LZ411 – Critical Media Theory

Semiotics: The critical analysis of media

1

Aims today …

1.Introducing semiotics as a structural approach to media analysis2.Applying semiotics to visual and verbal language

LZ411 – Critical Media Theory

Media and meaningQuestions about ‘the text’?(representation, narrative, genre)

According to Carey (2009:19), “communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed”

How does this text create meaning?

Media and meaning

Messages as ‘structured relationships of elements’

Semiotics: the study of these elements and structured relationships.

The study of signs and how they create meaning.

What is it that makes ink on paper (in this example) into something that makes meaning?

Semiotics the study of signs and meanings

Ferdinand de Saussure1857 – 1913 Swiss

Linguist

• Key figure in the study of language

• Work inspired ideas of later writers in film theory, cultural studies and media studies

• Important contribution – recognition of the nature of language as a relational system of signs

Signs and reality

• Question– does language (a sign system) label our reality or does language ‘create’ our reality?

CHILD ADULTBABY

• Sign systems give form and meaning to existence – they shape our reality AND they communicate our reality

TODDLER ELDERLY PERSON

SIGN SYSTEMS

• Linguistic signs are arbitrary therefore used by convention

• Langue and parole

• Language is a system of differences – signs have value when they are recogniseably different from others

Components of the sign

signifier

signified

signification

A sign of a guinea pig

Sign - physical existence (marks on paper, sounds in air, pixels on screen etc.) – anything which is meaningful to someone

Signifier – sensory perception of sign (form)

Signified – concept/meaning evoked by the sign (content)

Signs, signifiers and signifieds

signifier

signified

signification

Sign - physical existence

Signifier – sensory perception of sign (form)

Signified – concept/meaning evoked by the sign (content)

Signs, signifiers and signifieds

signifier

signified

signification

Sign - physical existence

Signifier – sensory perception of sign (form)

Signified – concept/meaning evoked by the sign (content)

An example

• What’s ‘gone wrong’ with this act of communication? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24222992

SLUT

Slovenly, dirty, untidySexually promiscuous woman –

a woman of low character

Codes

• The systems in which signs are organised into groups are called codes

• Codes organise signs into meaningful systems which correlate signifiers and signifieds.

• Slut - sign in the grouping of words for cleanliness? OR a sign in the grouping of words for sexual activity?

CodesCodes organise signs into meaningful systems which correlate signifiers and signifieds.

(Chandler 2002:147)

So in the grouping of linguistic signs (code) for cleanliness, ‘slut’ signifies slovenly or untidy.

In the grouping of linguistic signs (code) for sexual activity ‘slut’ signifies promiscuity with a derogatory meaning.

Godfrey Bloom: mistaken codes or something more insidious? (i.e. an attack on women in politics)

Visual example

Codes organise signs into meaningful systems which correlate signifiers and signifieds.

(Chandler 2002:147)

Visual example

Codes organise signs into meaningful systems which correlate signifiers and signifieds.

(Chandler 2002:147)

Visual example

Codes organise signs into meaningful systems which correlate signifiers and signifieds.

(Chandler 2002:147)

• A syntagm is an ordered array of signs combined according to certain rules Cat sat on the mat

• A paradigm is a set of signs, any of which are conceivably interchangeable within a given context

• Cat sat on the mat• Dog sat on the mat• Cat stood on the mat• Cat sat on the chair• Cat sat under the chair• Cat sat under a chair

Syntagm and Paradigm

syntagmatic

para

digm

atic

Words and images

• Anchorage – the way words are used to ‘tie down’ the meaning of an image

• Relay – the complementary way words and images operate – meaning oscillating back and forth

Analysing signs and codes1. Identify key signs in this

magazine front cover.

1. How do selection (paradigmatic analysis) and combination (syntagmatic analysis) play a role in the generation of meaning?

2. How do words and images work together to create meaning?

3. What codes are in operation such that we ‘get’ the correct signifieds from the signifiers? (i.e. meaning)

Types of signs - iconic

An icon (or iconic sign) bears a resemblance to the referent (the actual thing/person in the world

A symbol (or symbolic sign) has a conventionalised connection between sign and referent.

Analysing visual signs

Denotations – the literal meaning(s) of a sign

Connotations – the cultural meanings of a sign

MythWhat is this article’s way of representing ‘Jordan’?

What wider social meanings are being made here?

What meanings appear to be ‘naturally’ true?

Analysing for Myth

signs Range of possible connotations

What meanings are being taken for granted?

myth

A) What are the denotations of the signs?

B) What ‘second-order’ system is in operation? i.e. what further meanings are being suggested? (connotations)

C) What appears to be denotation but is actually connotation? – meanings naturalised, taken for granted.

Summary

• Semiotics – the study of signs in society

• Sign systems ‘create’ our reality• Originated in language study but now

is applied to lots of other cultural activity – films, magazines etc.

• Signs, codes, arrangment of signs, types of signs

Reading and blogging

• Read pages 227-232 of the chapter by Gemma Penn called ‘Semiotic analysis of still images’. See my blog for guidance.

• We will use the second half of the chapter next week to discuss advertising in the media.

• Seminar – discussing reading, clarifying issues, further analysis, how to reference properly. See my blog.