ISSN: 2302-920X

Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Unud

Vol 17.1 Oktober 2016: 192 - 198

Verbal And Non Verbal Signs In The “Divergent” And “The Fault In Our Stars” Movies

Ni Putu Widhyani Dewi Jayanti1*, Made Budiarsa2, I Ketut Tika3 123English Department Faculty Of Arts, Udayana University 1[wiwidh_widhyadewi@yahoo.com] 2[made_budiarsa@yahoo.com]

3

3[ketut_tike@yahoo.com]

Corresponding Author

Abstrak

Penelitian yang berjudul “Verbal and Non Verbal Signs in The ʻDivergentʼ and ʻThe Fault in Our Starsʼ Movies” ini bertujuan untuk memaparkan dan menjelaskan tipe-tipe tanda dan arti dari tanda-tanda yang muncul di kedua film tersebut. Metode kualitatif dan dokumentasi dipakai dalam penelitian ini. Ada beberapa teori yang diterapkan dalam penelitian ini diantaranya, teori Taxonomy of Signs oleh Peirce (1938) yang membagi tipe-tipe tanda menjadi tiga, teori Semiotic Triangle oleh Ogden dan Richard (1923) yang menjelaskan mengenai hubungan diantara tiga komponen dalam diagram segitiga (“Thought of reference”,”Symbol” dan “Referent ) disetiap tanda dan teori warna oleh Wierzbicka (1996) yang menjelaskan arti warna yang terkait dengan budaya, dimana warna tersebut merupakan salah satu bagian dari tanda visual. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa ada tiga tipe tanda yang muncul dalam film yaitu “Symbol”, “Index”, dan “Icon”. Penjelasan untuk setiap tanda ini kemudian dijabarkan menggunakan diagram segitiga, dimana setiap bagian dari segitiga tersebut menunjukan hubungan antarkomponen yaitu “Thought of Reference, “Symbol” dan “Referant”, sehingga membentuk sebuah arti pada tanda tersebut. Penjelasan ini dilengkapi dengan arti dari warna yang mendukung pembentukan arti sebuah tanda secara keseluruhan.

Kata Kunci: Semiotik, Tanda, Verba dan Non Verba

  • 1.    Background of the Study

In the social life, it could not be refused that people communicate with one another. By communicating, they convey all of the things or messages in their minds. In another case, some people try to say something not using words, but something called sign. People use many kinds of sign to represent something or to convey messages. Signs occur in many things such as advertisement, video clip, movie and so on, depending on the goal.

  • 2.    Problems of the Study

The problems that the writer would like to discuss in this study are:

  • a)    What types of sign appear in the “Divergent” and “The Fault in Our Stars” movie scene?

  • b)    What is the meaning of the signs in the two movies?

  • 3.    Aims of the Study

The aims of this study are:

  • a)    To find out the types of sign that appear in the “Divergent” and “The Fault in Our Stars” movie scene

  • b)    To explain the meaning of the signs in the two movies

  • 4.    Research Method

The data used in this research werre taken from movies entitled “Divergent” and “The Fault in Our Stars”. The focus of this study is on signs. The Signs in the “Divergent” movie were compared with those in “The Fault in Our Stars” movie.

The documentation method was used to collect the data. The movies were downloaded from a website. Then, the movies were watched in order to identify the signs. Finally, every scene that showed the signs were paused and captured using the GOM media player.

The qualitative method was used to analyze the data in this study through several steps. First, the types of the signs were analyzed using the theory of Typology of Signs proposed by Peirce (1938). Second, the meaning of those signs was analyzed using the theory of Semiotic Triangle developed by Ogden and Richard (1923). Then, the meaning of colours was analyzed using the theory of Color proposed by Weirzbicka (1996).

  • 5.     Result and Discussion

    • 5.1    Types of Sign in the Movies.

According to Pierce, there are three types of sign namely Symbol, Icon and Index. In these movies, the signs are analyzed based on those three types:

  • 1.    Table types of sign

    NO


    TYPES

    OF SIGN


    DIVERGENT      THE FAULT IN OUR STARS


    1


    Symbol




    2


    Icon



    3


    Index




2. Table of colors in the movies

NO

COLOUR

DIVERGENT

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

1

El

^^^^^^^∣

  • 5.2    The Meaning of The Sign and Colour in the Movies

Five factions in the ‘Divergent” movie are explained using the theory proposed by Ogden and Richard. The supporting theory used was the Theory of Colour developed by Wierzbicka; it was used to describe the meaning of colour in the movies.

