Signs and Signifiers

Caroline Bagshaw

What is this?

What if I am a mathematician?

Now what is it?

Now what is it?

What is it now?

Now what have these lines become?

What does this symbol signify?

Now what does it signify?

What is this telling you to do?

How do you know?

Signs are there to signify things

but

they have a cultural reference

• In other words, they only “make sense” if we understand what they mean.

• We only understand what they mean because we have a shared knowledge – I know a red light means stop, so do you, so do all other drivers so we all stop at red traffic lights.

If an alien landed from planet Zog……

Let’s think of it another way….

…he might just cause a traffic accident!

What is this?

Actually…• It is a Norwegian Pine tree, covered in snow

and with a red ribbon on.• But it signifies:

• Christmas• Presents• Families• etc. etc.

• And this is because we share a cultural knowledge about the use of Norwegian Pine trees (thanks to Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who brought this German cultural tradition to England in the 1840s!)

We associate certain foods with Christmas – they are signifiers for it.

But they need a shared cultural reference – different cultures eat different foods at this time of year (imagine these on a Christmas

card!)

• England = turkey and plum / fruit Christmas pudding • Russia = 'meat dumplings' • Finland = rice pudding and plum fruit juice • Germany = goose or carp (fish) • Sweden = ham, brown beans and herring fish • Latvia = cooked brown peas with bacon sauce, small pies,

cabbage and sausage. • Portugal = salted dry cod-fish with boiled potatoes

Colours• Colours are often used as

signifiers.• Think about the connotations of

the colour red.• What about black?• What does white signify?

• Yet, in Tudor times, a bride would marry in red;

• In the seventeenth century a bride would wear her best dress, regardless of colour;

• By the eighteenth century, affluent brides would marry in silver;

• Queen Victoria was married (1840) in white – and set a trend which still continues today.

However, these are only Christian / English cultural traditions for appropriate bridal attire…

A Hindu bride…..

A Sikh bride…

A Muslim bride…

In China, white is worn for mourning.

What are the implications for Media Studies?

• Well, the producer of a media text needs to know that the audience will understand the signs in his text and what they signify.

Relationship between producer and audience

Media

Text

Producer of text

AudienceDecodedbyaudience

Encodedbyproducer

How many visual signs are in this scene which signify

Christmas?

Cultural Context• Can you think of any culture(s) where

an audience looking at this picture might NOT be able to decode it and reach the understanding that this is representing a specific time of year and religious festival?

You now know that signs and signifiers have a cultural context. If the audience do not share that culture then they may not understand the sign and what it signifies.

Media Literacy & Cultural Contexts

• So many of our media texts require us to understand the cultural references embedded within them.

• Watch the first 30 seconds of this clip from the Olympics Opening Ceremony:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW5abat5NEU• How many signifiers of the location are you

given?• Now watch the rest of the clip.• What do you need to know in order to

understand this clip? Consider who you see; what you see; the soundtrack etc. etc.

Signifiers of Genres• How many signifiers of the

Western Genre of films can you name?

Westerns• Horses• Tumbleweed• Saloon• Whiskey• Deserted landscape• Single-street towns• Board side-walks• Horse troughs

• Cowboys – themselves signified by:

• Stetsons• Bandana scarves• Western saddles• Guns• Spurs• Etc. etc.

Homework• Either write a description (approx. one

page of A4) or draw a storyboard (minimum 8 scenes) in which you…

• Create the opening moments of a film• Don’t say what the genre is – I should

be able to tell from the signs you use to signify the genre

• You can include description of sound to suggest the genre, but don’t include any dialogue