Dimas Setiawan, 2013 A Bodily Code Analysis Used in Revealing an Imagin
ary Friend Character in Bill Watterson’s Comic Strip Calvin and Hobbes
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
| repository.upi.edu
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides the introduction of the study. It includes the background, research questions, aims of the study, scope of the study, significance of
the study, research method, clarification of terms, and organization of the paper.
1.1 Background
Eco 1976 says everything in the world or even in this universe that can represent or stand for something else is considered as a sign as cited in Chandler,
2002:2. Thus, signs may refer to anything which may be interpreted to represent something. Chandler 2002 states that semiotics is concerned with everything that
c an be taken as ‘signs’. It also deals with representation of signs in many forms
Chandler, 2002:2. According to Chandler 2002, in a semiotic sense, signs take the form of
words, images, sounds, gestures, and objects. In fact, there are some works which combine two forms of sign, for example, a comic strip which combines words and
Dimas Setiawan, 2013 A Bodily Code Analysis Used in Revealing an Imagin
ary Friend Character in Bill Watterson’s Comic Strip Calvin and Hobbes
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
| repository.upi.edu
images. Generally, a comic strip is drawn and arranged in sequential panels to display brief humor with dialogues in balloons called bubble chat.
A comic strip is usually published in Sunday newspapers. It has narrative structures even though it appears in limited size Berger, 2008. The pictures in the
comic strip make the story conveyed in a more attractive appearance. Even if there is no conversation in the strip at all, the pictures can show a story to the readers.
Therefore, the reader may interpret the sequence of pictures and get the story. Berger 2008:192 says that there are some conventions which readers have to learn if they
are going to read a comic correctly: the way characters are drawn, facial expressions of the characters, the role of balloons, movement lines, panels of the frame, the
setting, and the action. Thus, a comic strip contains many aspects that can be analyzed through a semiotic analysis.
Bill Watterson’s comic strip entitled Calvin and Hobbes, tells about a six- year-old-boy named Calvin who has a tiger-best friend-doll named Hobbes. From
Calvin’s point of view, Hobbes is a real tiger that always accompanied him every time, but to everybody else Hobbes is just a stuffed tiger. The case of an imaginary
friend in Wa tterson’s comic probably relates to children’s imagination.
This phenomenon is explained by Allen and Felluga 2002 who say that in their first-five-year, children begin to know and to interact with their surroundings.
They will develop their ability stage in their social, psychological, and linguistic
Dimas Setiawan, 2013 A Bodily Code Analysis Used in Revealing an Imagin
ary Friend Character in Bill Watterson’s Comic Strip Calvin and Hobbes
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
| repository.upi.edu
abilities Allen and Felluga, 2002. In this case, Calvin who has already developed his social ability has a complex imagination. Some children usually have at least one
imaginary friend such as their toy, doll, or something else that always accompanies them whenever or wherever they go. Generally, they invite their imaginary friends to
chat, play, or do something interesting because of their lack of friends. Since semiotics concerns meaning-making, Moriarty 2002:20-21 asserts that
‘meaning is derived only to the degree that the receiver of the message, which is made of signs and conveyed through sign systems called codes, understands the
code ’. Thus, everything in the world could be defined as a code, as long as the
receiver can interpret the code to get its meaning. A range of typologies of codes can be found in the literature of semiotics Chandler, 2002:149. Chandler 2002 divides
types of codes into three which are most widely mentioned in the context of media, communication, and cultural studies: social codes, textual codes, and interpretative
codes. In this study, a semiotic analysis was used as a tool to reveal the character of
Hobbes as an imaginary friend character in Bill Wat terson’s comic strip. His comic
entitled Calvin and Hobbes was analyzed by using Chandler’s 2002 tripartite
framework that focuses on social codes: bodily codes which can be seen from bodily contact, proximity, physical orientation, appearance, facial expression, gaze, head-
nod, gesture, and posture . This study also uses Buckland’s basic premises of
experientialism 2004 which consist of four elements: the body, the physical form
Dimas Setiawan, 2013 A Bodily Code Analysis Used in Revealing an Imagin
ary Friend Character in Bill Watterson’s Comic Strip Calvin and Hobbes
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
| repository.upi.edu
which the sign takes; preconceptual experience, the basic level categorization of the sign; metaphor or metonymy, the abstract thought which is used for creative strategies
to interpret the sign; and conceptual structure , the sign’s independent and abstract
reasoning Buckland, 2004.
1.2 Research Questions
