A Semiotic Analysis used on Five Selected Disney Movie Posters

An Academic Paper presented to

Dr. Claudette A. Baluran

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course:

ENGLISH 240- English in the Media

By:

Jean T. Casa
AB English 4B
October 2017
Introduction

Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (2007) defines semiotics as the study of signs
and symbols and of their meaning and use. While semiotics according to Encarta
Encyclopedia (2004) also known as semiology, is the science of signs. Generally, semiotic is
the study of signs or an epistemology about the existence or the actuality of sign in societal
life. Mohd (2014) in her study said that many pioneers, researchers, practitioners and authors
of semiotic such as Ferdinand de Saussure, Charles Sanders Peirce, Roland Barthes, Roman
Jakobsen, Charles Morris and Umberto Eco have agreed on the simple definition of semiotic.
Umberto Ecos book entitled 'A Theory of Semiotics ' cited this simple definition of semiotic
of that pioneers, researchers, practitioners and authors of semiotic have agreed. The semiotic
is accounts for everything that can be seen or be interpreted as a sign.

Semiotic analysis was said to begun by two people, Charles Sanders Peirce, an
American philosopher and a Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. Both Peirce and Saussure
base their theories on the fundamental distinction of the sign between the signifier and the
signified, that is, between the oral or written form of the sign and the meaning it embodies.
According to Saussure, semiotics is the signs found in texts. Signs that are understood when
the signifiers and signified are combined. Saussure as cited in Chandler (2000) defined
signifier as the form of which the sign takes. It is the material sign of language, the actual
letters, sound and symbol used to represent what the speaker/writer wants to communicate.
Signified on the other hand, deals on concept it represents. It is not the material object but an
abstract concept of what the signifier means.

Tirana (2011) in her study said that movie and poster are two things that always
emerge in society and human life. Movie is produced to entertain people by showing and
telling a story recorded as a set of moving pictures to be shown on television or cinema.
Therefore, it needs poster as means to sponsor the movie. Moreover, Tirana (2011) said that
those two things have role to convey news, overview and to give a variety of information to
the public. Those two things are inseparable things that without a poster, a movie is difficult
to be known by groups of person. In addition movie poster is like other poster that has a
function as a medium to promote and an identity of certain movie.

Olof Halldin describe the poster as a composition of pictures and words or words
alone often with a distinct graphic expression. Halldin said in his report that the earliest
posters are most reminiscent of enlarged newspaper ads with text and, very occasionally,
illustrations set in columns while the modern poster is considered to have been born in the
latter half of the 19th century, 1866 to be exact. Halldin cited Hans Hollweins that represents
the art nouveau style, advanced the evolution of the poster on the artistic front and Jules
Cheret that hung posters in Paris that produced using color lithography. Halldin also added
that for more than 150 years, posters have been a significant part of the array of information
we encounter every day. It aimed of spreading information that brings people to an
entertainment venue or informs them about changes in public policy and may simply be about
selling merchandise or letting people know that the taste of a particular tea is something not to
be missed.
 According to Halldin when the subject is posters, a lot of people probably think about
movies. Halldin said that in the early days, movie posters were anonymous creations in the
form of insert posters that were not particularly suited to capturing the attention of busy
people. The creators limited themselves to presenting scenes from the movie under a wooden
headline. Halldin added some factors that an artist must keep in mind. First is to accentuate
the hero, depict a romantic or dramatic scene from the movie and draw the actors in a portrait-
like manner were audience must recognize their matinee idols.

Body

Poster brings a lot of signs that convey particular meaning. In this analysis, I selected
five Disney movie posters and I will analyze the signifier and signified based on the definition
of Saussure as cited in Chandler (2000).

In a blog of Adrien-Luc Sanders, Walter Elias Walt Disney is the founder of the
Walt Disney Company and was a pioneer in the development of animation as an industry.
Disney as we know is one of the most famous names in the animation industry, known for
providing entertainment directed to people of any age. Walt Disney Company, stretching over
75 years was started on October 16, 1923 and co-founded by Walt Disney and his brother
Roy. Famous names such as Mickey Mouse began and were the foundation of a company that
has now branched out into several entertainment studios, theme parks, products, other media
productions and one of the biggest movie studios in the world. Walt Disneys dreamed of a
clean, and organized amusement park, came true, as Disneyland Park opened in 1955. He
began television production in 1954, and was among the first to present full-color
programming with his Wonderful World of Color in 1961. His worldwide popularity was
based upon the ideals which his name represents an imagination, optimism, creation, and self-
made success in the American tradition.

