A Semiotic Study: Understanding Otaku Culture of Tsundere Meme
on
ISSN: 2302-920X
Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Unud
Vol 18.2 Pebruari 2017:169-174
A Semiotic Study: Understanding Otaku Culture of Tsundere Meme
Anak Agung Putri Laksmi Dewi1*, I Made Rajeg2, I Made Netra3
English Department Faculty of Arts – Udayana University [email: mimilaksmidesu@gmail.com]1 [email: made_rajeg@unud.ac.id]2 [email: 3 dektih@yahoo.com]3
*
Corresponding Author
Abstract
Artikel ini membahas tentang makna dari sebuah meme yang dikenal dengan nama tsundere. Tsundere tersebut memiliki arti “kasar yang berubah menjadi halus”, yang mana terinspirasi dari sebuah fenomena media social sebagai wujud perkembangan tekhnologi internet. Fenomena tersebut juga muncul dari adanya budaya Jepang yang dikenal dengan sebutan otaku, yang mana hanya mencari informasi anime dan manga. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menemukan makna secara simbol, ikon dan indeks yang membentuk makna dua jenis tsundere yang menyebar dan menjadi bahan pembicaraan di dunia maya, khususnya dalam ranah anime dan manga. Penelitian ini menerapkan teori Semiotik dari Saussurean (1974) dan pengertian makna simbol, ikon dan indeks yang dikemukakan Chandler (2001) melalui teori milik Pierce, untuk membahas makna simbol. Metode yang digunakan adalah metode dokumentasi dalam pengumpulan data. Data-data yang telah terkumpul kemudian dianalisis dengan metode kualitatif. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa semua simbol dalam meme tsundere tersebut memiliki arti cinta; ikon dalam meme tsundere memperlihatkan arti mimic wajah karakter; dan indeks dari meme tsundere adalah perbedaan jenis kelamin dari karakter dalam meme. Makna sebenarnya dari meme tsundere tersebut ditunjukkan dengan adanya simbol, ikon dan indeks dan memberikan pengertian umum tentang tsundere itu sendiri.
Kata kunci: semiotik, otaku, meme, tsundere.
The world is obsessed to become familiar with the rapid growth of technology nowaways. As the obsession or the needs of using the internet grows stronger, the development of the internet is also increasing. Not only for the sake of knowledge that the internet serves but also entertainment media grows unlimited. One of the richest subcultures that show the rapid growth on the use of internet is coming from the otaku culture. It has the meaning of “a person who is obsessed with a popular culture to the detriment of their social skills”. The desire of those who are searching for the information about anime and manga drives them to use the internet even more often, even making them as their part of life. Downloading, reading, drawing, collecting stuff, even communicating through the internet are the main reason they stick with the internet.
Japan has already lived under the world of characters, fictional or things which are related to the world of two dimensions (2D) or three dimensions (3D), which makes Japan has the invaluable resources of semiotics. Semiotics is a study of sign, which processes a meaningful communication through pictures or images. The world itself has known the recently trending internet viral phenomenon that is known as “tsundere”. This kind of phenomenon has been spread all over the world by the use of otaku. Moreover, this study intends to focus on the study of semiotic by taking the phenomenon of tsundere that becomes viral from otaku as the consumer to the general media, especially on the communication process that the otaku uses from developing tsundere into meme as an entertainment to communicative sign of communication. By aiming to identify the signification of symbols and icons found in two types of tsundere in the meme and analyze the indexical signification of Tsundere meme implied in two types of Tsundere characteristics and the representation of its meaning to form the sign, the data were taken from a social media namely Facebook that went viral on June 9th, 2014. It revealed the certain subject about the tsundere meme through this study.
Since this study uses the study of Semiotic approach, the discussion should be limited and focused on the main point in order to conduct an effective research. The focuses of this study were identifying the signification of symbols and icons found in two common types of tsundere in the meme featured in the viral Facebook post on June 9th 2014 using the dyadic Semiotics theory by Saussure to form the concept of tsundere in anime and manga. Moreover, describing and explaining the indexical signification of the two types of tsundere in the viral meme posted in Facebook on June 9th 2014 as the representation of its real meaning was concluded into the scope of study.
The research analysis focused on finding the signification of Tsundere meme found in the viral post of Facebook on June 9th 2014:
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1. To identify the signification symbols and icons found in two types of Tsundere in the meme featured on the viral Facebook post on June 9th 2014.
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2. To analyze the indexical signification of Tsundere meme implied in two types of Tsundere characteristics and the representation of its meaning to form the sign.
This study is a library research; therefore, in method and technique of collecting data, the documentation methods were applied by searching technique, note-taking and image-cropping technique. Followed by the method and technique of analyzing data, this study applied the qualitative descriptive method. Qualitative research is multi method in focus, involving an interpretive, naturalist approach to its subject matter. This research was supported by the comparative technique. It was used to find the similarity and the dissimilarity of the data based on the knowledge of interpreting. The analysis of the significations was conducted by the Saussurean’s dyadic framework (1916) cited by Chandler (2001) with the studies of subculture applied in the elements of signs according to the otaku culture’s eyes.
