‘Manipulation’ exercised by using language as a weapon, in contemplation of seizing interests of dominant figures of the society, is regarded as one of the pivotal notions of discourse. As a contribution to investigate the strategies employed by the power holders for subjugating submissive beings of the society, this dissertation explores the reasons behind victimizing children and manipulating their imagination to ensure that they grow up being compliant to all the set norms and standards set by hegemonic figures. This study simultaneously illuminates the fact that a dystopian society depicts people specifically in discriminatory groups of certain social type concentrating on physical or mental abilities and inabilities that refers the person into a certain social type. This study also elucidates the strategies of categorizing people by using referential strategies for classification of social actors; postulated by Van Leeuwan, Reisigl and Wodak (2006) to analyse the language of two dystopian animated shorts: Being Pretty and Children’s Toys. Selected screenshots from both the animated shorts are used as supporting detail of the argument of the dissertation. Along with this other theoretical framework given by Van Dijk (2006), is used to investigate the triangulated approach to manipulation that links it with society, cognition, and discourse. The present article signifies the credibility of conducting critical discourse analysis, as it develops the analysts’ understanding of underlying ideologies and beliefs and enables him to investigate the maneuvering employed by the manipulator through text or speech.
Key words: Linguistic manipulation, subjugation, compliancy, power abuse, discrimination, social representation, dystopian society, powerholders, brainwashing
|