Disney movies becomes a part of every persons childhood memories. As a subject for
semiotic analysis, I choose this five Disney movie posters because I already have a knowledge
on this movies. The posters that I will analyze is from the movies: Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs (1937), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Brave (2012), Frozen (2013) and Moana (2016).

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

This movie as we know is about the beautiful and kindhearted princess Snow
White, the daughter of the king. Her father married her jealous stepmother that owned a
Magic Mirror. The queen always asks her magic mirror who is the fairest of them all, a
question which is repeated each and every day, to receive the same pleasing answer: "You
are". Until the day, that not even the mirror could lie, and the wicked Queen was no more
the fairest one but its already Snow White. When the Magic Mirror proclaims Snow
White the fairest one of all, the queen order her trustworthy huntsman to take the poor girl
to the woods and kill her. The huntsman did not kills Snow White instead he told her to
run on the woods and dont get back on the palace anymore. After Snow White flee into
the forest, she befriends on the lovable seven dwarfs namely Doc, Sneezy, Grumpy,
Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, and Dopey. Snow White feels that she is safe on that place until
 one day, her stepmother discovers the huntsman's treason. The queen disguised in an
image of a wicked witch where she gave snow white an apple that contained spell. After
that snow white bites the apple she fall down into a deep sleep. Only a true love kiss can
save the princess on the spell and in the end of the story, the prince came and kissed her.
They came back on the castle and defeated the queen and where they lived happily.

In this poster of the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in year 1937, the signifier are
the following. On the text the signifier are HIS FIRST FULL LENGTH FEATURE
PRODUCTION and Walt Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in a marvelous
Multiplane Technicolor. The signifier behind those text is that, this is the first full length movie
with colored feature. Other signifiers are the image of Snow White, the seven dwarfs, the prince
riding on a horse, the queen, the huntsman, the apple, the squirrels, the clouds and the castle. For
the signified all of them had a role or important participation on the movie. The main character,
Snow White is at the center of the poster to show or give the viewers knowledge that she the
important character on the movie. She is also wearing a gown that signifying that she is a
princess. The dwarfs are also present on the poster together with their pet squirrels since they are
the one that helped Snow White to hide on the jealous queen. The Queen as well as the Prince is
present also because they are the characters that gave the problem or conflict and solution on the
story. The image of a witch on the poster holding an apple is the transformation image of the
Queen and classified as a signifier. The apple signified as a temptation and innocent lost. It
temps Snow White to bite it because of its appearance that attracts her and her innocence about
the effect that might cause her. Lastly, the cloud signified that the story is based on the
imagination of the writer or producer while the castle is the place where the princes lived for a
long period of time before her jealous stepmother came in her life.

2. Beauty and the Beast(1991)

For this movie the story was begun when an old beggar lady comes to the castle in one
winter night and offer the prince a single rose in return of her shelter from the bitter cold.
The prince rejected her due to her appearance and asked her to leave. The old beggar lady
turned into a beautiful enchantress. She then punished the prince by turning him into an
ugly beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle, included people who lived there. In
order to break this spell, he must love another person and earn that persons love in return
before the last rose petal falls.

In this poster the signifier are the following: Princess Belle, the Prince or the Beast and
the enchanted rose. The Princess Bell and the Beast is present on the poster because they
are the main character on the movie. The enchanted rose is also present and signified as
beauty and life. The rose is similar to Belles beauty as she enters in the Beasts life and
rescues the Beast from the spell upon him by falling in love with his inner character. Belle
was also flashed with a light signified that she will brighten the life of the Beast in contrast
on the dark or un-lightened part of the poster with the image of the Beast.
 3. Brave (2012)

This movies is about a princess that discovers that her choice put both her family
and her father's kingdom in danger. As a toddler, Merida as a main character saw her
father, King Fergus the king, do battle with one of the fiercest animals in the kingdom, a
horribly scarred hulk of a bear named Mordu. King Fergus lost his leg defending his
family, Merida and her mother Queen Elinor and managed to escape from the beast
before it vanished back into the forest. Years later, Merida has grown up to become not
just a skilled archer, but also a beautiful princess who inspires a competition among the
eligible bachelors in the land. But Merida has little interest in getting married, and the
harder her mother pushes the issue, the more she resists it. When the tournament for her
hand gets under way and a deep divide opens between mother and daughter, Merida
makes a wish that threatens the future of both her family and the entire kingdom. Now,
with only a brief window of time to set things right, Merida must summon the courage
to atone for her mistake and prevent a past tragedy from destroying any hope for a
peaceful future.

