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A Greimas Semiotic Analysis of Heroic Narrative Structure in

Chang Eun jin

BK21 Plus ICT based Cultural Contents Enterprise Agency, Dongseo University

Busan, Republic of Korea

Greenmumu@dongseo.ac.kr



Abstract
With its wide public appeal, the animation industry has presented itself to a rich tradition of semiotic research for its mythological imagination and symbolic system in storytelling. Of many cinematic genres, animation is particularly noted for richness in signs, symbols and metaphors which help to deliver convincing story system and structure. Most animation stories follow mythological heroic narrative, from fairy tales to heroic growth narrative, good and evil, reward and punishment; throughout the ages and all over the world, universal emotions have conveyed life values which effect empathy in truly human values accompanied with inner transformation.

This paper addresses, among many theories of semiotics, the cultural semiotics of A. J. Greimas who focused on the generation and application of meaning through various relationships among characters in films; animation text will be analyzed through his theoretical perspective and understand the symbols and roles and functions in the frame of cinematic narrative, as well as their signification. The subject of the study, addresses themes of Kung Fu, meditation, mind training, energy (chi), and Taoist world view; the oriental values, as well as Chinese traditions and values, are explored through the heroic growth narrative of panda, a quintessentially Chinese animal. The fantasy narrative text, with wide appeal to global audience, therefore merits a semiotic analysis.


Keywords-component; Kung Fu Panda 3, Greimas semiotic analysis, actantial model, signification model
I Introduction
A. J. Greimas had taken a great interest in the meaning of langue who emphasized the production of meaning through language. The meaning of language produces relations in various texts, which in turn forms a theory of signification model. Greimas, represented by Parisian school, was heavily influenced by the linguist Louis Hjelmslev who identified various hierarchies in linguistic structure. Greimas built upon this foundation laid by Hjelmslev by focusing on text, a domain of meaning which he emphasized, moving away from a tendency to focus on words, as in Saussure’s symbol concept, to treat text itself as a symbol.
Animation Text Analysis and Heroic Narrative 1.: Finding Identity Amid Mixed Cultures

The Korean American director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who had participated in the making of only at the scenario development stage, took to directing sequels; a director with Asian DNA was a way of achieving cultural synthesis. Although the film was critiqued for being an oriental fantasy animation made from the Western perspective, Dreamworks’ cultural synthesis narrative, which addresses a mix of Eastern and Western subjects through an Asian director, has already proved commercially successful in ; is in continuation of that enterprise.

Cultural hybridism is also manifest in the works of Quentin Tarantino such as
and . In similar vein, 21st-century sociologists like Michel Maffesoli and Thomas Jamet have argued for the return to a society of barbarism and emotions; Gilbert Durand spoke of ‘transition to nocturnal regime of images’ in contemporary society which will free humanity of past history, one of oppression by reason, to expose brutishness. Such trend of hybridism is thought to grow in cultural phenomena.
The characteristics of hybrid culture in can be found in the fusion of Chinese martial arts and American slapstick comedy; this further lowered the barrier of accessibility which had existed when films like and , starring the likes of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow, were being introduced to the West. Also, through the animation genre which has relatively lower cultural discount, Chinese Kung Fu, mind training, values of Confucianism and Taoism have been delivered to the West. With such public appeal, the enterprise has produced three films. It has remained No. 2 on animation box office chart records in Korea with 5.06 million viewers, second only to Walt Disney’s with 10.3 million ticket sales.

Cumulative Viewer Number for Kung Fu Panda 1, 2, 3 in Korea




Year

Viewer Number

Kung Fu Panda 1

2008

4.06 million

Kung Fu Panda 2

2011

5.06 million

Kung Fu Panda 3

2015

3.89 million

Source: KOFIC
The story of was criticized for slow story development and continued dichotomy between good and evil; and yet the dramatic space was expanded to panda village, where Po’s real family is, and the story focused on finding Po’s identity. While the first and second films were about a warrior’s journey in search of inner peace, the third film was about finding an answer in the identity of a panda warrior; a world view of maintaining peace and defending good, not as an individual but as a community. This final film in the series attracted 3.89 million viewers in Korea, which was somewhat lower than previous films, but the entire series recorded an average of 4 million viewers, marking it one of the most successful animations.
2. Analysis through Christopher Vogler’s Heroic Journey

Christopher Vogler, a former Hollywood scenario writer, drew from the mythologist Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces and his theories to identify 12 stages of scenario which ultimately derive from three stages of separation, initiation and return; he argues that all Hollywood scenarios ultimately fit this frame. Vogler’s ‘Heroic Journey’ theory stipulates that Hollywood heroic narrative structure and all other interesting tales in the world follow the same steps in the hero’ journey. His theory has been used in many fields, from contemporary cinema to drama and scenario analysis. Vogler’s 12-stage heroic journey can be found in Kung Fu Panda series as follow.


