Politeness in Grace and Frankie

Abstract

This study investigates the use of politeness strategies by older characters in the Netflix television series, Grace and Frankie, with the aim of exploring the connection between Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory and the variables age and gender. This qualitative content analysis identifies uses of positive politeness, negative politeness, off-record, and bald-on-record as the primary categories of strategies involved in facework. The results demonstrate that all categories of politeness strategies were prevalent in the scripts of selected episodes of Grace and Frankie and used by all four main characters included in the study, all older adults. Bald-on-record strategies are shown to be most frequently used overall. The findings also reveal gender differences between the characters: the female leads, Grace and Frankie, are more likely to perform face-threatening acts without mitigating them, while the male characters, Robert and Sol, tend to redress such acts using positive or negative politeness strategies or avoid them by going off-record. The results of the essay are discussed in relation to media stereotypes about ageing and gender, as well as potential effects on audience perceptions.