A ROLAND BARTHES SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF MORAL MESSAGES IN THE FILM “JUMBO”

Abstract

The phenomena of child bullying, friendship, and mutual cooperation in the animated film Jumbo provide a significant backdrop for understanding moral messages among Indonesian child audiences. This study aims to describe and analyze the sign structures (denotation, connotation, and myth) that construct the film’s moral messages. Employing a descriptive qualitative approach and Roland Barthes’s semiotic analysis, data were collected through documentation of key scenes, dialogue transcripts, and notes on visual and audio symbols. The results reveal that Jumbo instills values of empathy, respect for differences, and courage to confront injustice through mutually reinforcing semiotic layers. The novelty of this research lies in applying Barthes’s theory to a local animated film, a topic rarely explored in previous literature