Intro to Semiotics

CLASS 2

1/30/2012

Media “Messages”• 1. AUTHORSHIP: All media messages are

constructed • 2. FORMAT: Media messages have their own

language and rules• 3. AUDIENCE: People experience the same

media messages differently. • 4. CONTENT: Media messages have underlying

agendas, values, and world views. • 5. PURPOSE: Messages created by the mass

media are constructed to gain profit, and power.

Authorship• What kind of text is it?• What are the various ingredients?• How is it similar or different from others in the

same genre?• What technologies are used?• What choices were made to make it

differently?• Who created this message? - how many

people did it take, what role did they play?

Format

• What did you notice about how this message is constructed?

• What is the view point?

• How is the story told visually?

• Symbols/ metaphors?

• Emotional appeal?

• Does it seem real? Why?

AudienceDoes this reflect your experience? / how closely?

What can we learn from the text?

What can we learn about ourselves?

What can we learn from others response?

Other interpretations?

Other viewpoints as valid as your own?

How can you explain varied responses?

Into to Semiotics:• What is Semiotics?• In short, semiotics is the study of signs. • The theory was developed by Saussure and

Pierce. • Main idea: “Signs unite concepts and a

sound image” (Saussure) • The relationship between a concept and a

sound image can be described as the signifier (sound image) and the signified (concept.)

3 Aspects of SignsSigns come in 3 different forms:

Icons: icons are signified by resemblance. They are something we can plainly see. Example: Pictures, statues etc.

Index: index is signified by a casual connection. They are something that we can figure out through simple analysis. Example: Fire / Smoke.

Symbol: symbols are signified by convention. They are something that we learn through historical/ cultural

events, or social interaction. Example: Flags.

How is meaning generated?• Language is a system of signs that

express ideas. • “In language there are only differences”

(Saussure) Meaning that language is made up of oppositions and relationships and nothing has meaning in itself. For example, “rich” means nothing without “poor.”

• The relationship between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary even though there is not always a logical connection between a word and a concept.

• Example: A sign that says “open” in a shop window = the sound image. The concept is that the store is open for business.

• Symbols are an exception. Because symbols are very seldom interchangeable.

• Example: The symbol of the scale generally means justice, and could not be replaced with something else, like a chariot etc.

Signs stand for things, ideas, and concepts.

• In material culture, material objects can serve as signs and contain meaning.

• Example: A diamond ring.

• Music can be a sign. Music generates an emotional response, much like how music is used in film and advertisements.

• In advertisements, TV shows, etc people can serve as signs.

• Peoples clothes, hair fashion etc convey notions of what they are like. (Or at least what they want you to think they are like.

Hyper Reality• Hyper reality is associated with Mass

Production / Mass Media. • It means that an object or experience is

perfered to its original. • It means “more than real” or “a

simulation”(like Disney Land)• Example:Axe

• Hyper Realities can be dangerous if they become more important or more real to someone than reality.

• Example: People who are addicted to gaming or pornography. People who develop eating disorders because of an unattainable image of beauty. Etc.

Paradigmatic Analysis: involves a pattern of oppositions burried in it to generate meaning. (image http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem05.html - Daniel Chandler.)

Intertextuality

• “Parody” is the purposeful reusing of text. Audience must be familiar with the original text so that they can appreciate the parody.

• “Quotes and Tributes” - examples: Family Guy, Swingers, The Boondocks.

Dialogical Theory• The idea that language is

made up of everything that has been said before and everything that is going to be said.

• Basically, “It’s all been done before” Nothing is original. Everything that surrounds us is a replicated, reworked and imitated version of something else.

• Example: Pop Art.

Metaphor, Metonymy and Codes:

Metaphor The relationship between 2 things is hinted at and can be figured out through analogy.

Metonymy Substitute naming. Example: The King = The Crown, Uncle Sam = The United States. Red = Passion.

Codes Highly complex patterns of associations learned through social interaction.

Signs in Film, TV and Video Advertisements:

SIGNIFIER: SIGNIFIED:

Close up Intimacy

Medium shot Personal relationship

Long shot Characters or subject in context

Full shot Social relationship

Signs in Camera Movement:SIGNIFIER SIGNIFIED

Pan down Power / Authority

Pan up Small / Weak

Dolly in Focus

Fade in / out Start or end

Cut Excitement

Wide Conclusion

Codes cont.

• The transmitters of media messages do not always share the codes of their audiences this leads to a different set of values, belief systems and world views. (See figure on Page 31.)

Recap:• Semiotics helps us understand how meaning is

created and conveyed in texts and naratives. • Semiotics helps us understand that signs are

the relationship between a signifier and the signified.

• Nothing has meaning in itself. How words are arranged can alter meaning.

• Codes in language, and society make signs understandable and shape actions.