A SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF FIGURATIVE MEANING IN THE FILM SCRIPT OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010)

Abstract

This study investigates figurative meaning in the film script of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (2010), written by Linda Woolverton. Employing a qualitative descriptive approach, the research identifies and analyzes eight categories of figurative language metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole, irony and sarcasm, symbolism, idiom and allusion, and euphemism and understatement drawn from 51 data points extracted from the shooting script. The theoretical framework integrates Geoffrey Leech's seven types of meaning (1974), Lakoff and Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory (1980), and I.A. Richards' tenor-vehicle-ground model (1936) for the analysis of comparative tropes. Findings reveal that metaphor is the most dominant figurative device (19.6%), functioning as the primary semantic mechanism through which themes of identity, agency, and political power are constructed. Simile, personification, and symbolism each account for 13.7%, while idiom and allusion demonstrate significant intertextual complexity rooted in Lewis Carroll's source texts. The analysis demonstrates that figurative language in this script operates simultaneously at the level of character psychology, political allegory, and thematic world-building, making it a particularly rich corpus for semantic study.