Impoliteness and power dynamics in intimate interactions: An analysis of Joe Blann’s ‘Things We Had’

Abstract

Joe Blann’s (2011) comic ‘Things We had’ is a complex and nuanced multimodal realisation of a tense interaction between a couple, rendered through the subtle interplay of narration, panel composition and dialogue. The tug of war and blame game the couple engage in are rife with instances of impoliteness. Drawing on Culpeper’s (2011a, 2015b) impoliteness framework and an integrative pragmatics approach, this article examines the sophisticated multimodal realisation of impoliteness and power dynamics, with a particular focus on the subtle forms of implicational impoliteness and intricate impoliteness patterning used in the fictional interaction. In doing so, it analyses the interplay between impoliteness and power dynamics in the exchange, highlighting the importance of impoliteness analysis in revealing the fluid relational power dynamics underlying the couple’s interaction. This is accompanied by an analysis of the key affective and interactional role of impoliteness in driving the exchange between the couple. Impoliteness, along with the evaluative negative affect it involves, is shown to be instrumental in the couple’s struggle for interactional power in the course of the interaction, and also more broadly, in their negotiation of relational power within the relationship.