AN ANALYSIS OF FIGURES OF SPEECH IN CRUELLA

MOVIE (2021)
Nadya Aisyah Salsabila Achmad, Dyah Raina P., S.S., M.Hum, Hanifa Pascarina, S.S.,
M.Hum
Universitas Jenderal Soedirman
nasasalsabila2017@gmail.com
Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the figure of speech contained in the subtitles or
script in the film Cruella In analyzing the issue, this research uses a descriptive qualitative
method. The researcher used Perrine's theory which proposed 12 types of figures of speech in
literature. The finding of research shows that 9 out of 12 types of figures of speech are found in
this film. The findings in this study include the fact that there are based on the data above 142
expressions found in Cruella Movie. Out of 142 Figures of speech, 15 are Metaphors (10,56%), 18
are classified as Irony (12,67%), 10 expressions belong to Paradox (7,04%), 12 expressions are
categorized as Understatement (8,45%%), 21 expressions are Hyperbole (14,78%), each of
Personification 9 (6,33%) and Simile are 9 (6,33%), 14 expressions identified as Metonymy
(9,85%) and the most frequency of figures of speech is 34 expressions belong to Apostrophe
(23,94%).

Keywords: naturalness, figures of speech, subtitle, Cruella movie

I. INTRODUCTION

Movie is a greatly prestigious cultural activity in the modern world. Movie has been
used to express both ideas beyond the confines of reality and matters beneath the
boundaries of morality, even to convey what can’t be easily spoken but expressed
visually, artistically, and symbolically. As is well known, some movies have reached
audiences around the world that require viewers to obtain subtitles to understand the
dialogue in the movie. A subtitle is an explanatory title appearing on the screen during the
scenes of a motion picture in a foreign language which is included in the form of
translation. According to Barzegar (2010) “translation is defined as an attempt to replace
a written message in or statement in one language by the same message and or statement
in another” This notion proves the subtitles shown are the foreign language spoken in the
form of written text translated or spoken into another language.

When we watch a movie, we often come across idiomatic expressions that we rarely
know. In this case, it is in the form of an idiom. The idiom expressions are defined
differently by some experts. McCarty and O’Dell (2010) as cited by Fachrizal (2018: 1)
propose that an idiom is a word combination with a meaning that differs from the
meanings of the individual words. One of the films that contain many idioms in other
words figures of speech is Cruella Movie (2021). Cruella is an American live-action
crime-comedy drama film which was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and released
theatrically on May 28, 2021, with a simultaneous release on Disney+. Based on the 1961
Disney animated feature film, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, the film serves as the
origin story for Cruella De Vil and stars Emma Stone as the titular character. The plot has
an interesting storyline “Cruella,” which is set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock
revolution, follows a young girl named Estella, a clever and creative girl determined to
make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who
appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they can build a life for themselves on
the London streets On the other hand, many features in this film need to be analyzed. One
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(2021)

of among is figures of speech. Figures of speech used in this movie are enormous with
the kind of 1940s mid-Atlantic accent (Elle UK, 2021). In accordance with this research
in figures of speech, it is needed for the researcher to investigate what makes this movie
different especially in understanding the figures of speech spoken by character. To
support this study, the researcher used Perrine’s theory (2008:61), she says there are 12
types of figures of speech namely: simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe,
synecdoche, metonymy, symbol, allegory, paradox, hyperbole, understatement, and irony.

Figure of speech is a lovely language that is used to raise the level and enhance the
impression of an object or a specific thing by presenting and comparing it to objects or
other ordinary things. In brief, the use of a certain figure of speech can alter the value of a
given flavor or meaning. Many experts defined figures of speech in numerous ways.
Wren & Martin (1982: 488) as cited by Hartana state, “Figures of speech is a departure
from the ordinary form of expression to produce a greater effect”. In other words, figures
of speech are extra words or phrases to give rhetorical effect. The other definition of a
figure of speech is according to M. H. Abrams (1999: 96), states that figures of speech
are a conspicuous departure from what users of a language apprehend as the standard
meaning of words, or else the standard order of words, to achieve some special meaning
or effect. Figure of speech is sometimes described as primarily poetic, but they are
integral to the functioning of language and indispensable to all modes of discourse. So
that figure of speech is a language that makes things more dramatic and makes life a
poem, novel, or song lyric.

