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ICOM100

ICOM100. Week 3 Toolbox 2: The Creation of Meaning . 'We cannot not communicate.' ( Watzlawick , 1973). What is a sign? It can be …. a word marks on paper An image A sound A flavour A smell An act An object. So semiotics is the study of signs – of meaning making.

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ICOM100

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  1. ICOM100 Week 3 Toolbox 2: The Creation of Meaning

  2. 'We cannot not communicate.' (Watzlawick, 1973).

  3. What is a sign? It can be ….. • a word • marks on paper • An image • A sound • A flavour • A smell • An act • An object

  4. So semiotics is the study of signs – of meaning making It is useful because it provides a conceptual framework for all types of communication • gesture • posture • dress • writing • speech • film • TV • photography

  5. Semiotics: it’s about • Signs and the different ways they work • Codes or systems into which they are organised • Culture – the environment they operate in • And the reader or decoder

  6. C.S. Pierce’s basic model

  7. Saussure’s basic model

  8. Today • Semiotics- De Saussure http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem13.html

  9. Language • We try to stabilise reality with language to make reality and stability possible • With words we CAN speak of the same river twice.

  10. Communication • The production and negotiation of meaning • Relationships are arbitrary and relational Opening scene Blazing Saddles (1974) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPcLPzItOQs KKK scene: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJkHykGRXrw

  11. Semiotics/Semiology • Semiotics is the science of the signs • Developed by Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure • American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce • http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=rEgxTKUP_WI&feature=related

  12. De Saussure • Series of lectures in 1903-4 • Structuralism – influenced all linguistics and the humanities • “Language, the most complex and universal of all systems of expression”

  13. de Saussure: founder of structural linguistics • A language is a system in which all the elements fit together, and in which the value of any one element depends on the simultaneous coexistence of all the others (de Saussure, 1983, p. 113). • connection between language and structure • Meaning is produced through difference.

  14. De Saussure • the central concept is the sign • language is closed system of elements. • meaning is made possible by patterns • Signs: How people make sense of the world • both authors and readers must hold language system in common • Truths made possible by signs and their relationship with other signs • linguistic signs are arbitrary http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=AilD6TpgaFQ&feature=related

  15. Ferdinand de Saussure • Saussure’s four major theses • Language has two axes • There are two ways of approaching language • We can define word meanings referentially • We can distinguish between empirical speech (“parole”) and formal language (“langue”)

  16. Langue and Parole? Definitions • Langue – the language as it exists that makes speech possible (grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax). De Saussure focused on langue rather than parole. • Parole – the use of the language. A sign (langue)is a basic unit of parole

  17. Codes & Conventions • Codes: are standardized formulas for communicating meaning • Conventions: are methods of organizing signs to communicate meaning in ways that become habituated • ALL media messages use codes and communicate through conventions

  18. Codes & Conventions :-) U R Gr8 TTYL LOL

  19. Codes, Conventions & Cultural Knowledge • Signs systems will only work successfully with people who know and share the same codes… • “inside jokes”…. • Being aware of ALL the things a code might suggest

  20. Icons • Roman Number - Two

  21. symbols

  22. Roland Barthes “Myth Today” Myth is a culturally ratified story. Myth is a type of speech (mythis a blending of signifier and signified) Myth is powerful and influences all aspects of society and culture Myth has all aspects of language at its disposal

  23. What is myth? • A story that conveys a meaning • A construction that explains peoples’ worldview • A lesson with deep symbolic meanings and reference points embedded in culture e.g. • Aboriginal stories of creation in the Dreamtime. • Australian egalitarianism (all Australians are equal). • The Gallipoli story has meaning for all Australians (mateship, sacrifice). • Heterosexual relationships

  24. Barthes Cultural texts (such as advertisements) often work mythically. The power of myths turns history into nature. Signification gives a particular event a naturalised meaning (e.g. the ANZAC legend where a soldier in uniform is deprived of identity and given meaning of patriotism) Therefore, myth … “It is changed into a gesture” Barthes, R. Mythologies trans. Annette Lavers (Hill and Wang NY, 1972 p. 122)

  25. Barthes Speech: signifier/signified/sign relation arbitrary (negotiated, changeable, can be seemingly unrelated to each other), Myth: signifier/signified/sign analogical (drawing a reference or inference from one particular to another). So, one form does not lead to another but we understand the correlation that unites them. Therefore : relationship creates sign.

  26. a bunch of roses. It only has meaning other than what it represents when weighted with definite signified intentions and culturally conventionalised codes. HERE a bunch of roses is a sign of love. Barthes : sign

  27. Barthes : myth Signified: SIGNS: Uniform Riding crop Black and white photo RESILIENCE BRAVERY RESOURCEFULNESS ANZAC MATESHIP Signifier: ANZAC LOYALTY

  28. Barthes Broadcast and widely disseminated visual images give the audience a sense of shared experience. This anchors public discourse in social life. Therefore, we understand others through a social agenda in the media Myth works best with simplified images.

  29. Myths – Barthes - Summary • Myths are fictitious, unproven or illusory. • Everything can be a myth • Myth is a narrative - explains how world works • Myths circulate in everyday life, construct world for us and place in it. • What we accept as ‘natural’ is illusory reality

  30. Mythology of icons Myth: • Connotation, • Signification based on an object • Denotation and meaning. • Relationship between signifier and signified How do the following images naturalise cultural myths?

  31. Denotation and Connotation • Denotation : the common sense literal meaning and the subject • Connotation – the effect of the sign on feelings, on values, on the subjective, and how it is portrayed, eg if it is a painting or photo.

  32. Summary • Semiotics is a method for decoding images • De Saussure stressed that semiotics was structural • Semiotics breaks signs into signifiers and signifieds • Semiotics helps us to see signs as a wider system of social myths & allows us to analyze ideology

  33. Myth • The stories a culture tells itself • Myths are not necessarily “lies” • Myths can be supported by meaning, structure and lessons.

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