Semiotic Analysis of the Teenage Love Triangle Trilogy as Portrayed in the Taylor Swift Folklore Album; Betty, Cardigan, and August.

This article presents the semiotic analysis of the teenage love triangle in the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s songs folklore album entitled Betty, Cardigan, and August by using Barthes' (2013) and Horney’s (2013) psychological concept of love triangle. The research method used a qualitative method with an interpretive approach. The data were acquired by gathering and analyzing the lyrics of these songs to find the meaning of the teenage love triangle supported by journals and relevant data to enforce it. The meanings obtained through this analysis are connotation, denotation, and myth. The findings show that through denotation, connotation, and myth creation, Taylor Swift intertwines these songs to tell a broader story beyond the confines of a love triangle. They become a narrative trilogy that reflects the multifaced nature of relationships, the layers of emotions involved, and the resonance these experiences hold in the broader context of life and love. The characters in these songs portray different facets of human behavior showcasing various neurotic tendencies. This study can contribute positively in understanding how semiotics can be applied to song lyrics, helping us decipher the sign and communicative aspects of music and lyrics

Love as Portrayed in the Satellite Music Video by Harry Styles: A Multimodal Analysis

This study aims to investigate the love portrayal through the use of multimodality in Satellite music video by Harry Styles. The data were taken from Satellite music video by Harry Styles, which was published on YouTube. The study used a descriptive-qualitative method to analyze the data. Several theories were used in analyzing the data, including the multimodality theory by Anstey and Bull (2010) and the visual grammar theory by Kress and Leeuwen (2006) to identify the modes used in the music video. The triangular theory of love by Sternberg (1986, 1997) was also used to identify the kinds of love portrayed in the music video. Based on the analysis, it was found that the Satellite music video uses only four of the five modes, such as Linguistic, Visual, Gestural, and Spatial. Despite the audio mode being excluded, these four modes effectively communicate and convey the key message, which is the love portrayal. The Satellite music video portrayed the stages of unrequited love, employing three kinds of love, namely Nonlove, Liking, and Empty Love. Meanwhile, other kinds of love that are not portrayed are Infatuated Love, Romantic Love, Companionate Love, Fatuous Love, and Consummate Love. Therefore, it suggested for further study to analyze the additional layers of meaning which can be achieved by using the complete five modes and looking into personal life background

An Analysis of Defense Mechanisms in the Album Vessel (2013) by Twenty One Pilots

Mental health disorders have led to an increase and cause of personality problems and suicidal thoughts. Music, as an art form, often serves as a medium through which artists release their negative thoughts, emotions and experiences. In song lyrics, we can see the manifestation of defense mechanisms used by the speaker. As Cramer (2000) states, a defense mechanism is an attempt as a psychological strategy to reduce or avoid adverse circumstances such as conflict, frustration, anxiety, and stress. This study aims to identify what types of defense mechanisms are used by the speaker contained in the lyrics of five Twenty One Pilots songs in the album Vessel (2013) titled “Ode To Sleep”, “Migraine”, “Car Radio”, “Guns for Hands” and “Holding On To You”. This research used a qualitative method with the theoretical framework of defense mechanisms by Freud (1936/2018) and Cramer (2015). It was found that several types and the level stages of defense mechanisms used by the speaker in the five songs of Twenty One Pilots album Vessel (2013) are as follows: Neurotic defenses: displacement (2), Immature defenses: projection (1), and Mature defenses: suppression (5), altruism (5), sublimation (1), and intellectualization (1). This research provides new insights to readers about the main theme of the album Vessel (2013) and the types of defense mechanisms used by the speaker from Twenty One Pilots. This research also confirms that music can be used as a medium to channel negative feelings and anxiety experienced by songwriters as their defense mechanism

The portrayal of disabled character in Paola Peretti’s The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree (2018)

Disability is a natural and inherent aspect of human diversity. This issue also becomes a relevant topic in literary works, for example novels. In novels, the existence of disability can influence and shape the readers’ perspective about it. Using Reams’ (2015) theory of characterization, this qualitative study aims to examine how the main character of The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree (2018) is positively portrayed and conveyed through narrations and dialogues. This study found that the main character is presented through three categories of characterization during two phases of her disabled experience, the denial phase and the acceptance phase. After experiencing physical changes and emotional upheaval as the effect of losing visual ability, the main character is portrayed as having an improved hearing ability, independent, confident, and brave in facing difficulties as a disabled person. The case of this study is expected to give insights into the challenges and daily experiences of individuals with disabilities and facilitate the growth of people’s awareness of disability

Trauma Analysis of the Main Characters in the Novel a Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)

Nowadays, the issue regarding trauma and its impacts have been raised seriously in society. This issue is important to understand because trauma can have a negative influence on one's life. Trauma could be understood from various media and sources among us, such as literary works that represent trauma. This study aims to analyze trauma in the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007) by Khaled Hosseini. This study unveils the traumatic events experienced by the main characters, the trauma responses illustrated by the main characters, and the sources of trauma. In analyzing the data from the novel, this study used a qualitative design and textual analysis method. The data collection process was carried out by close reading the novel, and then the data were highlighted and annotated. Subsequently, the data were identified and classified based on each character’s traumatic experiences, trauma responses, and its sources. By using Caruth’s concept of trauma (1995) and Vickroy’s trauma theory (2014), it was found that the main characters of the novel, Mariam and Laila, undergo similar traumatic experiences, and they illustrate different trauma responses. In addition, the sources of their traumas are the socio-cultural environment and political situation, which results in betrayal trauma and insidious trauma. It can be concluded that the socio-cultural environment can be a source of trauma if it fails to provide a safe and reliable environment, and it impacts one’s experience and understanding of trauma

