Delineating the Heroism Concept in Captain America: Civil War Movie Subtitle: A Pragmatic Study

Abstract

This investigation is aimed at delineating the heroism concept in one of American movies entitled Captain America: Civil War. This movie is objected as the source of study since this movie brings question about the shifting alignment of a hero who aligns with his community against the government. This issue will be examined closely through speech acts of pragmatic study. Employing Austin’s (1962) and Levinson’s (1995) proposition of speech act, this investigation is revealing the logical connection between the utterances of the main character and the concept of heroism “The Great 8” proposed by Allison and Geothal (2011). Additionally, the cultural and historical context are also considered important in delineating the concept of heroism. Finally,the result shows that “The Great 8” of heroism concept (smart, strong, resilient, selfless, caring, charismatic, reliable, inspiring) are depicted on the following speech acts (representative, directive, commisive, expressive, and declarative). This finding is leading to giving the answer of the shifting alignment of the main character which is highly-minded influenced by the cultural values and historical context of American people (freedom of choice, independent, and individualistic). Moreover, the analysis leads to the proof that the concept of heroism which is projected in the movie contains a message about political issue related to liberalism and conservatism.