Exploring Assertive Acts in Lady Bird Movie Reviews on Letterboxd

Abstract

This research aims to determine how Letterboxd users express their opinions about Lady Bird movie through their comments. A qualitative descriptive method was used to describe the actual phenomena occurring in collected data. The data were collected by selecting and transcribing verbal comments on Letterboxd related to the Lady Bird movie. After that, the data were classified into types of assertive acts proposed by Searle and Vanderveken (1985). In this research, it was found that Letterboxd users employed the types of assertive acts admit, confess, notify, claim, report, predict, and argue. These types of assertive acts are used as a means of public self-expression and to strengthen deeper emotional bonds with fellow Letterboxd users who watched the Lady Bird movie. Unlike formal discourse, which uses assertive acts to simply provide information, assertive acts in informal discourse, especially movie reviews on Letterboxd, are used to seek empathy and validation, share experiences, and build a community with other users.