MECO1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Media Studies, Wicket-Keeper, Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
20 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
MECO1001
SEM 1 2018
MECO1001
Week 4 – Semiotics
Key Theories/Theorists/Readings
●‘Signs and Meaning’ – Schirato & Yells
●‘Rhetoric of the image’ – Roland Barthes
●C.S. Pierce
●Ferdinand de Saussure
Points
●Reading media
oGrowth of media and influence in society prompted a need for greater
understanding
oModels of communication, especially those focusing on the message were
inadequate to assess the complexity of the communication/media/culture
nexus
oReading media was developed in first half of 20th century: European thinkers
tried to find better ways to explain language, culture, and contemporary
society
oNo longer thinking of media as a unilinear (??) bilateral function but rather a
multifaceted interaction with information
●Semiotics
oDeveloped as a revolutionary way of understanding texts/language systems
oSemiotics: linguistic study of signs and symbols and their interpretations
oEarly founders
▪C.S. Pierce: triangular relationship between sign, creator, and user
▪Ferdinand de Saussure: emphasis on interpreter of the sign; language is
relational and not absolute or substantive
oLater thinkers
▪Roland Barthes: Emphasized the role of culture → colivocal →
multiple ways of interpreting → rhetoric of image → moving away
from linear communication
oBig Bang theory scene (s1E5): Sheldon misunderstood the tie on the door
because he didn’t know the language / cultural context
oSemiotics: study of signs and symbols and their interpretation
oParole/speech: concrete use of language or utterance
oLangue (differs to language; subset of language): system of signs that
comprise language, a large number of elements and their relationships, aka
linguistics system
oSynchronic (‘with time’): two similar things exist at same time
= definition
= quote
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
MECO1001
SEM 1 2018
oDiachronic (‘across time’): changing meanings of words over time- related
terms are separated by time, e.g. 12c and 21c English
oSign: use of an object, language, image etc to mean something other than itself
– doesn’t have intrinsic meaning in itself, only has purpose of being a sign
when there is a relationship between the above → comprised of 2 parts:
▪Signifier: the actual sign - part of the sign that has a material form
▪Signified: what the sign is expressing / represents
oSignification: relationship between signified and signifier
oDenotation: the literal or obvious iteration of a text/object/image (literal
interpretation of text)
oConnotation: the inference the reader/viewer takes from the text/object/image
influenced by culture and personal knowledge (what can be understood using
cultural and personal knowledge)
oPasta picture: is reminiscent of the image of a cornucopia; red colour scheme
is bold but not overpowering + reminiscent of the Italian flag and the cultural
heritage; looks like still life art
oSyntagm: linguistic unit (textual elements coming together with the visual
elements)
oIcon/iconic: signs that are iconic (e.g. kangaroo road signs)
oSymbol/symbolic: aren’t literal representations of what is being signified (e.g.
no entry sign)
oIndex/indexical: the signifier is caused by the signified (e.g. girl with the apple
picture)
▪E.g.
▪Signifier: kangaroo in a yellow diamond
▪Signified: kangaroos may be present
▪Sign: the use of colour, image, shape to convey the message
▪Denotation: the literal or obvious iteration of a text/object/image
▪Connotation: the inference the reader/viewer takes from the
text/object/image influenced by culture and personal knowledge
▪Denotation: image of kangaroo on yellow background in a diamond
▪Connotation: kangaroos on road informed by knowledge of road signs,
use of yellow for warning and danger of kangaroos
= definition
= quote
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Signs and meaning" schirato & yells. Rhetoric of the image" roland barthes. Semiotics: developed as a revolutionary way of understanding texts/language systems, semiotics: linguistic study of signs and symbols and their interpretations, early founders, c. s. Sem 1 2018: diachronic ( across time"): changing meanings of words over time- related terms are separated by time, e. g. 12c and 21c english, sign: use of an object, language, image etc to mean something other than itself. Sem 1 2018: levi-strauss: myth is a language within itself, myth used extensively in advertising, binary opposition: used extensively in advertising via contrasting by connotation; what consumers aspire/don"t aspire to. Capel & bednarek reading wk 5: hence they look at marxists semiotics & literary theorists volosinov & Sem 1 2018: in meco studies, many scholars in fields such as feminist, critical race, queer, disability media studies, do textual analysis, built on heritage of semiotics, but without feeling need to use its technical vocabulary.
