Representation of the Plastic Waste Crisis in the Documentary Film “A Plastic Ocean”: A Semiotic Analysis Study by Rolland Bartes

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-545-4_69How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Semiotics; Documentary Film A Plastic Ocean; Marine Plastic Waste; Maritime Communication; Ecological Awareness

Abstract

The global plastic waste crisis has emerged as one of the most pressing maritime challenges of the 21st century, threatening marine biodiversity, food security, and the livelihoods of coastal communities. The media, particularly documentary films, play an important role in shaping public understanding of environmental issues through their visual and narrative power. This study aims to analyze how the film A Plastic Ocean represents the marine plastic waste crisis as an ecological and maritime cultural issue, and how this construction of meaning shapes public ecological awareness. The study uses a descriptive qualitative approach with Roland Barthes’ semiotic analysis framework, which includes three layers of meaning: denotation, connotation, and myth. Data was obtained through the analysis of ten main scenes that were purposively selected based on their visual power and relevance to the issue of marine plastic. The results show that this film constructs a strong visual representation through ecological metaphors such as marine animals entangled in plastic, oceans filled with trash, and human consumption activities that cause natural degradation. On a connotative level, the film presents plastic as a symbol of human greed and disconnection from nature, while on a mythological level, the sea is depicted as both a victim of modernity and a shared heritage that demands human moral responsibility. These findings confirm that documentary films serve as a medium of maritime communication that bridges scientific data with public awareness, as well as an important tool in supporting the agenda of marine sustainability and the blue economy. This research contributes to the development of environmental communication and maritime communication studies by highlighting how the media can be an agent of social change towards global ecological awareness.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Putri Erika
AU  - Alem Febri Sonni
AU  - Alfrisa Renuat
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/13
TI  - Representation of the Plastic Waste Crisis in the Documentary Film “A Plastic Ocean”: A Semiotic Analysis Study by Rolland Bartes
BT  - Proceedings of the World Conference on Governance and Social Sciences 2025 (WCGSS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1005
EP  - 1017
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-545-4_69
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-545-4_69
ID  - Erika2026
ER  -