Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1. Background of study
Literature is the term used to describe written or spoken material. Literature is
most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works
of poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction, novel and movie. Each one of them has been
designed to have certain functions with their own unique characteristics. Poems
express their feelings or messages through word plays or dialogue and their gesture.
Novel makes the readers imagine things the way it is written in the book. Plays have
been designed to have real characters that are played by real people on the stage and
the audience also feel follow in their plays. These literatures convey certain messages
to the audience or the readers.
This thesis is going to analyze a movie entitled Analysis of Percy Jackson
and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief Movie (2010) Using Five Codes Of Roland
Barthes’ Structuralism. Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
(2010) is the film directed by Chris Joseph Columbus. He is an American famous
film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for directing such popular
movies as Home Alone (1990), Home Alone 2: lost in New York (1992), Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret (2002),
and Harry potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), The Help (2011). Home Alone
movie also succeeded grab an award as the best comedy film and he received an
Academy Award nomination for his famous film The help.
In Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lighting Thief, the writer is
interested in a character in this movie, there is boy who fourteen years old, his name
is Percy Jackson. He is a son of Poseidon, God of the seas but he never knows about
his real father. One day, when he goes to museum of metropolitan of art, his teacher
changes become a monster and asking to Percy gives the lightning bolt. He does not
know anything and he gets confused why that monster asked him to give the
lightning bolt? His best friend Grover said that he is a demigod and that he is his
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protector. His teacher Mr. Brunner gives him a pen and telling him that it is a
powerful weapon. After he heard at all, surely he did not believe in what happened
with himself. Percy and his mother have to go because it is very dangerous for Percy
if they still stay. They go to the Camp half blood, the exactly place for human who
has a half human and god blood or demigod like Percy. In the camp, Percy befriends
the gorgeous Annabeth she is a daughter of Athena. Percy discovers that his mother
is in the Underworld with Hades. Percy decides to travel on a dangerous quest to
retrieve the lightning bolt and save his mother. His friends, Grover and Annabeth
join him to help Percy to find the lightning and bring back his mother.
In Percy Jackson movie, there are have two film series; the first film is Percy
Jackson and the Olympians: the lightning thief and the second film is Percy Jackson:
Sea of monster. Those films are also based on the book series that written by Rick
Riordan which are Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the lightning thief movie.
Percy Jackson: the sea of monster, Percy Jackson: the Titan’s curse, Percy Jackson:
the Battle of the labyrinth, and Percy Jackson: the last Olympians. Those stories
have taken based on the Greek Mythology. In the movie, they also tell about the
three of Gods which are Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades so in the first film; Percy
Jackson and the Olympians: the lightning thief movie is one of the beginning story,
in the film tells about who is the character’s Percy Jackson and his close friends
Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood and what the relationship between Percy
and the three of god? So the writer chose the first Percy Jackson film to more detail
explanation than the second.
Thus, the writer uses Structuralism theory, specifically five codes S/Z of
Barthes, to analyze that character in this movie, like what the writer have explained
above. Barry (1995: p.51) he clarifies the five codes by Roland Barthes are proairetic
code (provides indication of actions), hermeneutic code (creates the question for the
reader in their mind), cultural code (the common knowledge about the cultural
society), semic code (it is called the connotative code or symbols that makes the
story more interesting), and symbolic code (bring out contrast and pairings).
To get the pattern of research, there are two previous researches that have
been explored. The first research is about Five Codes of Roland Barthes in Tennesse
Williams’ the Glass Menagerie: A Structuralism Analysis by Dwi Purwanti (2013).
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This research discuss about structuralism using the theory of the five codes by
Roland Barthes. The problem formulation in this research is about How are the five
codes by Roland Barthes applied to the Tennesse Williams’ the Glass Menagerie.
The research is done qualitatively by utilizing library research. There are several
books that are used as references in writing this paper. The play is chosen because it
is rich of symbols, connotation meaning, culture, and binary opposition that may be
open or unraveled in a lot of different ways in the story. Another reason this play is
chosen because it presents how the American family struggle to face the Great
Depression. The result of this research is to show that the Glass Menagerie is rich
with the proairetic code, hermeneutic code, cultural code, semic code, and symbolic
(binary) code of Roland Barthes.
The second research is about Structural Analysis of Up Movie by Pete Docter
and Bob Peterson by Widyanto Gunadi (2014). This research discusses about the
transformation stages of Up movie using the structuralism theory. The problem
formulations in this research are:
1). How the transformation of the main character is analyzed through the
structuralism theory?
2).What messages are conveyed in the movie and how they are seen with the
structuralism theory?
3). How the main character transformation stages and the messages portrayed the
condition of the society?
The research is done qualitatively by utilizing library research. There are
several books that are used as references in writing this journal. The movie is chosen
because Up movie has several great moral values or messages for the audience. The
main character of the movie also depicts stages of transformation that maybe all of us
have gone through in our life. The scope and limitation in this research is the
researcher will use the literary criticism theory called the structuralism theory. The
object of the research is the movie Up from pixar. The goal of the research is to see
that the transformation of the character is something that is structural and cannot be
understood in isolation as well as what moral values that that the movie tries to
convey to the audience. And function in this research is the thesis will focus more on
the transformation stages of the main character’s characteristics. The research also
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focus on finding out the messages of the movie analyzed using the structuralism
theory mainly from Roland Barthes and Saussure.
Based on two previous researches, a new research entitled “Analysis of Percy
Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief Movie (2010) Using Five Codes
Of Roland Barthes’ Structuralism” is developed. The significance of this research
will be focus on the plot of Roland Barthes’ five codes that are included in
structuralism theory, which are the proairetic code, the hermeneutic code, the cultural
code, the semic code, and the symbolic (binary) code. The method that would be
taken is library research and qualitative method. To make accurate data, the research
uses the theories from books, internet, article, journal, and the other resources related
to the topic.
1.2. Problem Formulation
There is a problem formulation that is needed to be discussed in analyzing
part; How are the five codes by Roland Barthes applied in Percy Jackson and The
Olympians: The Lightning Thief movie through its elements of fictions which are
character & characterization, plot, and theme?
1.3. Scope and Limitation
The scope of this research is Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The
Lightning Thief movie. It was directed by Chris Columbus and released to theaters on
February 12, 2010. The limitation of this research is the analysis of the characters
and characterization as well as the plot and theme of this story. Plot, characters and
characterization, theme, and the five codes of the structuralism will be analyzed by
Roland Barthes theory.
1.4. Goals and Functions
There are two goals that are going to be achieved in this study. These goals of
research are going to clarify the problem formulation that has been stated in advance.
To find out the elements of fiction and to find out the five codes of structuralism by
Roland Barthes applied in Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
movie. Besides that, the function of this research is going to share information and
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knowledge to other people about Roland Barthes codes in the Structuralism theory
which exist in Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The lightning Thief specifically
and the goal of the research, hopefully, this research will give a clear explanation
about Roland Barthes theory so that the readers are also become interesting to
analyzing using five codes by Roland Barthes on the other research.
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