The research on figures of speech was done before, for example the undergraduate
thesis from Andreas Tri Hartana's University of Sanata Dharma (2018) entitled An
Analysis of the Translation of Figures of speech found in Coco Movie. In his thesis, he
examines the type of figures of speech and how acceptable the translation of figures of
speech is. Hartana used Abram’s theory to classify the types of figures of speech used in
the movie and deal with translation quality assessment with Larson’s theory. The result of
the analysis is the researcher found 75 expressions that contain the figure of speech which
were divided into 3 chosen figures of speech, namely; 35 metaphors (47%), 32
personifications (43%), and eight litotes (10%).

Based on the above-mentioned in the introduction, Cruella Movie (2021) has been
chosen as the subject of this study to be examined through the lens of Figures of Speech.
Then, the researchers conducted the purpose: To describe the figure of speech that is used
in Cruella movie 2021. To reach this purpose, researchers employed Perrine's theory to
analyze the figures of speech in the movie.

II. MATERIALS AND METHOD

This research uses qualitative description in the form of document analysis.
According to Babbie (2010), document analysis is “the study of recorded human
communications, such as books, websites, paintings, and laws” (p.530). The source of
data in the study is a movie and the subtitle. In this research, the data are taken in the
form of utterances containing figures of speech in the movie. The researcher focuses on 9
types of figures of speech (metaphor, irony, paradox, understatement, hyperbole,
personification, simile, metonymy, and apostrophe ) that appear in the scene. The population
of this research is utterances containing figures of speech that are spoken by all of the characters in
Cruella movie 2021. In this research, the sampling technique that is used is total sampling..
To analyze the data, the researcher takes some steps. they are 1) watching the movie
Nadya Aisyah Salsabila Achmad, Dyah Raina P., S.S., M.Hum, Hanifa 3
Pascarina, S.S., M.Hum

repeatedly 2) identifying the sentence that contain figures of speech 3) classifying the
figures of speech 4) analyzing the meaning of figures of speech.

III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The aim of this paper is to analyze the type of figures of speech in Cruella Movie
2021 by applied Perrine’s (2008) theory. After analyzing the data, the researcher finds
from the total of 12 figures of speech in this movie only classified 9 figures of speech
there are Metaphor Irony, Paradox, Understatement, Hyperbole, Personification, Simile,
Metonymy, and Apostrophe. Then, a hundred and forty two expressions were found in
this movie as the data are shown in the table:

Table 3.1 Types of Figures of Speech in Cruella Movie 2021

No Types Of Figures Of Speech Frequency Percentage

1 Metaphor 15 10,56%
2 Irony 18 12,67%
3 Paradox 10 7,04%
4 Understatement 12 8,45%
5 Hyperbole 21 14,78%
6 Personification 9 6,33%
7 Simile 9 6,33%
8 Metonymy 14 9,85%
9 Apostrophe 34 23,94%
Total 142 100%

Based on the data above 142 expressions found in Cruella Movie. Out of 142 Figure
of speech, the most frequency of figures of speech is 34 expressions belong to
Apostrophe (23,94%) since this movie is dominated by the interaction between humans
and their pets and an object. Secondly,there are 22 expressions categorized in Hyperbole
(14,78%) is often found that several characters in this film likely to exaggerate situations
or opinions about something, such as giving compliments or boasting. Thirdly is followed
by Irony with 18 expressions (12,67%), the irony of Cruella is that while this film
proffers an explanation for that possesses the future villain of 101 Dalmatians, which
turns out to be just another similarly crazed woman in her past, thus what drives cruella
and Baroness's words to contain irony because both women are geniuses and crazy.

