Signs = Representation(s)
‘Theories of identity [associated with representation]’ which from me would be the ideas around, people having a route to self-expression, and therefore a stronger sense of self and participation in the world, through making & exchanging . .
David Gauntlett
Put another way, SIGNS HAVE MEANINGS, MEANINGS ARE LINKED TO IDEAS, ATTITUDES, BELIEFS, ASPIRATIONS, IDEALS (or what is often termed IDEOLOGY)
THE 7 STEPS OF A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS
SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS is also called TEXTUAL ANALYSIS. It is a recognised academic approach or tool for analysing a media text. The tool works like this:
- Identify the objects, items or elements that you see (DENOTATION)
- Suggest possible meanings that these elements communicate (CONNOTATION)
- Use evidence from the text to make your argument convincing (eg recognise the dominant signifiers, where you can find anchorage, what paradigms are created, how signs work in syntagm etc etc). The more detailed evidence you provide the more convincing your argument and therefore the more marks you get!
- Consider possible IDEAS, ATTITUDES, BELIEFS, VALUES (ie IDEOLOGIES) that the meanings of your objects, elements suggest.
- Suggest if the reading you have established is either RADICAL or REACTIONARY
- Consider if the meanings behind the text are a really just a MYTH ie not really objectively true, but rather ‘subjectively’ CONSTRUCTED around a particular point of view
- Overall, ensure you link SIGNS >MEANING > MYTH > POWER / CONTROL???
Examples of Textual Analysis
<Feminist<>Female<>Feminine>
To start this investigation, it is useful to draw upon Toril Moi’s (1987) crucial set of distinctions between: ‘feminist’, ‘female’ and ‘feminine’.
- Feminist = a political position
- Female = a matter of biology
- Feminine = a set of culturally defined characteristics
In other words, femininity is a SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION ie it is not a matter of fact (of say Biology) but rather an IDEOLOGY (a set of ideas, attitudes, beliefs, ideals) that is constructed, shared and agreed by society. But what part of society is constructing these ideals and are these ideals REACTIONARY supporting the DOMINANT IDEOLOGY or RADICAL ie CHALLENGING THE DOMINANT IDEOLOGY.
The clip below is an illustrated talk by Jean Kilbourne who worked at the Media Education Foundation and looked at visual narrative media / culture, primarily in terms of advertising, magazines and the representations of women. This TEDx talk below gives an overview of both her work and the development of this strand of critical thinking, (a discussion around her work and her seminal film Killing us softly, then and now is also embedded below).
Similarly, it may be useful to look at some of the work carried out by Feminist Frequency, for example this post (which includes the video below) uses certain SIGNS that are communicated in Computer games and CREATE MEANING about body, body language, the construction and creation of games characters etc, drawing on the academic work around the theory of looking.
The academic approach of this work is structured around what theorist Laura Mulvey called The Male Gaze, which theoretically questions how visual culture is constructed. Particularly, where the camera (which frames the look) is placed. This approach asks us to question:
- What are we being asked to look at?
- What is overtly prioritised?
- and what is left out?
The argument is that this is NOT NATURAL or NEUTRAL but it is actually CONSTRUCTED around an IDEOLOGY (attitudes, values and beliefs) that are PATRIARCHAL (ie male dominated). Here are some links to:
- THE MALE GAZE
- Laura Mulvey
- John Berger (who wrote the book Ways of Seeing)
- this Feminist Frequency post
Similarly, we could look at Television Advertising from the 1950’s with an episode of Washes Whiter – this is the episode we looked at in class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WgprZ8j1fI and below is another episode that you should watch over the half term break.
And compare that with more recent representations