A Study of Flouting Maxims in Arthur Fleck's Dialogue in the Joker Movie

Tsani, Achmad. 2026. A Study of Flouting Maxim on Arthur Fleck Dialogue on Joker Movie. Undergraduate thesis, English Education Department, Faculty of Education, Communication and Science, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surabaya, Supervisor I: Armeria Wijaya, S. S., M. Pd., Supervisor II: Ro’ifah, S. Pd., M. Pd.
This study analyzes how Arthur Fleck's dialogue in the film Joker (2019) reveals his character through violations of conversation rules and speech patterns. Using Grice's Cooperative Principle and Searle's Speech Act Theory, the research examined nine key dialogue scenes from the film. The findings show Arthur consistently breaks all four conversational maxims: Quality (lying/inaccuracy, 6 times), Quantity (saying too much/little, 5 times), Relation (irrelevance, 7 times), and Manner (unclear communication, 7 times). His speech is mostly expressive (showing emotions, 7 times), followed by statements (6), commands (4), and promises (1), with no declarations. This analysis demonstrates that Arthur's communication problems authentically represent multiple mental disorders, including Borderline, Depressive, Antisocial, Sadistic, and Negativistic Personality Disorders, worsened by Pseudobulbar Affect from brain injury. His character develops from someone who involuntarily struggles with communication due to untreated mental illness to someone who deliberately subverts normal conversation as the Joker. Each conversation rule violation serves three purposes: it indicates mental illness, causes social rejection, and drives his transformation from victim to villain. Arthur's linguistic problems create a destructive cycle, his abnormal communication causes social isolation, which worsens his mental health, leading to more communication failures. This research contributes to linguistics by showing how conversation rules in film dialogue create psychologically realistic characters. It demonstrates how severe mental illness combined with social neglect manifests through language patterns, producing the morally complex characterization that makes Arthur Fleck compelling.

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Penelitian ini menganalisis bagaimana dialog Arthur Fleck dalam film Joker (2019) mengungkapkan karakternya melalui pelanggaran aturan percakapan dan pola tuturan. Menggunakan Prinsip Kerja Sama Grice dan Teori Tindak Tutur Searle, penelitian ini meneliti sembilan adegan dialog kunci dari film tersebut. Temuan menunjukkan Arthur secara konsisten melanggar keempat maksim percakapan: Kualitas (berbohong/tidak akurat, 6 kali), Kuantitas (berkata terlalu banyak/sedikit, 5 kali), Relevansi (tidak relevan, 7 kali), dan Cara (komunikasi tidak jelas, 7 kali). Tuturannya didominasi fungsi ekspresif (menunjukkan emosi, 7 kali), diikuti pernyataan (6), perintah (4), dan janji (1), tanpa ada deklarasi. Analisis ini menunjukkan bahwa masalah komunikasi Arthur secara autentik merepresentasikan berbagai gangguan mental, termasuk Gangguan Kepribadian Borderline, Depresif, Antisosial, Sadistik, dan Negativistik, yang diperburuk oleh Afek Pseudobulbar akibat cedera otak. Karakternya berkembang dari seseorang yang secara tidak sengaja kesulitan berkomunikasi karena penyakit mental yang tidak diobati menjadi seseorang yang sengaja merusak percakapan normal sebagai Joker. Setiap pelanggaran aturan percakapan memiliki tiga fungsi: menandakan penyakit mental, menyebabkan penolakan sosial, dan mendorong transformasinya dari korban menjadi penjahat. Masalah linguistik Arthur menciptakan siklus destruktif, komunikasi abnormalnya menyebabkan isolasi sosial, yang memperburuk kesehatan mentalnya, sehingga menimbulkan lebih banyak kegagalan komunikasi. Penelitian ini berkontribusi pada linguistik dengan menunjukkan bagaimana aturan percakapan dalam dialog film menciptakan karakter yang realistis secara psikologis. Ini mendemonstrasikan bagaimana penyakit mental parah yang dikombinasikan dengan pengabaian sosial termanifestasi melalui pola bahasa, menghasilkan karakterisasi kompleks secara moral yang membuat Arthur Fleck menarik.