VERBAL THREATS AS POWER PERFORMANCE: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF JOHN DUTTON’S IMPERATIVES IN YELLOWSTONE SEASON 1
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https://doi.org/10.46763/Keywords:
Critical Discourse Analysis; Imperatives; Televisual Power; Hegemonic Masculinity; Euphemism; Yellowstone.Abstract
This study examines how John Dutton performs power through verbal threats in Yellowstone Season 1. Twenty explicit threats from Episodes 1–6 were analyzed using Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, integrating syntactic patterning (AntConc), thematic coding (NVivo), and multimodal annotation (ELAN). Four imperative-based patterns were identified: (A) conditional threats (“You cross me and I’ll have you killed,” 55%), (B) negative imperatives directed at sons (“Don’t test me,” 20%), (C) euphemistic causatives (“Take him to the train station,” 20%), and (D) ultimatum imperatives (“Do this or I will end you,” 5%). The findings show that 82% of threats are delivered from dominant bodily positions, while dehumanizing language increases from 17% in Episode 1 to 60% in Episode 6. Conditional structures combine futurity with causation to project certainty while preserving deniability; euphemisms transform killing into administrative routine; and negative imperatives discipline masculinity through conditional belonging. Together, these patterns demonstrate how Yellowstone naturalizes authoritarian masculinity through grammar, gesture, and cinematic framing.
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