Furthermore is Metaphors with 15 expressions (10,56%), followed by 14 expressions

identified as Metonymy (9,85%), then 12 expressions categorized as Understatement
(8,45%%), and then Paradox with 10 expressions (7,04%) , In contrast with both of
Personification and Simile with amount of 9 expressions (6,33%) those figures of
speech has a few amount since that the characters in the film Cruella seldomly give a
command to their pets as if they have feelings or behavior like humans, besides that they
also use striking comparative phrases but few are followed by conjunctions. Literally,
there’s no any sentence or phrase contain Symbol, Allegory and Synecdoche found in this

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movie bearing in mind that this movie's target audience is children and adolescents, so
that the conversation topic is not that heavy and poetic or need a deep meaning, this could
be the reason why those three type of figure of speech does not exist.

In order to analyze, the researcher represents the discussion of the result in detail
regarding the theory and additional supporting sources. In the analysis of figures of
speech, the researcher includes one example for each type of figures of speech.

1. Metaphor
Perrine (2008:62) states that the only distinction between simile and metaphor is the
use of connective words. In metaphor, the figurative term is identified with the literal
term. In this movie, the researcher finds 17 expressions, or 10,56%, one of the example
and the explanation are given below

Figure 1 Cruella 2021 00:02:06,627 --> 00:02:09,713

Datum No. 1
Boys : Look. A skunk's got loose in the building.
CONTEXT: Estella first comes to her school, she walks down the corridor and meets
some boy students, where she introduces herself but returned a taunt from the boys.
In this line ‘A skunk’s’ the boys is intended Estella’s black-and-white hairstyle to
be compared with a skunk animal, Moreover, she walks down in the school with her
black-hairstyle appearance makes the boys say ‘A Skunk’s got loose in the building’.
Therefore, it fulfills the metaphor’s purpose to compare two things with literal terms
instead of connective words.

2. Irony
Irony is an expression that has a meaning that extends beyond its use merely as a
figure of speech (Perrine, 2008:103). It is a difference between appearance and reality. It
may also be a situation that may end up more peacefully than what is generally
anticipated. In this movie, there are 18 expressions, or 12,67% that are classified as Irony,
one of them is:
Nadya Aisyah Salsabila Achmad, Dyah Raina P., S.S., M.Hum, Hanifa 5
Pascarina, S.S., M.Hum

Figure 2 Cruella 2021 00:47:37,107 --> 00:47:39,276

Datum No.31
Guard man : That's a beautiful story, mate. I almost welled
up, yeah?

CONTEXT: Furthermore, when Horace started his action as a pest exterminator at the
Black-White Gala, he is in the middle of making up stories about pests that like to attack
high-class people.

Initially, the guards don’t believe it until he said "That beautiful story, mate" with
sarcasm as if Horace's story was a fairy tale, but with his convincing ability, Horace
finally made the guards believe it after witnessing rats as big as dogs running around in
the building.

3. Paradox
Paradox is an apparent contradiction that is, nevertheless, something true. It may be
either situation or a statement (Perrine, 2008:101). In other words, a paradox is a
statement which at first glance, appears to be false, but on further reading, it seems to
contain an element of truth. In the Cruella movie, there are 10 expressions, or 7,04%
containing Paradox.

Figure 3 Cruella 2021 01:06:11,180 --> 01:06:12,723

Datum No. 46
Baroness : Gratitude's for losers.
CONTEXT: Estella arrived late to the building that day, shortly after Baroness told her
employees that she demanded 12 gowns for the spring collection because they had made
nothing spectacular previously. After a staff, including Estella, follow orders and rush to

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the task. Estella left a "Thank you" before heading out, which was responded to with the
words "Gratitudes for losers."

In general, cultures that are high on individualism, as opposed to collectivism, are

more likely to see gratitude as a weakness. There’s a lot of truth in Baroness Von
Hellman's quote “Gratitude’s for losers” because one study on the cross-cultural impacts
of gratitude found that for people from more collectivistic (vs individualistic) society
gratitude practices may simultaneously induce feelings of indebtedness and guilt or “like
a failure” when they were not able to find something to be grateful for. That’s all that
makes the statement in data 46 classified as a paradox.

4. Understatement
Understatement is saying less than one means that may exist in what someone
says and how they say it (Perrine, 2008:102). In this movie there are 12 expressions of
understatement or 8,45%% found, one of them is:

Figure 4 Cruella 2021 01:28:23,220 --> 01:28:25,514

Datum No. 53
Baroness : Hence this little show.
CONTEXT: Cruella, who was in a bonded condition with two other pals at the time, and
the Baroness were bickering about the fact that the Baroness had killed her mother on a
cliff. Cruella transformed into a terrible woman after discovering this info, triggering her
wicked side and making a big show of destroying the Baroness's reputation.

