DENOTATIVE AND CONNOTATIVE MEANINGS IN MOVIE POSTERS OF MARVEL COMICS COMPANY: A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS A THESIS BY RINI SAFANTA REG. NO. 140705007 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA MEDAN 2018 UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA AUTHOR’S DECLARATION I, RINI SAFANTA, DECLARE THAT I AM THE SOLE AUTHOR OF THIS THESIS EXCEPT WHERE REFERENCE IS MADE IN THE TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS CONTAINS NO MATERIAL PUBLISHED ELSEWHERE OR EXTRACTED IN WHOLE OR IN PART FROM A THESIS BY WHICH I HAVE QUALIFIED FOR OR AWARDED ANOTHER DEGREE. NO OTHER PERSON’S WORK HAS BEEN USED WITHOUT DUE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IN THE MAIN TEXT OF THIS THESIS. THIS THESIS HAS NOT BEEN SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF ANOTHER DEGREE IN ANY TERTIARY EDUCATION. Signed : Date : May 25th, 2018 v UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA COPYRIGHT DECLARATION NAME : RINI SAFANTA TITLE OF THESIS : DENOTATIVE AND CONNOTATIVE MEANINGS IN MOVIE POSTERS OF MARVEL COMICS COMPANY : A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS QUALIFICATION : S-1/SARJANA SASTRA DEPARTMENT : ENGLISH I AM WILLING THAT MY THESIS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR REPRODUCTION AT THE DISCRETION OF THE LIBRARIAN OF DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT USERS ARE MADE AWARE OF THEIR OBLIGATION UNDER THE LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA. Signed : Date : May 25th, 2018 vi UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, praise and gratitude I send up only to Allah SWT who has given the mercy, the blessing, guarding, and guidance in my life, especially in accomplishing this thesis. This thesis is written as a partial accomplishment of the requirements for S1 Degree of English Department at Faculty of cultural studies, University of Sumatera Utara. Shalawat and salam are presented to the prophet Muhammad SAW, the greatest leader who brought human beings from the darkness to the light one. It is also impossible to be accomplished without guidence, support, motivation, change, valuable knowledge from many people whose name can not be mentioned. First, the writer would like to express her sincere gratitude to the Dean of Faculty of Cultural Studies, Dr. Budi Agustono, M.S., the Head of English Department Dr. Deliana, M.Hum and the Secretary of English Department Rahmadsyah Rangkuti, M. A., Ph.D., for the encouragement and valuable advice during her study in this faculty until the writer finished her study. The writer also would like to express the gratitude to the Bidikmisi scholarship, for giving me the chance and finance to finish this four academic years in University of Sumatera Utara. Second, her special gratitude goes to the Dr. T. Thyrhaya Zein, M.A as her supervisor and Dian Marisha Putri, S.S., M.Si as her co-supervisor for their valuable advice, knowledge, patience, guidance, motivation constructive comments and the previous time spent on the process writing and finishing this thesis. Gratitude also goes to the lecturers, the administrative staff for the kindness, encouragement, patience in accomplishing this thesis. vii UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA Deepest gratitude, appreciation, respect and honor are presented to the writer‟s dearest family. Budi Setiawan and Rusmiati, the writer‟s beloved parents for becoming the source of the most influential prayers, motivation, support, encouragement and unconditional love. My beloved brothers Darwis, A.md and Ricky Robianta, my aunt Nur, my grand mother sa‟diah, my uncle Agus Salim, S.Ag and all of my family who always support and pray for her. This thesis is dedicated to you. Moreover, a special debt of gratitude goes to all of her friends and her second family in Kaum Muslimin, Duwi Akbar, Ekanzha Rizqandy Kamny, Irma, Muhammad Dwi Yahya, Namira Uswah and Vinny Miari Irania for the valuable time spent together and humbly thankful for the close friendship since Senior High school. My next appreciation goes to class where the writer used to share ideas, emotions and opinions, all of her classmates in English Literature A 2014, especially Ade Fatmawati, Rafiqa Hardi, and Nila Asmalasari and many others. The writer is thankful for the amazing academic years. Finally, the writer realized that in the writing of this thesis is still far from perfection. I am truly appreciate criticism and suggestion from the readers to make it better. Medan, May 25th 2018 Rini Safanta Reg. No. 140705007 viii UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ABSTRACT Thesis which entitled Denotative and Connotative Meanings in Movie Posters of Marvel Comics Company: A Semiotic Analysis is a study about the meanings of signs in movie posters. The objectives of this study are to describe the denotative and