Based on Culpeper’s (Culpeper, 1996) impoliteness theory, this study collects negative online reviews of the movie Kung Fu Panda from the well-known movie review websites Douban and Rotten Tomatoes and comparatively analyzes the impoliteness strategies adopted from a cross-linguistic (Chinese and English) perspective. The study results show a commonality in the impoliteness strategies adopted by Chinese and English negative movie reviews, with positive impoliteness dominating in both Chinese and English negative movie reviews, and sarcasm being the least utilized impoliteness strategy. Meanwhile, there is a statistically significant difference between Chinese and English negative movie reviews in the use of on-record and off-record impoliteness strategies. The frequency of on-record impoliteness strategies was significantly higher in English reviews than in Chinese reviews, while Chinese reviews were more likely to use off-record impoliteness strategies. In addition, this study also observed that the frequency of on-record impoliteness strategy use was higher in reviews of low-rated movies than in high-rated movies. The findings provide film and television industry practitioners with insights related to using impoliteness strategies in negative movie reviews in a cross-cultural context and contribute to the study of impoliteness in online communication.
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