Social Networks in the Upin & Ipin Universe: Comparative Analysis of a Series and Movie in Southeast Asian Media

Social Networks in the Upin & Ipin Universe: Comparative Analysis of a Series and Movie in Southeast Asian Media | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Social Networks in the Upin & Ipin Universe: Comparative Analysis of a Series and Movie in Southeast Asian Media Alyssa April Dellow, Fatimah Abdul Razak This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6329035/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Social network analysis offers a unique perspective into media narratives by examining character interactions. This study explores character prominence and narrative flow in the Upin & Ipin series, including Seasons 1 and 2, and the first Upin & Ipin movie, “Geng: The Adventure Begins”. Speaker-listener identification is applied to generate directed and weighted character networks. Findings reveal that the character networks mimic real-life social patterns, showcasing communal network structures over more egocentric structures commonly observed in Western media. High betweenness centrality characters serve as superspreaders, bridging central and peripheral groups, while antagonists have limited centrality, suggesting minimisation of hazardous behavioural emulation in young audiences. The movie exhibits more intricate web interactions than the series, with deliberate character placements indicating changes in narrative strategies. These results demonstrate the utility of social network analysis in uncovering hidden character dynamics beyond conventional storytelling analysis, in addition to laying the foundation for media comparative studies in Southeast Asia. Humanities/Complex networks Humanities/Cultural and media studies Social science/Complex networks Social science/Cultural and media studies Social science/Sociology social network analysis character interactions Upin and Ipin character network Malaysian animation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files MovieStats.xlsx SeriesStatsSeason1andSeason2.xlsx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6329035","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":467940815,"identity":"1208414c-2a64-4b00-aa2b-715fb51756f1","order_by":0,"name":"Alyssa April Dellow","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alyssa","middleName":"April","lastName":"Dellow","suffix":""},{"id":467940816,"identity":"85e19131-3e78-4c25-af44-9cd8fb292f1f","order_by":1,"name":"Fatimah Abdul Razak","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA20lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBAC9gYGhgMMDDbM/AxsID4zYS08B5hBWtLYJRtI0QIEh/kNDhCthf38wUM3atKkjW+kpW5gqLBObBA7Y4BfC08yw+GcYzbGZjfSjt1gOJOe2CCdg1+LPQNIC1tastmN9LYbjG2HCWvh4X8M1PLvcP3mGSAt/4jRIgG0JbftMLOBBNBhjA1EaXlscDi3L41Z4syztBsJx9KN26TTCgg4LPHx55xvwKhsTzO78aHGWrZfOnkDXi2oIAGI2Rg48DsMG2B/QLKWUTAKRsEoGNYAAOHJSPCHcQPHAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fatimah","middleName":"Abdul","lastName":"Razak","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-03-28 14:38:08","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6329035/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6329035/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":85952942,"identity":"8f31a7d1-5d12-46cc-a833-fe4d9f8c1f0a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-07-03 14:17:09","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1082051,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript28March2025.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6329035/v1_covered_e4bf70c0-1093-4c3f-8b8f-ed9642a8dff0.pdf"},{"id":84248283,"identity":"7be87330-546a-4e61-bdc0-33c22b0a4355","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-09 17:35:04","extension":"xlsx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":20177,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MovieStats.xlsx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6329035/v1/d501097ff530c3294abb8a9e.xlsx"},{"id":84248840,"identity":"940a453f-f1da-43ed-85f2-904693805c32","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-09 17:43:04","extension":"xlsx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":17248,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SeriesStatsSeason1andSeason2.xlsx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6329035/v1/08e5462ca53c64e95ac30148.xlsx"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Social Networks in the Upin \u0026 Ipin Universe: Comparative Analysis of a Series and Movie in Southeast Asian Media","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"social network analysis, character interactions, Upin and Ipin, character network, Malaysian animation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6329035/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6329035/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Social network analysis offers a unique perspective into media narratives by examining character interactions. 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