An Analysis Of Attitudinal Realization In English Movie Reviews

As an important part of the film industry, the movie review is regarded not only as the driving force of the film industry but also as a guide for the film consumption. In America, most of the mass-media outlets spare a column for the movie review. Movie reviews of this kind serve the purpose of being persuasive, informative and attractive.Appraisal theory, proposed by Martin and other scholars, is regarded as an extension of interpersonal function of Systemic-Functional Grammar. Appraisal theory is concerned with how the language is employed to evaluate, to express attitude, to construct textual personas and to manage interpersonal positioning and relationships. Appraisal theory is comprised of three subsystems: Attitude, Engagement and Graduation.At present, few scholars at home and abroad study the discourse of the movie review from the perspective of Appraisal theory. The present study will conduct a tentative analysis of the English movie reviews under the guide of one of the subsystem of Appraisal theory, that is, Attitude system, with a view to explore the general features of the attitudinal realization in the English movie reviews.Through an analysis of 30 English movie reviews by adopting the qualitative and quantitative research methods, the following findings are drawn.Attitudinal resources are prevalent in English movie reviews. All of the subcategories of Attitude—Affect, Judgment and Appreciation—can be found to help the reviewers to fulfill the interpersonal function of the movie reviews. However, they are unevenly distributed, with appreciation the most frequently used, affect the least used and judgment in between. The distribution ensures the objectivity of the movie review to some extent. Among the subtypes of appreciation, reaction and valuation are preferred over composition. As to judgment, social esteem is way more than social sanction. In most cases, the reviewers encode judgment as capacity to evaluate whether the people involved in the production of the movie achieve something. It is also discovered that most of judgment and appreciation are expressed explicitly. The explicit appraisal makes it easier for readers to understand the review. These attitudinal resources work together to facilitate the realization of the interpersonal function of the movie reviews, being persuasive and evaluative. The present study enriches the study of Appraisal theory and English movie reviews, at the same time sheds some light on language teaching and learning of evaluative discourse.