Silent Treatment in Family Communication: A Semiotic Analysis of NKCTHI

While the silent treatment is frequently dismissed as a benign coping mechanism, in domestic settings it often signifies a severe communication crisis where unexpressed tensions evolve into systemic dysfunction. Existing studies on family communication in cinema often overlook how micro-level non-verbal signs interact with structural barriers to self-disclosure to escalate interpersonal crises. Addressing this gap, this study examines how family communication crises are constructed and represented through silent treatment behaviors in the film Nanti Kita Cerita Tentang Hari Ini (2020). Using a qualitative interpretive design, this study examines four purposefully selected scenes representing distinct stages and relational manifestations of silent treatment, ranging from subtle interaction avoidance to physical withdrawal. Peirce’s triadic semiotics (sign, object, interpretant) and the Johari Window framework are applied, with verbal hesitations, facial expressions, and spatial avoidance functioning as the primary units of analysis. The findings reveal that silent treatment manifests through emotional silence, explicit dialogue rejection, and relational withdrawal, predominantly exhibited by Aurora due to chronic emotional suppression and hierarchical inequality within Narendra’s household. Semiotically, flat expressions and deliberate physical distancing serve as critical indices of unarticulated conflict, while the marked dominance of the hidden area reflects an acute breakdown in mutual self-disclosure. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that silence operates as a destructive catalyst that accelerates latent tensions into overt crisis, highlighting the imperative of dismantling communication hierarchies to foster restorative family dialogue.