Multimodal Analysis on the Multifaceted Universe of the 2023 The Flash Movie

Abstract

"The Flash" movie that released in 2023 is a movie from the multifaceted world of the DC Universe. This study aimed to uncover the meaning representation of the main character in this movie. A descriptive qualitative method was used to analyze the scenes in the movie, and the Systemic Functional Theory and visual grammar analysis were applied in analyzing the verbal and visual elements within the scenes in "The Flash." The results showed that there were a total of thirty one scenes in the movie that included the main character, six of those scenes were only fight scenes that does not contain linguistic elements, so they were not included in the analysis, which left us twenty five scenes to analyze. The elements of multimodality that are found in the main character are spatial, gestural, visual, audio, and linguistic. The frontal medium shot was the most used camera angle in the data. This interaction in composition focused on the character's facial expressions during a social interaction. Th~ main character mostly showed a stiff body language and awkward expression in the movie. The colors and lighting in the movie were mostly bright and warm, except for the scenes where the topic of past trauma and mistakes came up that uses dark colors and lighting. The main character often stuttered during conversations in the movie. These elements showed that the lighthearted p011rayal of an autistic person trying to deal with his trauma and the consequences of his actions.