GENDER REPRESENTATION OF MARGARET THATCHER IN THE IRON LADY MOVIE: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON TRANSITIVITY

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the language used by the character of Margaret Thatcher in a movie entitled The Iron Lady. It is conducted to reveal her dominant gender represented in the movie and the existence of gender equality in it. The investigation is based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar attentively in the verb processes included in transitivity system. In addition, the theory of Critical Discourse Analysis along with theory of gendered language attempt to reveal the goal through the dominant verb processes produced by the character. The nature of this study is statistical, descriptive, and interpretative. Those methods of analysis are applied on quantitative and qualitative data through the technique of documentary (bibliographical) study as the method of collecting data. The movie transcript as one of the data is taken from an internet source, http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Iron-Lady,-The.html [accessed on February 24, 2012 at 6.30 am]. Next, the data are divided into three parts based on the scenes and from each part, the samples are acquired. The finding of this thesis exposes that Margaret Thatcher in this movie dominantly represents masculinity rather than femininity. It deals with the dominant verb which is found in the analysis is integrated in material process. Through this, it is unquestionable that the gender equality within the character of Margaret Thatcher cannot be proved. In contrast, this movie shows the phenomenon of gender inequality.