Based on the facts on the ground and what the Baroness said in the data,
Cruella and her comrades make a huge mess by hacking the summer collection show by
making a dress from flies and cocoons, locking the storage door, and making all visitor
runaway and attend her show in Regent’s Park. Instead of saying a “huge show”
Baroness said "little show" to downplay what she mean. Then datum 53 “Hence this little
show” is in accordance with the element of understatement.

5. Hyperbole
Based on Perrine’s perception Hyperbole is an exaggeration expression in the service of
truth (2008:102). In line with Perrine, Keraf (2009:135) defines hyperbole as a kind of
figure of speech that overstatements by raising a matter. In this movie there are 22
expressions or 14,78% found, one of them is :
Nadya Aisyah Salsabila Achmad, Dyah Raina P., S.S., M.Hum, Hanifa 7
Pascarina, S.S., M.Hum

Figure 5 Cruella 2021 00:27:58,345 --> 00:27:59,346

Datum No.23

Gerald : Thousand apologies.

CONTEXT: Estella was caught breaking a display window at her place of work, As a
result, Gerald took her, on this occasion Jasper and Horace who had been watching from
the front of the window slipped in pretending to be buyers with the aim of stealing. While
taking Estella away Gerald accidentally bumps into Horace and rushes to apologize.

According to the story above, the statement “Thousand Apologies” is an

exaggeration of expressing apology, conceptually, apologies are understood as a way to
calm the feelings of the interlocutor. In this case how the speaker delivers an apology is
matter because he pluralizes it even a million apologies and a billion or trillion apologies.
Thus, this expression is classified as hyperbole.

6. Personification
According to Perrine (2008: 64), personification consists in giving the attributes of a
human being to an animal, an object, or a concept. In line with Perrrine, There are only
nine (6,42%) expressions of personification found in this movie, one of them is:

Figure 6 Cruella 2021 01:31:04,756--> 01:31:07,718

Datum No. 86

John : Because I dragged you out of the smoke and flames

before.. they consumed you.

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CONTEXT: John is a silent hero who twice helped Estell when Cruella was tied up in his
hiding place and then burned by the Baroness and his henchmen. John helps Cruella
because it turns out that she is the rightful heir to Von Hellman's fortune.

The statement John made in the passage "the smoke and flames before they consumed
you", has two different things in nature. Smoke and flames are both inanimate objects and
the verb "consumed" is only suitable for living things. That is, the speaker humanizes
inanimate objects, thus the sentence is a personification expression.

7. Simile
Metaphor and simile are both used as a means of comparing things that are
essentially unlike (Perrine, 2008: 65). According to Keraf, Simile is a comparison with an
explicit character. Explicit here means directly comparing one thing to another. Indicates
by using words or phrases like, as, than, similar, resemble, or seem (2009, p.138). In this
movie, there are nine (6,33%) expressions found, one of which is:

Figure 7 Cruella 2021 01:52:55,526 --> 01:52:58,487

Datum No. 88
Horace : That dog is like a son to me.

CONTEXT: Horace's role is to trick the guards into leading them to a library and lock
them there. The utterance “That dog is like a son to me” occurs when one of the guards
seeing Wink and kicks the dog by reflex, Horace becomes angry and retaliated against the
guard.

The pattern of saying "The dog is like a son to me" has two things in comparison.
the first is "a dog" and the second is "son" or human which is likened to the conjunction
"like". Thus, this line is included as Simile. The reason why Horace considers Wink like
his son instead of his friend is because since they were little Wink has been with them,
growing up and doing actions with a pet must be a bond with the animal, maybe Wink is
a light brown chihuahua with one the injured eye was small in stature. Thus, Horace saw
him as a child rather than a friend.

