Semiotics
Sign – Stands in for something else
Code – Symbolic tools used to create meaning
Convention – Accepted ways of using media code
Dominant Signifier – The main representative
Anchorage – Words with an image to provide context
Ferdinand de Saussure
Signifier – Stands in for something else
Signified – Idea being evoked by signifier
C S Pierce
Icon – A sign that looks like its object
Index – A sign that has a link to its object
Symbol – A sign that has a more random link to its object
Roland Barthes
Myth– the most apparent quantity of signification which disfigures the meaning by validating arbitrary cultural assumptions in a similar way to the denotative sign.
Radical– something which challenges dominant ideas.
Reactionary– dominant ideas which are confirmed by something
Ideology– the reinforcement of codes which are congruent with structures of power
Denotation– literal or basic meaning of a sign
Connotation– the secondary cultural meaning of signs or “signifying signs,” which are then used as the signifiers for a secondary meaning.