Tenant： well， we dont need to put labels on things.

Bojack： you sleep on my couch， ad you dont pay rent. Ive had tape worms that were less parasitic. I dont even remember why I let you stay with me in the first place.

In this plot， the two actors are seemingly talking with each other， while in fact， the content they talk is irrelevant. And at the same time， we can see the words of Bojack are rude to even common people. This setting can reflect the closed relationship with Todd on the one hand， and the unbending attitude of Bojack. In real life， we also have the chance to meet the situation occurring in the carton and we may behave the same way as Bojack. Based on this realistic background， we can easily find the ironic humor in this cartoon.

3.5 the Violation of Modesty Maxim

Example 8：

Bojack： I improvised that line. I mean， it was written， but I gave it the old Bojack spin.

Todd： hey， how many times have you watched this episode？

Bojack： yeah， but do you get it， though？ Because “nay” means no， but it is also a thing that horses say. It works on every level.

Todd： I get it.

Bojack： ah， you dont get it.

In this plot， Bojack is proud of lines he once wrote and says many times to his friends. Ignoring the fact that his friend is not interested in his words or he really gets the idea of the lines， Bojack repeats his words for many times which violate the modesty maxim.

3.6 the Violation of Approbation Maxim

Example 9：

Bojack： youre wearing that to the prom？

Woman： what， you dont think it is cute？

Bojack： neigh way， Jose.

The woman talked with Bojack tried to lead him praise his cute dress. However， Bojack directly said his real ideas. In our daily life， when some people ask our opinion about a skirt or something， we may say the good sentences and praise her good sight. However， in this situation， Bojack not only obeyed this social rules， but says directly that the cloth the woman wears is not cute.

4. Conclusion

According to the above data collection and analysis， the author found that verbal humor is mainly composed of violation of strategic maxim and approbation maxim. People who are optional and do not submit to the traditional rules and norms will probably violate the politeness principle. Politeness principle is one of the important guidelines for people to communicate with each other. Although obeying the principle of politeness can also produce a certain amount of humor， it is like a dance in shackles. However， Horseman Bojack breaks down the limitation of politeness principle and give full play to their subjective initiative to create a lot of different humorous effect. At the same time， this method let the audiences laugh to tears and understand the equality， free， self， and direct concept of foreign society as well as the helplessness and predicament of common people just like every one in our country. Thus it can be seen that verbal humor is really a great art， which embodies the infinite charm of language and culture. In the daily work and life， it can not only adjust the atmosphere， relieve the pressure， but also help to build a harmonious interpersonal relationship and enhance peoples feelings by making good use of the politeness principle.

In conclusion， making full sense of politeness principles can not only provide a particular perspective on analyzing different works， books， shows and so on， but also help us better understand the pragmatic function of language， promote cultural exchanges between China and the west， and realize the development of cultural globalization.

References：

[1]Jacob Mey，2001.Pragmatics：An Introduction[M].Oxford： Blackwell publishers.

[2]Leech，Geoffrey N.1983.Principles of Pragmatics[M].London： Long man Group Ltd.

[3]Lakoff，R.1979.The Logic of Politeness：On Minding Your Ps and Qs Papers from the Ninth Regional Meeting[C].Chicago： Chicago Linguistic Society.

[4]何自然.語用学与英语学习[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社， 1997.

[5]冉永平.语用学：现象与分析[M].北京：北京大学出版社，2006.1.endprint