The Politics of Innocence: A Semiotic Analysis of the Pakistani Animated Cartoon Series Burka Avenger

Abstract

The animated cartoons occupy a significant part of a child’s upbringing, but its contents can be considered debatable. Though parents prefer such animations which can protect their children from potentially harmful awkward images in the media, yet the examination of their content has so far been limited. The analysis of media texts is closely connected with the actual problem of demonstration in children’s animated cartoons and movies that not only contribute to the development of children’s imagination, the formation of the child’s ideas about moral values and the surrounding world, but also cause irreparable harm to the fragile child’s psyche. The purpose of this research is to investigate the manipulation of various concepts in the Pakistani animated cartoon series Burka Avenger. This study draws upon Roland Barthes’ (1957) semiotic theory for deeper understanding of the meanings, conveyed by the selected images. Moreover, Norman Fairclough’s (1989) three dimensional model of critical discourse analysis (CDA) is used for deeper understanding of the socio-cognitive effects of the concerned text (images). This research will help parents to be careful while choosing the media contents to be shown to their kids. It will also be a source of realization for the Pakistani producers and directors of kids’ contents, that they should play their role positively for nurturing our future generation instead of preferring their personal benefits only.