VISUALLY COMMUNICATING A PARODY: A VISUAL SOCIAL SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF THE PARODY FILM SUPERFAST!

Abstract

Studying the images from social semiotic perspective has become a trend in recent years, numbers of studies have been conducted on magazine covers, film posters, advertisements, etc. The present study aims at deconstructing the meaning-making process of the images in a parody film named Superfast! (2015) which is a parody of the famous Fast and Furious franchise. Utilizing the visual analysis method, the framework by Kress and Van Leeuwen’s book Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design (1996, 2006), the author is able to deconstruct the meaning-making process in the images selected. From the definition of parody and the main features of its original film Fast and Furious franchise, a categorization is made for the data to be selected, namely images of imitation, exaggeration and comic effect. The author found that the parody film not only highly imitates Fast and Furious franchise in appearance but also delivers the same messages conveyed by the characters and scene settings via sets of semiotic resources in the images. Exaggeration is made based on the original film’s feature and specific semiotic resource is applied to exaggerate the feature. Comic effects are added by creating strong interactions with the audience to entertain the viewers.