- · I can only apologise at the time it has taken me to post the assignment. Sadly, my eyesight has been affected by a long term illness. Apart from that I have really enjoyed staring this part of the Visual Culture course. I really don’t think that this blog post does justice to my engagement with this topic. I am relishing the opportunity it has given to do wider reader in this academic field.
- STILL UPDATING AND MODIFYING -
Part three: of signs and symbols
Introduction to Structuralism
Instead of stating the blindly obvious of Structuralism – which is usually perceived by the average reader of blogs as being coped and pasted straight from Wikipedia - I will quickly bullet point key theorists and ideas before going into this week’s task.
As this is a new part of the course, of Signs and Symbols (i.e. Semiotics, Structuralism and Post-Structuralism), I’ve had to structure some extra sources to further my understanding of the weekly project. Hopefully, the extra research helps in my understanding of the concepts explored in this part of the course.
I apologise for the following lack of comprehension as this very simplistic information is mainly in note form:
Key Figures in Semiotics
- · Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), French linguist: Course in General Linguistics.
Semiology: the sign is a structure.
Meaning comes from the structure of language
Process of signification – Arbitrary Relationship: Signifier (object) +Signified (concept) = Sign
- · Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), American philosophe.
Semiotics: the sign is a process.
Sign made up of three parts: Representamen (form); Interpretant (the sense made); Object (the thing to which the sign refers.
Status of signs: Signs categorised in three types, though they can be applied to the same sign depending on how it works depending on temporal and contextual factors – including at the same time. The three types:
Icon (direct relationship with object – degrees of motivation e.g. photograph, painting, drawing)/ Index (indirect relationship – has a logical link but is not concrete (sounds/emotions) e.g. a car horn being a sign for a car)/ Symbol (no direct relationship with what is represented – arbitrary. Understood as it is collective agreed by a culture).
- · Roland Barthes (1915-1980), applying semiotic analysis not just to linguistics but everyday life.
Developed de Saussure’s work – Levels of signification: Denotation/Connotation.
Others Linguists/Semioticians (both Structuralist and Post-Structuralist)
- · Jan Mukarovsky (1891-1975)
- · Roman Jakobson (1896-1982): interpretation of signs depends on codes and conventions (→ reception theory).
- · Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
- · Julia Kristeva (b. 1941)
Set of signs = Paradigm →when combined into a message = Syntagm
- Paradigmatic selection is made according to the genre of the text.
- Paradigmatic selection is made according to the genre of the text.
The Meaning of a sign is varies as it is generated by in the minds of the individual reader.
The Structuralist nature of Saussarian semiotics emphasises the underlying form and structure of the language (langue) over the local variations at the surface (Parole).
This is analogous to Marxist view of base and superstructure and suggests that within a given culture the underlying forms would be similar – conventional – and convey some sort of uniformed meaning and values.
Project 12: Rhetoric of the Image
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| The Panzani advert that is analysed in Roland Barthes Rhetoric of the Image (1964). |
Central to this week’s task was the reading and make notes of Roland Barthes’s essay Rhetoric of the Image (1964). The essays itself deals with how the signs within a given image are made up levels of signification which create different types of meaning. I made extensive notes from this essay and applied it to the following task.
I then have applied Barthes semiotic method of the analysis of the visual image to a couple current advertising images. Here are my notes:
Mad Men Season 1 DVD Advert
Linguistic Message
“It’s what you give the man who has everyone” (relay); the release date (anchorage).
Denotation
The left of the image mainly consists of a colour representation of a man, main character Don Draper (Jon Hamm), in a suit holding a cigarette lighter. Fore grounded, by both position and size, is the DVD boxset which is shaped like a metallic cigarette lighter.
The scene consists of the product that is being sold – the DVD boxset – and the main character of the television series.
This advert aesthetically references (font of the text, colour palette, composition, clothes worn by character) a style of print advertising that we perceive as representation of that which used in the 1960’s.
Connotation
The linguistic message is pun of the phrase “It’s what you give the man which has everything’ referencing not only the reader/consumer but also the character of Don Draper.
The style of the advert appropriates the decade in which the television series is set; the 1960’s. Referencing the past allows the reader to ‘buy’ into the diegsis of the programme.
The image of Don Draper is not a photograph; it has been digitally manipulated to look like a drawing. Though it may be seen as a pastiche of a former aesthetic style, it comments on the nature of the character – within the diesis ‘Don Draper’ is not real, he is a construct.
The size of the DVD boxset is exaggerated – in comparison to the human form – because of its importance within the scene; it is the product that is being sold.
The cigarette lighter shaped DVD case is a joke intended as reference to the series itself; the excessive smoking of the characters (which adds verisimilitude to the setting).
Change 4 Life: ‘Gulp’ (Public Information Advertisement)
Linguistic Message
Advert is dominated by text. The images demonstrate healthy activities which are not elucidated in the written text (relay).
Denotation
Aesthetically denotes a children’s cartoon. Several figures perform various activities related to exercise on a bright yellow background, encircling the main body text.
The ‘Change 4 Life’ logo is the bottom left hand corner of the scene.
Connotation
As it is a public information advertisement that is intended to reinforce the dominant ideology of British society: written language dominates.
In contrast to the authoritative written message of the advert, is its aesthetic style which signifies a cartoon. This is obviously as the advert is about (e.g. the statistic) and is implicitly aimed at children; where the threat of childhood obesity in British society is a concern for the Government.
In contrast to the authoritative written message of the advert, is its aesthetic style which signifies a cartoon. This is obviously as the advert is about (e.g. the statistic) and is implicitly aimed at children; where the threat of childhood obesity in British society is a concern for the Government.
The plasticity of the cartoon characters could imply the malleability of the human form; linking in with the idea of losing weight, becoming healthier and becoming a ‘new’ person.
Bibliography
D’Alleva, Anne. 2005. Methods & Theories of Art History. London: Laurence King Publishing, pp. 28-45.
Barry, Peter. 2009. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 38 -58.
Barthes, Roland. 1964. ‘The Rhetoric of the Image’ In Stephen Heath (ed.) Image Music Tex. 1977. London: Fontana Press.
Barthes, Roland. 1970. ‘The Third Meaning’ In Stephen Heath (ed.) Image Music Tex. 1977. London: Fontana Press.
Cartwright, Lisa., Sturken, Marita. 2001. Practices of Looking: an introduction to visual culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chandler, D., 2002. Semiotics for Beginner. [online] Available at: < http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html > [Accessed 23 January 2011]
Dunnett, N., 2008. Unit 1: Reading Images and Products. [online] Available at: < http://www.communicationandculture.co.uk/index.htm > [Accessed 22 January 2011]
Fiske, John. 1990. Introduction to Communication Studies. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
Go Retro, 200b. Mad for Ad Age’s Mad Men Ad. [online] Available at: < http://goretro.blogspot.com/2008/07/mad-for-ad-ages-mad-men-ad.html > [Accessed 24 January 2011]
NMAYUK, 2009. Change for Life ‘Gulp’. [online] Available at: < http://www.nmauk.co.uk/nma/do/live/breakingads%3Bjsessionid=6553B3A28766634C473D78145777A242?showBrowse=false&creativeModel=16810 > [Accessed 24 January 2011]
Spotlight Ideas, 2002. 50 Top Print Ads 2010 – 2008. [online] Available at: < http://www.spotlightideas.co.uk/?p=874 > [Accessed 26 January 2011]
There is some good work going on here. Well done
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