The discussion was separated into: the signification of symbols, icons of tsundere meme; and the indexical signification of tsundere meme from the viral Facebook post on June 9th, 2014. It were displayed in tables including the explanation under the table.
Saussurean dyadic approach, the semiotic analysis, was applied to analyze each type of the two categories of tsundere and its trigger, while the division of signs themselves was analyzed using Chandler’s division of signs into three categories known as symbol, icon and index, in which these divisions were explained further using Saussurean’s dyadic form. The table presented below is the general analysis in brief explanation of the distinction of the sign found in the confession of a character to provoke the two types of tsundere to come out in one of the characters:
|
Sign | ||
|
Symbol |
Signifier |
Signified |
|
Love |
Ou<- lo∖ιe+ype⅛... |
The love sentence: Unfinished sentence is shown by the triple punctuation of “…” (Ellipses) |
|
Love |
Confession: Expressive Language of love | |
|
Couple |
’S? |
The figures:
|
|
Blushing |
Facial expression (“blushing” due to embarrassment, anger, or romantic stimulation) | |
|
Raising eyebrows |
Facial expression: raising both of his eyebrows due to embarrassment or romantic stimulation | |
|
Love |
Sounding: Character’s sounding | |
|
Tsundere |
Expressive languge: a. Feeling hurt b. Tsundere | |
|
Pain |
X Bandage as a symbol of pain | |
|
Folding Arms |
Folding Arms forming cross arms on chest exudes the element of anger | |
|
Tsundere |
Tsundere! |
A word as the explanation of the picture |
|
Sign |
f4t⅛ookoo^∕¼nk.nu αffx>4 |
Link |
|
Sign |
^^^^l* |
Rough Sign |
|
Couple |
0@ |
The figures:
|
|
Crying |
Facial expression of sadness: Crying | |
|
Steam Hot |
Human expression: Running Hot from having an extreme blush with steam effect (Metaphor) | |
|
Blushing |
Facial expression of tsundere: Blushing | |
|
Frowning |
√] |
Facial expression of tsundere: Frowning |
|
Pouting |
Facial expression of tsundere: Pouting |
The symbols tsundere meme brought the meaning or the content implied by the sign provided by the image, where in the other hand, icon of the tsundere meme resembled the physical thing between the signal and the meaning itself. The symbols found in the tsundere meme were mostly formed by sentences, or in other hand, usually referred to as the verbal sign of love, where the icons in the other hand, mostly appeared to be the facial expression of the tsundere to be depicted in the image. Thus, the signification of symbols and icons of tsundere meme brought the concept that tsundere only happened in the love situation.
2. Indexical Signification of Tsundere Meme
|
Sign | |
|
Signifier |
Signified |
|
Sex distinction: Male | |
|
Sex distinction: Female | |
The indexical sign found in the tsundere meme showed one thing: the sex identification, where this sign did not only appear in the confession type in the tsundere meme, but also in the two types of tsundere part of image. As Chandler cited in Pierce’s theory, the index is connected to its object as a matter of fact, where there is a real connection or a direct physical connection'. An indexical sign is like a fragment torn away from the object, unlike an icon, an index stands unequivocally for this or that existing thing. Similarity or analogy is not what defines the index, but anything which focusses the attention is an index. Indexical signs direct the attention to their objects by blind compulsion. (Pierce, 1931)
The analysis found that the symbol of tsundere meme is shy behavior in confessing love. The significations of symbols are the love sentence and X-Bandage. The gesture of folding arms done by the female character, which is the symbol of one of the type of tsundere, the tsun part, or anger also become the symbol of the tsundere meme. Furthermore, the significations of icons represent the facial expression made by each of the characters as a symbol of love. The male character is depicted to have a blush and raise its eyebrows while confessing his love. Crying is a symbol of sadness after being hit by the female character, as in the same time she is blushing, frowning and pouting. It is shown that the icon of the female character is the facial expression of tsundere behavior. As it is found in the picture, the other aforementioned icons are the representation of the human figure, which are fictional character represeting it. Based on the second problem, the gender distinction found in the indexical signification is one common thing found in the cultural knowledge in the place where the tsundere came from, which is Japan; however, there is an extensively more complex phenomenon beyond the common physical differences identified by the common knowledge from the cultural place.
Chandler, Daniel. 2001. “Semiotic for Beginners”. (Accessed in March 16th, 2016 from http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem01.html)
Eng, Lawrence. 2003. “The Origins of “Otaku””. (Accessed in March 3rd, 2016, from https://www.cjas.org/~leng/otaku-origin.htm)
Saussure. 1915. “A Course in General Linguistics”. (Downloaded in March 16th, 2016, from http://home.wlu.edu/~levys/courses/anth252f2006/saussure. pdf)
Shifman. 2011. “Memes in Digital Culture (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series) Kindle Edition”. Downloaded in 2016
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