The signifier on this poster are the image of Merida, the bow, the dark foggy
forest with a bear and the name of the movie which is Brave. The movie title brave
usually describe the men in our society way back in the past. Merinda as she hold the
bow was opposite on what someone would expect and if the bear will try to hurt her,
only one shot is what she can give and there is no that she can defend herself. Having
a bow is a risky choice of weapon that only someone really brave, and skilled, would chose.
The dark foggy forest surrounding Merida makes her braver together with her bright orange hair
that signified as her energetic nature, and her bow that goes drawn ready to face the danger that
she might encounter.

4. Frozen (2013)

The movie frozen is about the two girls named Elsa and Anna. The oldest daughter, Elsa, is
born with the power to create and control ice and snow while the youngest daughter Anna
possesses no magic powers. After an accident happened one night that injures Anna, Elsa's
parents decide to keep her in one room of the castle until she can learn to control her powers.
This leaves Elsa in her room her entire childhood, and Anna without a sister, wondering why
she won't come out and play. When Elsa comes of age, the kingdom prepares for her to be
crowned Queen by throwing a huge coronation celebration. Anna, thrilled to finally be let out
of the castle, meets a charming visiting prince, Prince Hans, and after spending very little time
with him, agrees to be his wife. Elsa denies Anna her blessing upon hearing the news, and as
her emotions bubble up, so do her powers. Elsa get away from the kingdom, leaving Arendelle
buried in ice and snow and the throne without a ruler. Anna decides to set off into the
wilderness to find her sister and bring her home asking the help of a man named Kristoff, while
Elsa finally learns to embrace her powers for the first time, creating a massive ice castle far
from the kingdom, where she may live happily in isolation. When Anna finally catches up with
Elsa, she made a decision make things right and stick with her sister Anna.
 For this movie the signifier that can be identify are the image of the characters present
on the movie namely Princess Elsa, Princess Anna, Prince Hans, Kristoff together with his deer
and Olaf the snowman. Another signifier are the title of the film which is FROZEN, the
snowflakes and the color blue background. The frozen movie or title is related to Elsas
characteristic. The color blue background signified winter that symbolizes loneliness and
sadness. Elsas magic is the barrier within her loved ones and to the people on her kingdom.
While Ana in her ginger hair signified simplicity while her purple and blue dress signified that
she is comes from a noble family and with loneliness that she keeps into herself. Snowman
named Olaf signified as the relations between Anna and Elsa and the deer that signified as
Norwegian.

5. Moana (2016)

This movie is about Moana Waialiki a sea voyager and the only daughter of a chief in a
long line of navigators. When her island's fishermen can't catch any fish and the crops
fail, she learns that the demigod Maui caused it because of stealing the heart of the
goddess, Te Fiti. The only way to heal the island is to persuade Maui to return Te Fiti's
heart, so Moana sets off on an epic journey across the Pacific.

In this last poster the girl that holds the boat paddle is Moana and together with the
demigod Maui holding his hook. Both Maui and Moana is considered as signifier together with
the objects they are holding. The text she is cool as the ocean and the title of the movie which is
MOANA is also considered as signifier. The background of the poster is on the beach since the
journey of Moana is on travelling or searching Maui to restore the heart of the sea which Maui
stole from Te Fiti. The boat signified that Moana is a voyager while hook that Maui holding is
powerful which is the reason why he place it on his shoulder. And lastly the text she is as cool
as the ocean signified Moana because of her braveness in her journey to travel the sea and
restore the heart of Te Fiti.

Conclusion

Semiotics is also important in a person who is interested in studying the signs and
symbols that a movie wanted to communicate. Even if I only focused on the signifier and
signified, I also gain ideas in analyzing the five selected movies of Disney Company. It is a
nice experience to have this opportunity in studying posters of selected Disney movies. The
five posters that I selected to study contains their main characters in order for the audience to
know about them and be recognize. The title of the movies is also present as well as the
companies name. There are also some text that added on it, it might be a tag line that refers to
the main characters traits or the story behind that movie to attract more audience to watch.

The signifier and signified according to Saussure is the first thing that the researcher
might analyze. This mini-analysis is focus only on this two areas, but other researchers will
conduct a research for this, then researchers needs to dig more information about the semiotic
and authors of some studies to support or to be their reference. Semiotics is also a broad study
where all the information are can be found in the internet. Its only a matter of time and effort
to search and find ideas that can help a researcher for their study.
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Chandler, D. (2000). Semiotics- The Basics.
Eco, U. (1976). A theory of semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press
Encarta Encyclopedia (2004). Semiotics. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/science/semiotics
History of Posters (2017). Retrieved from http://www.kb.se/Docs/collections/history-posters.pdf
Mohd, H. S. (2014). The Semiotic Perspectives of Peirce and Saussure: A Brief Comparative
Study.
Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (2007). Semiotics. Retrieved from
http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/semiotics
Sanders, A. L. (2017). The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved from
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