8. Metonymy
According to Perrine’s (2008:67) perception, Metonymy is a figure of speech that
used a word closely associated with it. another wordIn this movie, there found 14
expressions, or 9,85% claimed to contain an element or purpose of metonymy, one of
them is:
Nadya Aisyah Salsabila Achmad, Dyah Raina P., S.S., M.Hum, Hanifa 9
Pascarina, S.S., M.Hum

Figure 8 Cruella 2021 00:36:54,339 --> 00:36:55,966

Datum No. 82
Baroness : I'm all ears.

CONTEXT: Baroness is having a conversation with two of her business partners from the
department store discussing the feedback. The Baroness uttered an “I am all ears” right
after her turn to give some curt feedback.

This familiar phrase is commonly used by many people in daily conversation. In

this context, the words “all ears” has another meaning that has been agreed as idioms to
stand in of listening eagerly and attentively. Thus, this is in line with the notion of
metonymy based on Perrine’s. According to the story, the words "I am all ears" do not
necessarily mean to listen to the other person's reply, it seems that the Baroness was a
little sarcastic with what she said because the two people ended up being shocked and left
the room without any speak.

9. Apostrophe
Apostrophe is when a speaker gives the addressee voice, life, and human ability. It is
a figure of speech in which someone absent, dead, or something non-human is addressed
as if that person or thing were present and could respond (Perrine, 2008: 67). In this
movie which mostly has 34 expressions or 23,94% of apostrophes, one of them are:

Figure 9 Cruella 2021 00:50:02,961 --> 00:50:04,379

Datum No. 95

Horace : Come on, Wink.

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CONTEXT: At that time, Horace amid his disguise as a pest exterminator at the Black-
White ball, he and his dog worked together to trick the guards. Right after Estella
appeared at the ball with her flashy style and then broke into action to break the drinking
tree, Horace went straight to the crime scene or where Estella's inheritance necklace is
stored.

During this scene, Horace often interacts with his dog who happens to be dressed
up as a hybrid mouse, aka a pest. So according to Perrine's theory, the sentence "Come
on, Wink" can be categorized as Apostrophe since the speaker can imagine the non-
human things react to his words.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

After analyzing the data, the researcher finds from the total of 12 figures of speech
proposed by Perrine (2008) the figures of speech in this movie only classified 9 figures of
speech there are Metaphor Irony, Paradox, Understatement, Hyperbole, Personification,
Simile, Metonymy, and Apostrophe. Then, a hundred and forty two expressions were
found in this movie as the data are shown in the table. There are several expressions that
can be included in two kinds of figures of speech accordingly the context and expressions
are suitable to the theory. Based on the results of the description above, it can be
concluded that of the many types of figures of speech found in the film Cruella, the most
commonly found is Apostrophe. In this film all the main characters have pets. Especially
in Western culture pets are considered friends and even family. In addition, the story of
this film begins when Catherine dies and Estella starts her adventure after her surrogate
mother is gone so that every achievement Estella will always confide to her mother in
Regent's Park. On the other hand, the fewest types of figures of speech were found,
namely personification and simile. This shows that the performers of this movie rarely
express striking comparative sentences or phrases.

REFERENCES

Abrams, M. H. (1999). Glossary of literature term. United States of America: Heinle &
Heinle

Babbie, E.R. (2010). The Practice of Social Research (12th ed.). Wadsworth: Cengage
Learning.

Barzegar, Hossein. (2010). English-into-Persian Translation of Colloquial Expressions in

Subtitled Films. Adib Mazandaran University. Retrieved from
https://translationjournal.net/journal/54subtitling.htm

Fachrizal, Aji. (2018). The Translation Strategy of Idiomatic expression in English

Indonesian subtitle of the Infiltrator movie. UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta:
Fakultas Adab dan Humaniora. Retrieved from
https://repository.uinjkt.ac.id/dspace/handle/123456789/39075

IMDb. 2021. Cruella. Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3228774

Keraf, Gorys. (2009). Diksi dan Gaya Bahasa. Jakarta: PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

McCarthy, M, and O'Dell, F. (2010). English Idioms in Use. UK: Cambridge University
Press
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Pascarina, S.S., M.Hum

Perrine, Laurance. (2008). Sound and sense : An Introduction to poetry. New York:
Harcourt, Brace College, Publisher

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