< Table 2> Christopher Vogler’s <12 Stages of the Hero’s Journey> for Kung Fu Panda Series

1

Ordinary World

Kung Fu Panda 1

Kung Fu Panda

2


Kung Fu Panda 3

2

Callto Adventure

Participate in selection for the Dragon

Warrior


Agony over his identity



Meets his real father at a noodle restaurant

3

Refusal

Denies being a Dragon Warrior

Need for Mind Training

Worries about duck father being left alone

4

Meeting with the Mentor

Oogway, Shifu

Oogway

Oogway

5

Crossing

the Threshold



Fights Tai Lung

Shifu’s training

Real Tao

6

Tests, Allies, Enemies

Furious Five,

Tai Lung


Soothsayer, Lord Shen

MeiMie, Pandas in Panda

Village, Kai



7

Approach

To Inmost

Cave


Revelation under a Peach Tree

Answer

‘who I am’



Greatness of being together

8

Ordeal

Warrior Training

Creationof Superpower

Temporary death, entry to underworld

9

Reward

Accepted as a leader of Furious Five, makes friends

Regaining memory of

the past


New leader of panda village

10

The Road Back

Returns to Ping’s noodle restaurant

Return in

inner mind



Return to the world

11

Resurrection

Becomes a local hero

Real power

Having two families

12

Return with Elixir

Honor of dragon warrior

Affection

with Ping



Family restored and new love

Greimas semiotic analysis of

Kung Fu Panda combines Dreamworks’ characteristic anti-hero narrative with Walt Disney’s stereotypical hero narrative. Panda being a symbolic animal of China with important signifier and signified, it is thought that has a significance that far transcends mere animated entertainment; the film reflects the diaspora of the multicultural age through the Asian cultural motif.

There were animations with Asian themes before , with being a prime example. However, the visual depiction of Asians in Mulan followed a stereotype; narrow eyes, dark hair and large cheekbones. In a way, represented the Western preconception of Asia. 17 years later, tried to break free from such prejudices by having a director with Asian roots; the film itself also addresses mind training, a significant part of Chinese culture, Taoism, beauty of empty space, ki and energy in some depth. In fact, for concept drawing and rendering for , crew members learned Kung Fu for a long time and researched movements and action. This shows well just how important it is to fundamentally understand a culture to produce cultural products based on proper understanding.

Thus < Kung Fu Panda> represents symbolic significances intended from the its very conception; its scenes and texts are also symbolically poignant. The present study offers a semiotic analysis.
1. Greimas’s Standard Narrative Structure

Greimas emphasized the production of meaning through language. Lévi-Strauss’s pragmatic model and Propp’s syntagmatic model in his analysis. Greimas constructed a narrative diagram by developing Propp’s 21 functional categories to distinguish the actions of agents as being either contract or retribution. Here, adding the agent’s competence and performance stages are added to form 4 stages of contract – performance – sanction in his narrative schema.


Narrative Schema Applied to

Contract

Competence

Performance

Sanction

Subject identified

Build competence

Narrative program in action

Positive/negative assessment

Encounter with biological father

With biological father, acquires the group competence of pandas in panda village

With biological father Li, defeat Kai from underworld and gains victory

Makes friends and family in panda village, learns the true meaning of togetherness

As shown in Table 3, competence stage shows, unlike Disney-type heroic narrative, an ordinary, timid anti-hero in Po; this wins the viewer’s empathy. And it is not by coincidence but rather through endless inner training that Po become a hero. This reflects an Asian thought that the process matters more than the outcome.
2. Actantial Model Analysis

Greimas; actantial model represents an agent or an object which completes actions or has experiences independently of other attribute modifiers. Going beyond words or sentences, he sought to identify relations between agents who play their functions in a discourse with basic meaning; Greimas attempted to analyse real or virtual human action within discourse. The actantial model classifies 6 actants from human action through 3 elements of desire, communication and power.


< Table 4>Actantial model of Kung Fu Panda 3

Destinateur, sender )→ Object → Destinateure, Receiver

adjuvant, helper → Agent ← Opponent






Sender : Biological Father Li → Object : Panda village colleagues → Receiver : Po

Helper : Furious Five, Ping → Agent: Po ← Opponent : Kai from the Underworld


As the table shows, actantial model analyzes texts by identifying relations among key characters and their influences on each other. Po, living an ordinary life with the honor of Dragon Warrior, realizes that that unfulfilled feeling of emptiness is rooted in his longing for his biological father and family. As he begins to remember facts around his birth in Kung Fu Panda 2, it had been foretold that the next sequel would be about Po’s finding his own identity. As expected, Kung Fu Panda 3 shows Po’s biological father Lu coming to the peaceful noodle shop to find his son who looks just like him. From that moment, Li acts as a sender who motivates Po to find his own identity. Panda therefore embarks upon a journey to panda village to find his roots which he long denied. Tigress, Mantis, Monkey, Viper and Crane, as with previous films, help Po to defeat Kai, a villain who has returned from the underworld.

