MECO1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Socalled, Newswipe With Charlie Brooker, Roland Barthes
20 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
MECO1001
SEM 1 2018
MECO1001
Week 5 – Narrative & Discourse
Key Theories/Theorists/Readings
●‘News Discourse in Context’
●‘Television news as narrative’ – Anne Dunn
Points
●Recapping Structuralism
oStructuralism: A method of interpretations that focuses on the different
elements in a system
oIdentifying the structures that are in place and unpacking the structures that we
don’t see → stresses that everything within that structure is culturally reliant
on all the other myths → each of them independently don’t have meaning,
they have meaning in relation to one another and what we bring to them
creates meaning
oA method of interpretation and analysis of aspects of human cognition,
behaviour, culture, and experience, which focuses on relationships of contrast
between elements in a conceptual system. Semiotics (last week) emerged from
the theoretical themes that underpin structuralism
oSemiotics and structuralism are so closely related they are said to overlap -
semiotics being a field of study in itself, whereas structuralism is a method of
analysis often used in semiotics.
o“Structuralism as a whole is synchronic (used to mean: something); it is
concerned to study particular systems or structures under artificial and
ahistorical conditions, neglecting the systems or structures out of which they
have emerged in the hope of explaining their present functioning.” (Sturrock,
1979, p. 9)
o“A system in which each element in a group can only be understood by its
relation to other elements as part of a larger structure.” (Ferdinand de
Saussare)
oStresses that each element within a cultural system derives its meaning from
its relationship to every other element in the system - there are no independent
meanings
▪E.g. analyzing images such as:
= definition
= quote
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MECO1001
SEM 1 2018
▪
▪Your interpretation is based around your personal beliefs and
perceptions, along with the cultural knowledge behind the symbolism
in the images.
●Recapping Semiotics
oAll signs are cultural constructs that are taken on their meaning through
repeated, learned, collective use.
o“Semiotics will tell us things we already know in a language we will never
understand” (Pabby Whannel cited in Seiter, 1987, p. 5)
oMeanings are culturally formed; a discursive process that operates in a
language system or set of codes loaded with ideological signification →
Language is encoded by those with the means of production and decoded by
audiences – an asymmetrical process
o“The important insight that can be gained from the study of semiotics and
structuralism is that all communication is partial, motivated, conventional and
biased, even those forms such as print journalism that are founded on a
reputation for truth-seeking and attempt to convey the impression of
reliability”
●Stuart Hall – The Floating Signifier
oLooks at semiotics through the lens of race and racism in the United States
oHow societal perceptions of race have led to a wrongful classification of
groups and lead to mass devastation for millions in the form of racial hate
crimes etc.
= definition
= quote
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MECO1001
SEM 1 2018
oRace organizes the great classificatory system of difference which operate in
human societies
▪More of a cultural system than model of biological difference
oStuart Hall agrees with Saussure and Barthes that meaning is a discursive
process operating within a language system or set of codes loaded with
ideological signification
oMedia institutions and texts they generate help us make sense of the world.
oSemiotics enables us to understand the sense-making process by which media
transmit messages to audiences
oLanguage is encoded by those with the means of production and decoded by
audiences – an asymmetrical process
oHall is interested in how the media represent and misrepresent what they mean
rather than just reflect meanings → there is no inherent meaning, it is all
situational
oProcesses of editing, selection, camera operation and arrangement are
important aspects of encoding → the medium in which a message is sent
affects the meaning of it
oSignifiers are subject to the constant process of change; they are not fixed
▪Float in a sea of relation
oSignifiers as empty words that mean nothing but how can it be so real? How
can it have such significant impact on life?
oApproaches racial issues in the US through a semiotic lens
oWe mostly observe race through a ‘news’ lens
oHe is interested on how the media represent and misrepresent
oRoles often culturally constructed in film (i.e. Asian people as math nerds)
o“The important insight that can be gained from the study of semiotics and
structuralism is that all communication is partial, motivated, conventional, and
‘biased’, even those forms such as print journalism that are founded on a
reputation for truth-seeking and attempt to convey the impression of
reliability. The study of semiotics insists that we should discern the distinctive
ways of producing and combining signs practiced by particular kinds of
television, in particular places, and at a particular point in time, because these
codes are inseparable from the ‘reality’ of the media communication.” (Ellen
Seiter, 1987, Chapter 1, Semiotics, Structuralism and Television in Channels
of Discourse Reassembled: Television and Contemporary Criticism edited by
Robert Allen)
●Real vs Reel
oBBC Newswipe
oAnne Dunn (Dunn, Anne (2005), ‘TV News as Narrative):
▪The opening sequence can be interpreted not only as a call to attention
but also as an interruption to the ‘flow’ of entertainment programming.
= definition
= quote
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find more resources at oneclass.com
