Philosophica Vol III No. 1, Juni 2020 AN ANALYSIS OF GESTURES FOUND IN “A QUIET PLACE” FILM RAHMA AMALIA PUTRI, SITI LESTARI, AB PRABOWO KA English Department, Universitas PGRI Semarang [email protected] First received: 23 February 2020 Final proof received: 30 May 2020 Abstract This final project presents the analysis of gestures found in “A Quiet Place” film. The main purposes of this research are (1) to find out the kinds of gestures found in “A Quiet Place” film (2) to analyze the function of gesture found in “A Quiet Place” Film. The method of this research is descriptive qualitative research. For collecting the data, the researcher should watch “A Quiet Place” Film. After watching film, the researcher should find out the kinds of gesture in another journal or books then analyzing the kinds of gesture that found in “A Quiet Place” film. The researcher found the kinds of gesture that written by David McNeill and Levy 2005. There are four dimensions of the previous researcher about the kinds of gesture: Iconic, Metaphoric, Deictic, and Beats. That are the kinds of gesture that the researcher will analyze based on the film. The four kinds of gesture is importance for balancing the speakers meaning when they talk, and when the speakers did not allow to speech or using their sounds. Study about gesture is important, as a student of English education the researcher took this subject because it related to cultural understanding and linguistics. The researcher chose “A Quiet Place” film that relating to this research. “A Quiet Place” is an American post-apocalyptic horror film directed by John Krasinski in 2018, who wrote the screenplay with Bryan Woods and Scott Beck. The film stars Krasinski, alongside Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe. The plot revolves around a family struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by blind extraterrestrial creatures with an acute sense of hearing. A Quiet Place premiered at South by Southwest on March 9, 2018, and was released in the United States on April 6, 2018, by Paramount Pictures. This is one of the film which is not having any conversations. The characters are used gestures for communication. The researcher suggested the readers to be more understanding about gesture, and also the researcher suggested the future researcher that another drama or film could be selected to next researcher and they could explain more about this subject because the gestures is not only about non-verbal communication, it is related to another theory of body language.. Keywords: Analysis, Gestures, A Quiet Place film 2 Philosophica Vol III No. 1, Juni 2020 INTRODUCTION interpret the message to extract its mea- According to Assia (2017), gestures ning. Messages are conveyed back and are a way to express feelings and thoughts forth through feedback. Feedback can be non-verbally. They can also be used toget- through words or through non-verbal ac- her with words to provide more empha- tions like various gestures, sighing, looking sis. Gestures allow individuals to express away or nodding. The other factors are a variety of feelings, “from contempt considered when communicating. The sen- and hostility to approval and affection”. der or the receiver of the massage has to Most gestures are made with the hands, consider the message’s context, where the from the thumbs-up sign to the disappro- message is given and the possible interven- ving finger wag. Gestures can be made tion when the message is sent or received. with other parts of the body as well. The Situation are different if a person can see movement of arms and hands, are diffe- or hear the sender of the message, because rent from other body language in that they the receiver can immediately hear the res- tend to have a far greater association with ponse or see the reactions to the message speech and language. Whilst the rest of the through emotion, emphasis or tone of voi- body indicates more general emotional sta- ce of the sender (Day, 2018). te, gestures can have specific linguistic con- Based on Day Translation (2018), in tent. Gestures are elemental components written communication, consideration is of social communication and aid compre- given on how the specific characteristics of hension of verbal messages; however, little the text interact with the cognitive facility is known about the potential role of ges- of the reader to receive the information tures in facilitating processing of semantic comprehensively and coherently. Likewi- complexity in an ecologically valid setting. se, the interaction of the language with a Communication involves action. It’s person’s motivation and emotional makeup a process of exchanging ideas, massage or to persuade or move the reader should be information from one individual (the spea- looked into. ker) to another (the receiver) through signs Communication is a complex process or words (language) that are comprehen- and involves several variables like situa- sible between the two parties. Communica- tions, different genre, medium and method tion is essential for a community or orga- of delivery. Language, on the other hand, nization so that their members will be able is affected by personal, cultural, institution to work in concert. Communication can and organizational aims. For linguists, it is flow horizontally, diagonally, downward or essential to know how the use of language upward. In every type and level of a com- is affected by social context and how cul- munity or organization, communication is turally diverse people communicate. Lan- needed. It involves a two-way process that guage is a tool that aids in the expression has different elements, there are the sen- and conveyance of thought and feelings of der, encoding process, message, channel, two individuals. The expression of feelings the receiver, decoding process, veed back and thoughts can be sent through sounds, (Day, 2018). symbols, such as written or spoken words, For communication to happen the- posture, gesture or signs, wherein the recei- re should be someone to send and anot- ver interprets a specific meaning. her person to receive a particular message. For humans, the prime communica- The sender, as well as the receiver, has to tion medium to convey or exchange emo- Philosophica Vol III No. 1, Juni 2020 3 tion, opinion, views or ideas, is language. States, if we make an “O” by putting our It gives order, meaning and coherence to thumb and forefinger together, we mean abstract and complicated thoughts. Dif- “OK,” but the same gesture in certain parts ferent people living in different commu- of Europe signifies an obscenity. “Thumbs nities or localities use distinctly separate up” in the United States means “great” or languages for communication. Culture was “wonderful,” but in Australia it means the defined earlier as the symbols, language, same thing as extending the middle finger beliefs, values, and artifacts that are part in the United States. Certain parts of the of any society. As this definition suggests, Middle East and Asia would be offended if there are two basic components of culture: they saw you using your left hand to eat, be- ideas and symbols on the one hand and ar- cause they use their left hand for bathroom tifacts (material objects) on the other. The hygiene (Janys, 2013) first type, called nonmaterial culture, inclu- Many known gestures are universal- des the values, beliefs, symbols, and langu- ly recognized as symbolizing nervousness, age that define a society. frustration, excitement, etc. others may According to (Axtell, 1998) Every simply be used by actors at different ti- culture is filled with symbols, or things mes in a performance that require a simple that stand for something else and that of- description when analyzing them for dra- ten evoke various reactions and emotions. ma studies (Erickson, 2004). Some symbols are actually types of non- When speakers talk, they gesture. verbal communication, while other sym- The aim of this research is to understand bols are in fact material objects. The first the contribution that these gestures make element that exists in every culture is a va- to how we communicate and think. Ges- riety of symbols. A symbol is anything that ture can play a role in communication and is used to stand for something else. People thought at many timespans. We explore, who share a culture often attach a speci- in turn, gesture’s contribution to how lan- fic meaning to an object, gesture sound, or guage is produced and understood in the image. moment; its contribution to how we learn Let’s look at nonverbal symbols first. language and other cognitive skills; and its A common one is shaking hands, which is contribution to how language is created done in some societies but not in others. over generations, over childhood, and on- It commonly conveys friendship and is the-spot. We find that the gestures speakers used as a sign of both greeting and depar- produce when they talk are integral to com- ture. Probably all societies have nonverbal munication and can be harnessed in a num- symbols we call gestures, movements of ber of ways. (1) Gesture reflects speakers’ the hand, arm, or other parts of the body thoughts, often their unspoken thoughts, that are meant to convey certain ideas or and thus can serve as a window onto cog- emotions. However, the same gesture can nition. Encouraging speakers to gesture mean one thing in one society and somet- can thus provide another route for teach- hing Quiet different in another society. For ers, clinicians, interviewers, etc., to better example, if we nod our head up and down, understand their communication partners. we mean yes, and if we shake it back and (2) Gesture can change speakers’ thoughts.