  • 5.2.1    The Meaning of The Sign and Colour in The “Divergent” Movie

Symbols, Icons and Indexes are related to each other in the movie. Abnegation is one of five factions in the movie. Each sign has their own triangle to describe the relationship of those three parts in the triangle, so that, it has a meaning. The analysis was explained as follows:



Abnegation



Icon 1


Symbol 1


Selfless

Index 1


The word “Selfless” became The Thought of Reference in the triangle in those three types of sign. It led to the symbol of the word “abnegation” which means the act of not allowing someone to have something that he wants or the act of rejecting something. In the Icon and Index triangle, the symbol was put by the picture of hand held. It shows the willingness to help people in need. The icon is the two hands held that had been engraved on the wall. Meanwhile, the index are the two hands holding each other directly in the real life

Abnegation is dominated by grey. It could be seen from the color of their wardrobe. Based on the theory of colour used, grey is a combination of black and white (Wierzbicka, 1996: 325). Based on the colour psychology article, grey means unemotional color. This color is the proper one for the faction because it is neutral, proved by the action that helps all the people. Yet it has a negative meaning as well, the colour of boring life. Abnegation runs the simplest life, eats plain food and only drinks water, his hair style was almost the same.

  • 5.2.2    The Meaning of The Sign and Colour in “The Fault in Our Stars” Movie

In this movie, there are three types of signs that could be found. Each has different shape and characteristic. Therefore, the analysis would be different for each sign.

Netherland Flag

Symbol 2




Icon 2


The thought of the Dutch flag by the people symbolizes the three colours. In 1789, the revolution was recognized by the French that those three colors were the colors of liberty. The same as the relationship between the thought of reference and the referent. The referent was the flag itself.

The thought of Metaphor by Gus caused someone think that the boy will smoke. The way he puts the cigarette between his lips is just similar to the way people smoke. Yet if the cigarette is not lit, it will not lead somebody to a death. He does not give power to cigarette to kill him. That is a metaphor. The same as the relationship between the thought of reference and the symbol. The symbol is perceived of resembling Gus’ metaphor yet; he does not really smoke because he does not light it up.

Index 2

The thought of reference of turning left leads to the symbol as it is (the picture of turning left). The referent of the sign is the real signpost that stands on the sidewalk and it is one of the examples of index. The shape of the signpost is a square with its orange background which means a temporary traffic control sign. However, in the middle of the square, the direction is drawn with white color and blue circle shape. Blue in the standard sign of color for traffic and road sign means service information signs for travellers.

A colour that could be found in the movie was black . It appeared in the scene of Gus’ funeral ceremony. All his friends and family who attended the funeral wore black wardrobe. Black colour is closely related to the dark colour (Wierzbicka, 1996:301). However, this movie is related to the culture of the way in which people in a place agree with the meaning of some colours used for some purposes. In theWestern culture, black symbolizes a funeral and death. It is the color of grieve because of losing someone.

  • 6.    Conclusion

It can be concluded that the types of sign consist of Symbol, Icon and Index. The verbal signs in the movies were found in the form of words and sentences and the visual signs were found in the form of something that can be seen and felt . The difference between the two the movies was that the Divergent movie had static signs in which the symbol, index and icon were related to each other. Meanwhile, the signs in The Fault in Our Stars movie were dynamic. The meaning of the signs was related to the relationship

of the sign and the object. The thought of reference became the one connected to the symbol and referent. It was caused partly by human interpretation and partly by social and psychological factors. The meaning of the signs was included in the meaning of color which is associated with the American culture where the two stories took place.

  • 7.     Bibliography

Britannica, Ensyclopædia. (2014). Flag of the Netherlands.  Available from

http://www.britannica.com/stories/browse [Accessed on 12 March 2016]

Chandler, Daniel. (2007). Semiotics : The Basics, Second Edition. Routledge, London and New York

Danesi, Marcel. (ed.) (2004). Messages, Signs, and Meanings: A Basic Textbook in Semiotics and Communication Theory, 3rd Edition. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press Inc.

Eco, Umberto. (ed.) (1989). The Meaning of Meaning. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc, United States of America

Hornby, A. S. (2005). Oxford Advanced Learnerʼs Dictionary. Oxford University Press Ltd, Oxford New York.

Scot-Kemmis, Judy. (2016). Empower Yourself With Color Psychology. Available from http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/cultural-color.html [Accessed on 11 January 2016]

Short, T.L. (2007). Peirceʼs Theory of Signs. Cambridge University Press, United States of America, New York

198