The (Re)Construction of Househusband’s Role in The Intern Film

Abstract

The role of the male as breadwinner is a common construction in society. However, there are families with certain agreements with particular conditions that require the husband to stay at home with domestic roles. This condition usually addressed the husband as a househusband. This research analyzes signs identified in The Intern film (2015) that portrays the househusband which further interprets the characteristics and roles of the househusband. Roland Barthes’ semiotics method is applied in order to be able to analyze both the denotative and connotative meaning of the identified signs regarding the househusband. From the study, it is identified that there are two roles of househusbands constructed in the film 1) caregiving, and 2) act of service. Househusband duties are identified as everything domestic affairs outside of the public domain. The term househusband is not meaningfully accepted based on the preferences of men carrying out domestic duties, therefore, the term stay-at-home dad is preferred because it constructs the role of the father as a whole.

Keywords: sign; meaning; househusband; film; semiotics

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