Politeness in Children’s Media: An Analysis of the Main Character’s Strategies in the Malaysian English-Dubbed Boboiboy

Politeness in children’s animated series is often simplified or overlooked, raising concerns about the models of interaction presented to young audiences. Addressing the limited systematic analysis of politeness in childrens’ animation, this study analyses the use of politeness strategies by the main character, BoBoiBoy, in selected episodes of the popular Malaysian children’s animated series BoBoiBoy, English-dubbed Season 1. The study was guided by Brown and Levinson’s (1987) Politeness Theory. The objective of the study was to identify the types of politeness strategies BoBoiBoy used, the most frequently used strategy, and the factors influencing his choices during interactions with other characters. This study adopted a qualitative content analysis of 10 transcribed episodes purposively sampled from the BoBoiBoy English Series 1 playlist available on Monsta Studio Sdn. Bhd. official YouTube channel. The findings revealed that bold on-record strategies were the most frequently used, reflecting direct communication in urgent or informal contexts. Meanwhile, positive politeness, negative politeness, and off-record strategies were selectively applied to build rapport, show deference, or soften face-threatening acts. The study concluded that the BoBoiBoy politeness strategies choices were influenced by social distance, rank of imposition, and power dynamics. The findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of linguistic politeness and its role in modeling respectful communication in children’s animated shows. Beyond enriching the scholarly discourse on politeness strategies, the study offers practical implications for content creators and educators in fostering positive language use in media targeted at young audiences.

Politeness Strategies, Face-Threatening Acts

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