REASSESSING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE IN DISNEY’S ALADDIN (2019): A CONTEXT-SENSITIVE ANALYSIS OF DIALOGUE
Keywords:
figurative language; film dialogue; contextual meaning; pragmatic function; AladdinAbstract
This study reassesses the classification and communicative functions of figurative language in the English dialogue of Disney’s live-action film Aladdin (2019). Rather than treating every expression containing like, as, or an indirect meaning as figurative, the study applies a context-sensitive qualitative content analysis to 26 candidate utterances compiled in the original dataset. Each utterance was examined by comparing its lexical composition with its scene-based meaning, speaker intention, discourse function, and—where relevant—auditory and visual cues. The audit substantially refines the initial taxonomy. Eleven items are best described as idiomatic or conventional figurative formulae, while only one of seven comparison constructions is a clear figurative simile; the remaining six are literal comparisons, degree constructions, or contextual analogies. Three items previously classified as metaphors are superlative power claims and may function as intensification, but they do not establish cross-domain metaphorical mappings. Two items previously labeled ambiguity are more accurately analyzed as a direct directive and an indirect request. The remaining items comprise a context-dependent temporal symbol, a potential instance of verbal irony, and a literal evaluative address to a monkey rather than personification. Across the defensible cases, figurative language supports characterization, humor, interpersonal positioning, intensification, and narrative economy. The findings demonstrate that surface markers alone are insufficient for identifying figurative language and that multimodal context is essential in film dialogue. The study offers a more transparent coding framework for film-based figurative-language research and cautions against deriving broad moral themes from frequency counts without a separate thematic analysis. It also identifies methodological priorities for transcript verification, independent coding, and future multimodal comparison.
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