MULTIMODAL SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF THE CHARACTERS IN THE PAKISTANI CARTOON ABDUL BARI

Abstract

This study conducts a multimodal semiotic analysis of three still images from the Pakistani children’s cartoon Abdul Bari to investigate what semiotic resources the characters employ to promote Islamic and moral teachings, and what meanings these resources convey. Drawing on Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) Reading Images framework and Ledin and Machin’s (2020) Multimodal Analysis, we examine representational, interactive, and compositional meanings alongside design and style choices such as colour, dress, gaze, and spatial arrangement. Findings show that dress codes (e.g., skullcaps, hijab), gaze vectors, balanced group compositions, and a warm, high-modality palette jointly encode respect for religious authority, communal equality, and an approachable moral universe suited to young viewers.