Analysis of Speech Acts in

El Camino: A Breaking
Bad Movie
ENG217 Sec 12
Jate Sinhaseni 6406602
Character
The project emphasizes the analysis of speech acts as
uttered by Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul)
Utterance 1
Scene: Jesse, following his escape captivity, finds his way to
his friends’ house
Time: 0:04:57
Skinny Pete: Jesse?
Badger: Who is it?
Jesse: I gotta get that car off the street.
Speech Act: Directive
Paradigm Case: Requesting
Explanation: Jesse is telling his friends that he has to get his
car off the street, implying that he needs their help hiding the
car.
Utterance 2
Scene: Jesse and his friends call up a scrapyard owner, Joe, to
get help destroying his car.
Time: 00:13:16
Jesse: Look, thank you so much for doing this, Joe. About the
money, if we can maybe—
Joe: It’s on the house.
Speech Act: Expressive
Paradigm Case: Thanking
Explanation: Jesse, having just escaped from captivity, has no
money on him. He’s expressing his gratitude to Joe, who’s
willing to help him for no charge.
Utterance 3
Scene: Two men dressed as police officers are searching
Todd’s house while Jesse was raiding it. One of them found
Jesse holding a gun pointed at him, hiding under a mattress
Time: 0:55:07
Jesse: I’m no cop killer. You be cool and I will be cool.
Understand?
Speech Act: Commissive
Paradigm Case: Threatening
Explanation: Jesse is saying that he doesn’t normally kill
police officers, but if the man doesn’t do as he says, he will
shoot.
Utterance 4
Scene: Jesse is on the phone with is parents.
Time: 1:20:40
Mr. and Mrs. Pinkman: Jesse, where are you?
Jesse: I heard you saying that I should turn myself in.
Speech Act: Representative
Paradigm Case: Stating
Explanation: Jesse is calling his parents to say goodbye,
stating that he heard them saying he should turn himself
in, implying that he saw them on the news in an earlier
scene.
Utterance 5
Scene: Jesse, after having shot and killed two men, told the
other men in the room to hand over their driver’s licenses.
Time: 1:41:08
Jesse: I know where you live. You tell the cops about me and I
am coming for every goddamn one of you. You understand?
Speech Act: Commissive
Paradigm Case: Threatening
Explanation: Jesse doesn’t want to kill anyone, but he doesn’t
want the police to know about him either. Having seen all the
men’s driver’s licenses, he reassured that they know that he
knows where they all live, so that they will take his threat more
seriously.