Analysis of Parasite Movie Poster Through Roland Barthes Semiotic Approach

Abstract

Bong Joon Ho, the director of Parasite movie, stated that Parasite raises the issues of polarization and social gap, as well as Parasite posters. Those convey the movie’s messages as its aims. This article aims to prove whether the meaning of the Parasite’s poster matches what the director said, especially on signs related to social inequality. This research uses the qualitative method. Objects research, the posters sample, were selected using a purposive sampling method with the two criteria. Those were official posters that have different visual designs and come from different countries. The posters used in the samples were Parasite’s posters from Indonesian, France, and UK. This analysis used Roland Barthes's semiotic. Barthes divides meaning into two levels. First, denotative is the first level. Second, connotative and mythical is the second level. These research results showed that the denotative meanings of three Parasite posters revealed basic information from the Parasite Movie content and the existence of the upper and lower classes. In connotative meaning, the three posters show the gap between the rich and the poor. Furthermore, three posters create the myth that social climbing in the wrong way is dangerous.