The use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) in three selected songs of Jay Park’s album The Road Less Traveled

This study aimed to investigate and identify the linguistic feature of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) used in the three selected songs of Jay Park’s album, The Road Less Traveled, and understand the underlying reasons for this AAVE use by applying sociolinguistic approach. The data were analyzed using several theories from Wolfram (2004), Fromkin et al. (2011), and Davenport and Hanna (2005) to analyse AAVE features and Cutler’s (2015) theory to analyze the underlying reasons why Jay Park employed AAVE in his songs. The data was gathered by attentively and comprehensively listening to the songs and reading the transcribed lyrics. The results were as follows: Jay Park used five out of the 13 grammatical features of African American Vernacular English, including copula absence, invariant be, remote been, specialized auxiliaries, and the use of "ain't" for negation. Additionally, he only employed two out of the proposed lexical features of AAVE, which are blends and clipping. Also, two phonetics features found in his music were regressive assimilation and deletion. Overall, the findings suggest that the use of AAVE by Jay Park in his songs is due to the authenticity of Hip-Hop culture regardless of the singer’s nationality and to express empathy and solidarity with the African-American community

The Discourse Analysis in Video “Why You Don’t Need to Be Exceptional”

This study explores the usage of language in the motivational video titled “Why You Don’t Need to Be Exceptional”. Specifically, this study aims to investigate some linguistic features such as cohesion system including grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion as well as theme and rheme including the types and the markedness. This study was conducted by employing a qualitative research approach. This study obtained the data from the transcript of the video that was available on YouTube. The data were analyzed by using two tools of analysis such as Paltridge’s cohesion system (2012) and Eggins’ theme and rheme (2004). The result showed that almost all cohesion system devices were utilized in the content except meronymy. In grammatical cohesion, the dominant cohesion features were conjunction and ellipsis. The use of those devices was useful for making the message more coherent and comprehensible. Regarding lexical cohesion, repetition and synonym were used significantly. It implied that the creator wanted to emphasize particular ideas. Theme and rheme were also investigated in this study and the findings are topical theme became the most frequent type and unmarked theme were more dominant than the marked type. The results indicated that the creator constructed theme and rheme that is easily understandable. Overall, the use of cohesion system and theme and rheme in this motivational video support each other in making the content comprehensible for the audience

The portrayal of patriarchal culture through mother and daughter characters in a silent film The Impossible Dream (1983)

Patriarchal culture is a social practice that places men as superior and women as inferior. In practice, patriarchal culture oppresses and exploits women. The Impossible Dream (1983) is a silent film that explores the issue of patriarchal culture, which is considered a woman's voice against the patriarchal system in society. This research aims to analyze the portrayal of patriarchal culture in the film, specifically through mother and daughter characters and to analyze the portrayal of children characters who imitate their parent's behavior based on gender using the theory of patriarchy by Walby (1990). The qualitative descriptive method with textual and visual analysis was employed to gained the data. The results of this research show three structures of patriarchal, namely the production of household, paid work, and culture that are portrayed in the film. This research also shows the behavior of daughter and son tends to be different because they imitate the behavior of parents based on their gender. Apart from women being oppressed and exploited, this research proves that patriarchal culture creates a double burden that is accepted by women. In addition, the patriarchal culture has an impact on children's behavior, thus children are implanted with the mindset of a patriarchal society from childhood. This research will contribute to the study of patriarchal in society. By conducting this research, the author hope it would shed a new understanding in the topic of patriarchy

Interpersonal Meaning Analysis of Taylor Swift Song Lyrics in Fearless (Taylor’s Version) Album

The study examines the language phenomenon found in an American singer-songwriter’s album. Specifically, this study aims to analyze the interpersonal meaning used by Taylor Swift in Fearless (Taylor’s Version) Album. Regarding data source, three songs which represent a whole album, particularly Love Story, Hey Stephen, and White Horse were selected. Qualitative design was applied in this research to identify mood system and the use of modality in the selected song lyrics. In classifying the type of mood, a theory proposed by Strauss et al. (2018) was used. Meanwhile, the theory given by Halliday (2014) was employed to discover the modality in the song lyrics. It was also supported by some theories from Systemic Functional Language (SFL) scholars, such as Gerot and Wignell (1994) and Eggins (2004). The findings discover that the singer only uses three types of mood: declarative, interrogative, and imperative. Since declarative mood becomes the most dominant type, it can be concluded that the album mostly expresses the singer’s ideas. The singer also reveals her certainty by using different degrees of modality in statements that are found in declarative clauses. By determining the dominant mood and the degree of modality, the study result is expected to be useful for the listeners to increase their understanding of the meaning and context consisting of music albums

The portrayal of bullying in The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)

Bullying is a pattern of negative behavior, not an occasional incident, which still occurs frequently in society. In most cases, bullying happens to children at school. As the issue has received much public attention, bullying is commonly featured in numerous literary works, one of which is in the children's film by Joe Cornish, The Kid Who Would Be King (2019). Through analysis under the framework of film theory by Bordwell and Thompson (2016) and Foucault's (1995) theoretical framework of power, the film portrayed bullying toward students in school through the film's cinematography, sound, and mise-en-scène. The imbalance of power between the bullies and the bullied is the main factor causing acts of bullying. It shows in the difference of individual aspects such as body sizes and social standings in school, which the bullies usually have the more advantageous aspect than the bullied. The advantageous aspect makes the bullies superior, giving them a chance to cause negative impacts on the bullied personalities intentionally. The negative impact of bullying can lower the bullied self-esteem, making them feel worthless as an individual. Since bullying is also a critical issue that needs to explore further, the researcher conducts a textual analysis study to provide references to readers about bullying in children's films and raise awareness about bullying against children in schools