Exploring thematic linkages of an internationally recognized movie

The paper studied the symbolic and aesthetic meanings of the movie of Laskar Pelangi (LP, English: Rainbow Warriors) using ZMET method and interviewing fourteen university students who have watched it. With the movie has received awards nationally and internationally, the findings suggest three emergent themes rich witch symbolic and aesthetic values that hint how the movie has won the hearts of its viewers. The first extracted theme unveils the secret power of poverty in generating dream that subsequently leads to action for success. The second distinguishes how happiness differs from success, whereas happiness is related to religious – by God’s grace – and naturalistic perspective – genuine appreciation of nature, something that is easily overlooked from success point of view. The third is concerned with the purity of romance, something that is getting less common in modern movies and implies a latent desire of romantic image of Indonesian young people. The last signifies education that enables dream to success. In conjunction to the positive, symbolic and aesthetic values felt and perceived by the viewers, the movie can also be symbolically seen as a social critic either to the viewer themselves or to the social justice that is yet to be achieved