Metaphorical Representation in Social Criticism in Indonesian Comedy

Abstract

The research aimed to investigate the metaphorical representations employed by comedians in delivering social criticism through Indonesian stand-up comedy. Metaphors played a crucial role in shaping how to understand and interpret social reality. Through metaphors, speakers or writers could frame subjects or concepts in ways that influence the audience’s perceptions and attitudes, perpetuating certain ideologies and power structures. Stand-up comedy prioritized the individual performer’s voice, but its success relied on the ability to make people laugh by tapping into shared cultural ideologies and societal power dynamics. Abdur Arsyad is an example of an Indonesian comedian who presents stand-up material containing social criticism of various societal issues and ideological assumptions. This research analyzed Arsyad’s comedy through Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional critical discourse analysis model of description, interpretation, and explanation of text, discursive practice, and sociocultural practice. The descriptive dimension examined how Arsyad used language to construct representations of the world shaped by ideology. The interpretative dimension analyzed how his language perpetuated or challenged power relations and social hierarchies. The explanatory dimension focused on how Arsyad’s representations of social identities were informed by dominant ideologies. A qualitative methodology was used to obtain data from Arsyad’s performances on the KompasTV YouTube channel using documentation, library research, and note-taking techniques. The results reveal that Arsyad employs a range of metaphorical representations across Fairclough’s three textual values to critique and influence social norms and actions. Fairclough’s paradigm allows for a detailed examination of how comedy functions as social criticism, providing insights into the complex interplay between language, ideology, authority, and community.