Opera Jawa [Requiem from Java]: A Semiotic Narratology Perspective

Abstract

Directed by Garin Nugroho in 2006, Opera Jawa is an opera film with a special status in Indonesian film history, either perceived as a newly established genre or seen from many of its other aspects. Analyzed through a semiotic narratology perspective, this musical film can put forth deeper meanings than that of a mere triangle love story between the characters. The unveiling narrativity of every layer of Opera Jawa enables us to identify both its patterns of narrative syntagm and its actantial relations with its underlying system of values. This system consists of a set of antagonistically correlating main values, namely faithfulness versus deceit, and suppression versus power.

Keywords

• Opera film
• semiotic narratology
• narrativity.