Usage of Taboo Words Found in the Indonesian Film “The Big 4” by Timo Tjahjanto

Abstract

Examines the film "The Big 4" Indonesia, outlining insights from the cultural perspective and the use of taboo words within the Indonesian context that most other research studies have ignored in their focus on Western movies and media. This study classifies taboo words into comprehensive divisions of form and functions based on established theories of sociolinguistic views by Wardhaugh (2006) and Batistella (2005). In this light, the following study unveiled a critical understanding of their use and perception within the Indonesian media. Further, the multilingual nature of the research highlights the existence of these tabooed words in Indonesian and English, Spanish, Hokkien, and Javanese languages, thus establishing the diversity of language use in Indonesian movies. The data were recorded through documentation by watching the film over Netflix, while taking notes during viewing of all expressions used with taboo words. Based on the data collection, there are 50 forms of taboo words found and used in the Indonesian film 'The Big 4' they are categorized into 17 data related to sex, 5 data related to death, 2 data related to excretion, 6 data related to bodily function; 7 data related to animals; 3 data related to cultural matters; and 10 data related to epithet. Then, the functions of using taboo words in the Indonesian film 'The Big 4' by Timo Tjahjanto are to draw attention to oneself, show contempt, be provocative, and mock authority. Almost all the players do all of them. In addition, implications of the findings point to other aspects that need further investigations on code-mixing, code-switching, and figurative language in Indonesian movies, which would open new research windows and urge more general analyses on the variation of languages in digital and media contexts. These unique features enhance our knowledge about the use of taboo language in Indonesian cinema and its broader implications.