Kai, who has resurrected as a mighty evil spirit, captures the spirits of all masters, including those of Master Shifu and Oogway, into jade. Po learns that neither Kung Fu nor dumpling fists, but rather the ‘power of Panda’s working together’ ; he then begins to teach Kung Fu to pandas before he confronts Kai. Po, not an active agent of action, leads his colleagues who are passive objects. Sender, who first planned it all and led Po to panda village, is Po’s biological father Li; in this relationship, the receiver of all desires is ultimately Po himself. thus shows a relationship of mutual trust and coexistence, one of partnership. Here, the sender and receiver go beyond merely conveying desires and winning power; their fate is determined by answering the call from sender, leading to a fundamentally different life. The significance of actantial model is thus understood in terms of mutual communication.
3. Signification Model Analysis

In sum, Greimas semiotics is a theory of how meaning is produced and organized in a text. Greimas sought to identify universal elements required for text development. He constructs three stages of transformation, surface structure and deep structure, which from a process of signification.

Signification model proceeds in three stages; 1) surface structure; 2) narrative structure; 3) deep structure. Here, first surface structure refers to visual images in films, where cultural symbols and signs and interact to produce meaning in textual context. Second, narrative structure addresses stories created by characters. Finally, deep structure addresses themes, ideologies and values and worldview of the author which are conveyed in the contents of the film. This deep structure is what forms the basis of surface structure and narrative structure. Thus this signification model is an important device which shows the process of deriving key cultural codes of deep structure from specific visual signs to aid both the viewers of animation and animation researches. It is also the ultimate reason for Greimas’ analysis of cultural codes.


  1. Po meets his biological father at noodle shop

  2. Po leaves with Li to find family in panda village

  3. Ping does not want to lose his adoptive son


Kung Fu Panda 3 through Greimas Signification Model

Stage 1

Surface Structure = Visual Image

Po meets his biological father Li who came to his adoptive father’s noodle shop



Stage 2

Narrative Structure = Storytelling

- Li hears of the existence of his adoptive son and comes to the noodle shop to find him

- Po is excited to see someone who looks just like him

- Po leaves for panda village in pursuit of training and justice




Stage 3

Deep Structure = Key Code

Encounter → Tension → Reconciliation → Trust → Another Farewell

Conclusion


This study used Greimas semiotics to analyze the hero narrative of Draemworks’ animation . Greimas’ standard narrative schema, actantial model and signification model have been used to examine the subject of study.

First, the narrative flow of trilogy has been analyzed through the standard narrative schema of contract – competence – performance – retribution. It was revealed that, in the competence development stage, all three Kung Fu films, unlike Disney-type hero narrative, present Po as an ordinary, timid anti-hero in order to win the viewer’s empathy. Such depiction of Po becoming a hero not by lucky coincidences but through endless inner training also coveys an Asian value which emphasizes the meaning of process over the outcome.

Second, an actantial model analysis of examined the relationships between the agent of desire, sender and receiver. Here, as Po’s biological father Li appears in Kung Fu Panda 3, a new world is opened to Po who had so far been in a world of adoptive father Ping-P-Furious Five-Shifu. This is a new challenge for Po, through which he is represented as a sender of the strongest desires in search of family and friendship. Such analysis examines the relationships between key characters and the signification structure of fraternity-confrontation; it also paves way to signification model, highlighting the importance of actantial model in semiotic analysis.

Finally, signification model was used to examine key events and situations in ; common with other two works in the trilogy, the film followed protagonist’s inner conflict – tension resolved – good/evil confrontation for resolution – punishment on evil – happy ending.

Greimas semiotic analysis is thus presented as a useful methodology for animation researchers in terms of identifying meanings and understanding emotional and cultural codes in popular culture. While the present study applied most of the theoretical frameworks of Greimas semiotics, future researches could add depth by drawing on semiotic square and signification model analysis.


References
[1] Kim, Sung-do,『From Structure to Emotions – A Study of Greimas Semiotics and the General Theory of Meaning 』,Korea University Press, 2002.

[2] Park, Kisu,『Cultural Contents: Storytelling and Strategy』, Nonhyung, 2015.

[3] Paik, Sun-ki,『Film, Pleasure of Semiotic Analysis 』, Communication Books , 2007.

[4] Lee, Hyun-seok, 「A Study of Methods in Hollywood Animation which re-create Chinese Cultural Forms」,『Digital Culture 』, Space G, 2015.

[5] Durand, Gilbert , translated by Jin Hyung-joon 『Anthropological Structures of Image』, Munhakdongne, 2007.

[6] Vogler, Chrstopher, translated by Ham Choon-sun, 『Mythology, Heroes and Scenario Development 』, Moowoosoo, 2005.

Academic Paper

[7] Kim, Byungwook, 「Digital Media and Mythological Imagination – A Study on Post-Modern Imaginaries 」」,French Culture and Arts Study ,Vol. 46,2013.

[8] Lee, Yoon-jin, Kwon, Jae-woong, 「Semiotic Analysis of Shrek Trilogy」,Cartoon & Animation Studies , Korea Korean Society for Cartoon & Animation Studies, 2009.

[9] Lim, Yoon-suh, 「Comparison of Youth Growth Narrative Analysis through and Human Contents,Human Contents Association, Issue 38,2015.



[10] Film resources, Kung Fu Panda 1,2,3

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