connotative meanings found in movie posters of Marvel Comics company. The theory that supports this study is semiotics theory of Order of Signification proposed by Roland Barthes. This analysis divides into three concepts: denotative, connotative and myth. The method of this study is qualitative descriptive. The data of this research are verbal and visual texts in movie posters. The source data of this research are five movie posters that produced by Marvel Comics Company. Those movie posters represent the famous characters such as Captain America in Captain America “The Winter Soldier” 2014, Spider-Man in Spider-Man 2002, Iron Man in Iron Man 2008, Hulk in The Incredible Hulk 2008, and Thor in Thor “The Dark World” 2013. From the analysis, the writer found that there are 15 verbal texts and 10 visual texts in movie poster of Captain America, 7 verbal texts and 10 visual texts in movie poster of Spider-Man, 12 verbal texts and 7 visual texts in movie poster of Iron Man, 12 verbal texts and 7 visual texts in movie poster of Hulk, 12 verbal texts and 9 visual texts in movie poster of Thor. The writer found denotative meanings from all of verbal and visual texts represent to the real meanings from movie posters and some of verbal texts also used to inform the important informations such as the name of actors and actresses, the time released, the official websites, the ability and other companies that support Marvel Comics company. On the other hands, the writer also found connotative meanings in movie posters such as strength, miracle, American dream, form of defense, passionate, temptation, leader, masculine, protection, freedom, American flag, human life, mystery, strong, skyscraper, growth, dependence, leadership, ambition, goodness, life, hope, warmth, cleanliness, bleesing, consecration, bold, energetic, stability, wisdom, confidence, undeniable power and death. Myth is also presented in all of movie posters such as greek mythology. It can be seen from the performance and appearance of the characters in movie posters. Keywords: Movie Poster, Denotative Meaning, Connotative Meaning, Verbal Text, Visual Text ix UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA ABSTRAK Skripsi yang berjudul Denotative and Connotative Meanings in Movie Posters of Marvel Comics Company: A Semiotic Analysis merupakan suatu penelitian tentang makna dari tanda-tanda dalam poster film. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menjelaskan makna denotatif dan konotatif yang ditemukan dalam poster film dari perusahaan Marvel Comics. Teori yang mendukung penelitian ini adalah teori semiotik Order of Signification yang dikemukakan oleh Roland Barthes. Analisis ini dibagi menjadi tiga konsep: denotatif, konotatif dan mitos. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah kualitatif deskriptif. Data penelitian adalah verbal dan visual teks dalam poster film. Sumber data penelitian ini adalah lima poster film yang diproduksi oleh perusahaan Marvel Comics. Poster film tersebut menampilkan karakter-karakter terkenal seperti Captain America dalam Captain America “The Winter Soldier” 2014, Spider-Man dalam Spider-Man 2002, Iron Man dalam Iron Man 2008, Hulk dalam The Incredible Hulk 2008 dan Thor dalam Thor “The Dark World” 2013. Dari analisis data, ditemukan bahwa ada 15 verbal teks dan 10 visual teks dalam poster film Captain America, 7 verbal teks dan 10 visual teks dalam poster film Spider-Man, 12 verbal teks dan 7 visual teks dalam poster film Iron Man, 12 verbal teks dan 7 visual teks dalam poster film Hulk, 12 verbal teks dan 9 visual teks Thor. Penulis menemukan makna denotatif dari semua verbal dan visual teks yang menunjukkan makna sebenarnya pada poster film tersebut dan beberapa dari teks verbal juga digunakan untuk menyampaikan informasi penting seperti nama aktor dan aktris, waktu dirilis, situs web resmi, kemampuan dan perusahaan lain yang mendukung perusahaan Marvel Comics. Di sisi lain, penulis juga menemukan makna konotatif pada poster film seperti kekuatan, keajaiban, impian Amerika, bentuk pertahanan, bergairah, godaan, pemimpin, maskulin, perlindungan, kebebasan, bendera Amerika, kehidupan manusia, misteri, kuat, pencakar langit, energi, pertumbuhan, kepemimpinan, ambisi, kebaikan, hidup, harapan, kehangatan, kebersihan, berkat, pengabdian, berani, energik, stabilitas, kebijaksanaan, keyakinan, kekuatan tak terkalahkan dan kematian. Mitos juga terdapat di semua poster-poster film seperti mitos yunani. Hal ini dapat dilihat dari pertunjukan dan penampilan tokoh-tokoh dalam poster film. Keywords: Poster Film, Makna Denotatif, Makna Denotatif, Verbal Teks, Visual Teks x UNIVERSITAS SUMATERA UTARA TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ......................................................................... v COPYRIGHT DECLARATION ..................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT