الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
In this information age, language and other different social semiotic resources
(modes) are involved in daily communication. Among these resources, language is the
most important; it is the vehicle of communication through which people can share
ideas, exchange experience, articulate values, transmit knowledge, and sustain culture.
It is a formal scheme of communication that uses words, sounds, and visual signs to
deliver new information to public. Other resources such as music, color, and
typography complement making-meaning process and they participate in effective
communication.
Linguistic studies make a shift to investigate non- verbal different means of
communication and scrutinize the interaction between them. Multimodality is the
process of meaning-making through the interaction of ’’a multiplicity of modes such as
image, gesture, posture, gaze, action, music, color, 3D objects, alongside speech and
writing’’ (Wong, 2019, p.2). Multimodality as an interdisciplinary approach, involves
linguistics, semiotics, cultural studies, media studies, computer science etc., becomes
an essential practical domain (O’ Halloran &Smith, 2011, p.1).
One of the most significant multimodal communication means used in this
information age is advertising (Fill, 2009. P.47). Advertising is a way of
communicating information about products or facilities which a company or an
individual wants to market to the publics. Ads are conveyed through words, images,
music, and actions in a medium which is used by the prospective buyers (Vilanilam &
Varghese, 2004, p.4). Thus, ads include a mixture of ’’linguistic signs (words) and
iconic signs (visual representations)’’ (Bignell, 2002, p.32). To examine an
Chapter One: Introduction 2
advertisement is to comprehend its signs; every sign in an ad carries a meaning. So, to
analyze the signs of ad is to ’’move from the sign’s denotative meaning to its
connotative meaning. The connotative meaning is the message of the ad ’’ (Bignell,
2002, p.33).
As a type of print advertisement, movie poster is composed of a mixture of
semiotic resources; it includes image or a scene from the movie, title of movie, names
of movie’s heroes, and production company or director’s name and the date of
publication (Aisala, 2018, p.6). The chief target of a movie poster is to attract many
viewers into the movie theatre (Fagerholm, 2009, p.6). Correspondingly, movie
posters are powerful means for establishing the ethos of societies; they display not
only movie industry, but also condition, culture, and technology of their periods
(Noyan, 2009). To examine a movie poster is to decode complex multimodal
resources; text, aesthetic design, or the interaction of diverse modalities and semiotic
tools used in poster to generate meaning.
In modern era, cinema is an important part of social and cultural life; new
technology has revolutionized the realm of cinematography (Noyan, 2009). Although
Egyptian cinema is highly regarded, the cinematic manufacturing also has a history of
„borrowing‟ western material and localizes it to fit Egyptian spectators. This is a
widespread phenomenon in recent times (Aravanis, 2020). Some of Egyptian
moviemakers move away from depicting new cinematic ideas and begin to coloring
American movies with the Egyptian spirit from Hollywood making them ’masreya’ (El
Mohandes, 2016). This phenomenon is known in Egypt as ’Iqtibass’ or
’Tamseer’(borrowing or Egyptanizing). These terminologies have a large semantic
field that can include “draw from”, “quote” and “adapt” (Gamal,2009, p. 11). Thus,
Chapter One: Introduction 3
this research tackles a multimodal analysis of Arabic and English movie posters
which review similar or convergent cinematic plot.
1.2.Research Problem
This research is an attempt to investigate multimodal nature of Western movie
posters and their Egyptian copy. The process of cultural borrowing, importing,
translating or adapting of foreign scripts is problematic in Egyptian (and to a large
extent in Arab) cinema. This raises the question of creativity and authenticity in the
Egyptian film industry. So, a comparison between English poster and its Egyptian
replica is crucial to investigate the phenomena of adaptation. The problem lies also
on clarifying the ability of multimodality, as a linguistic interdisciplinary approach, to
unearth visual messages of movie posters.
1.3.Objectives of Research
This study aims to investigate the role of multimodal semiotic approach, as
trend of linguistic studies, in analyzing images (movie posters). The study also tends
to show the applicability of multimodality in exploring the similarities and differences
between multiple adapted Egyptian posters and their original English copies from a
linguistic point of view. It also examines, linguistically, whether the poster of adapted
movie is a replica or a blind copy of the original one or not. Further, the study
illuminates how the amalgamation of Systemic Functional –MDA of Kress and Van
Leeuwen (2006) and van Leeuwen’s Semiotic of Typography (2006) is a
comprehensive effective model for identify cultural dialogue between Egyptian
cinema and