Semiotics - Zelda: the Twilight Princess
The Twilight Princess is the twelfth instalment in The Legend of Zelda Series. It is an adventure styled game with real-time battles, puzzle solving, and exploration. It tells a story right through the game including the final cut scene, which is hidden among the credits. Within this cut scene deep semiotic meanings are conveyed that reflect the whole game. Looking in depth we find the signifiers and their signified meanings within the cut scene that give meaning through a visual understanding.
The hidden cut scene is the final scene of the game therefore it has to show semiotics so that a message can be relayed to the player about what is going on within the text. Umberto Eco stats “semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign” (Eco, 1967, p.7). A sign “is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity” (Pierce, 1958, Vol.2 Paragraph 228) therefore within this text there are numerous signs that join together to convey meanings about the game. This cut scene is based on the main three characters: Link, Minda and Zelda saying farewell to each other and you can tell this by the signs that are shown. These signs are the location, lighting and colours.
This scene begins with a downward tilt of Arbiter 's Grounds, which in game is a prison that was built to hold the most merciless criminals while they await trail, execution, or exile. The appearance of Arbiter’s Grounds is tall pillars and rounded walls seem to be a recreation of the Roman Colosseum. The Roman Colosseum is encoded with meaning due to the historic background of the building since it was constructed in 72-80 AD and since then it has been used for gladiatorial contest and re-enactment of famous events and battles for public entertainment. Due to background of the building a more meaningful message is created behind why they used this building rather than a regular house. The audience can use this sign to determine that a boss fight or a big event
The hidden cut scene is the final scene of the game therefore it has to show semiotics so that a message can be relayed to the player about what is going on within the text. Umberto Eco stats “semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign” (Eco, 1967, p.7). A sign “is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity” (Pierce, 1958, Vol.2 Paragraph 228) therefore within this text there are numerous signs that join together to convey meanings about the game. This cut scene is based on the main three characters: Link, Minda and Zelda saying farewell to each other and you can tell this by the signs that are shown. These signs are the location, lighting and colours.
This scene begins with a downward tilt of Arbiter 's Grounds, which in game is a prison that was built to hold the most merciless criminals while they await trail, execution, or exile. The appearance of Arbiter’s Grounds is tall pillars and rounded walls seem to be a recreation of the Roman Colosseum. The Roman Colosseum is encoded with meaning due to the historic background of the building since it was constructed in 72-80 AD and since then it has been used for gladiatorial contest and re-enactment of famous events and battles for public entertainment. Due to background of the building a more meaningful message is created behind why they used this building rather than a regular house. The audience can use this sign to determine that a boss fight or a big event
References: Miyamoto, S. (2006). The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess [Game]. Nintendo. FFADICTED. (2009, Jan 21). The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Ending – Midna Special Scene [Video File]. Retrieved on 13/3/2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9Hst9p0n-w&feature=related Eco, U. (1976). A Theory of Semiotics. A Midland Book. Besbes, K. (2007). The Semiotics of Beckett’s Threatre: A Semiotic Study of the Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckette. Universal-Publishers. Hashimoto, S., & Kitase, Y. (2006). Kingdom Heart II [Game]. Square Enix. Faur, C.J. (n.d.). The Semiotics of Color. Retrieved on 18/3/2012 from http://www.christianfaur.com/color/Site/Color%20Semiotics.html