CMNS 110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 18: Cultural Studies, Semiotics, Film Stock
Document Summary
Culture - dynamic process producing behaviours/practices/institutions/meanings constituting our social existence. Comprises processes of making sense our way of life. Cultural studies theorists - argued language is major mechanism through which culture produces & reproduces social meanings. Cultural studies theorists, drawing particularly on semiotics, have argued language is major mechanism through which culture produces & reproduces social meanings. Language - includes all those symbols from which we can select & combine elements in order to communicate. Language constructs, not labels, reality for us. We cannot step outside language in order to produce set of own meanings totally independent of cultural system. New object might be defined by connecting it w/ existing analogous objects/new ideas will interpellate themselves by trying to redefined current terms & usage. Operation of language provides us w/ central model of way culture produces meaning regardless of medium of cmn. Language constructs meanings in 2 ways literal/denotative meaning of word attached to it by usage.