The interpretation of animation’s signs and meanings from Southeast Asian cultures through 12 principles: Raya and The Last Dragon

Abstract

Disney is an animated movie studio that produces the most animated movies in the world. Raya and the Last Dragon is the first animated fantasy film that elevates Southeast Asian culture, including Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Singapore. This animated film is depicted in Kumandra’s land, which includes five regions, namely Heart, Fang, Spine, Talon, and Tail. Each region has distinctive characteristics that are expressed through verbal language and visual characters. The moving characters are adapted to dialogues and scenes that have a purposeful meaning and that can be analyzed using the 12 principles of animation. The result of this study is to analyze the motion of animation using 12 principles of animation, namely anticipation, appeal, arch, exaggeration, follow through and overlapped action, secondary action, slow in and slow out, solid drawing, squash, and stretch, staging, straight-ahead action, and pose to pose timing. Signs and the meaning of motion are identified using Roland Barthes's theory of semiotics, namely denotation, connotation, and myth. This study employs a descriptive qualitative method with a case study paradigm and an interpretation approach to art criticism. The aim of this study is to understand the 12 principles of animation and the meaning of characters' motion in character scenes when conveying messages visually.