A Corpus-based Stylistic Analysis Of Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained

In the field of stylistics,it is more common to use Speech Act Theory as a means of qualitative research method to analyze literary texts,but the combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods is rare in the domestic stylistic research field.Besides,as one of the four literary genres,drama text remains infrequent as the target of stylisticians.Therefore,this thesis will take the text of Quentin Tarantino's film script Django Unchained as an example,with Cornell University's movie dialogue corpus as a reference,using AntConc and kfNgram and Speech Act Theory to analyze the drama text,quantitatively and qualitatively explore the characters traits and thematic significance.The corpus research method is used to analyze the high frequency words,collocation and semantic prosody,and n-grams of the text;Speech Act Theory is used to qualitatively explain the results of corpus retrieval.Firstly,in keyword research,the top keyword Django(searched by AntConc)is the name of the drama protagonist.It embodies the resistance to the black slavery and the tribute to the classic works.Another keyword,monsieur,reveals the cruelty behind the Southern Manor's fake elegance.Secondly,the study of collocation and semantic prosody of keywords confirms the suffering of black slaves being exploited and slaughtered in the antebellum period.Thirdly,with the use of kfNgram to screen the n-grams,it appears that on the one hand,the drama text tells a tragic fate of black slaves during the Civil War;on the other hand,Quentin has shaped Dr.Schultz as the savior of the slaves who brought hope to them.Finally,using the Speech Act Theory to qualitatively analyze the results of corpus retrieval,it can be found that different from other western film scripts which shape white men as heroes,Quentin shapes the black slave Django as a hero who takes the responsibility to rebel and revenge.Other characters,such as Dr.Schultz,Broomhilda and Monsieur Candie,perfect Django's heroic image from different angles and reveal the cruel atrocities of black slavery.