Communication Theory
Lecture 10 – 10/1/2013
Aims:
To introduce key themes and concepts in
semiotics
To explore key theories and theorists in
the field of structural linguistics
To explore uses of semiotics in the
analysis of art & design
Defining semiotics
Ferdinand De Saussure defined semiology – a
study of sign systems
He separated the word (sign) from the
meaning is not inherent within the sign
He also separated the act of speech (la
parole) from the system of language (la langue)
Semiotics is a form of metal language – a
language about language
Systems and structures (the context of the
sign) dictate somewhat the reading
Advertising is a system
Film is a system
Systems of communication, different signs
of what they do because there is an agreement of what they mean
What do these colours signify?
Green – go, grass
Blue – water, Chelsea
Put a picture of crisps next to the colours
and it makes you think of the flavors – salt and vinegar, cheese and onion.
Difference
Saussure tells us that meaning is
established in differentiation
Rather than establishing what it is we establish
what it is now
“Concepts… are defined not positively, in
terms of their content, but negatively nu contrast with other….
Connotation and denotation
Provides us with ‘levels’ or ‘orders’ of
signification
Roland Barthes warns that denotation is not
literal meaning but is naturalized through language
Most evident where signifiers merely refer
to other signifiers
Myth
Myths are signs that are culturally
informed
Barthes linked myths to ideology –
‘Bourgeouis ideology… turns culture into nature (1974)
Syntagm and paradigm
Syntagm – a series or collection of
signifiers within a ‘text’ eg a sentence
Syntagmatic relations – how signifiers
within a syntagm relate to eachother
Paradigm – signifiers that relate through
function or relative meaning eg. Boy/man, male/female
Paradigmatic relation – how paradigmatic
signifiers contrast and construct meaning
Metaphor and metonym
Are both non-literal forms of
signification, as such require a level of interpretation
Metaphor is where one signifier is replaces
with another of similar concept or character metonymy is where a signifier
stands in for another to which it is conceptually or physically a part of.
(Displacement)
A part to
represent the whole or the whole represent the part… association along a chain
of signification
The greatest movie ever sold
Movie about his task of making a movie, in
his search for funding and product placement for his movie. (a meta movie)
Structuralism
Is the term used for the broad application
of semiotics/semiology to a range of sign systems
Further than the application solely to
linguistics
Structuralism emphasizes structures or
systems of signification…
Not
what it means but how it comes to mean
Semiotic linguistic terms/structures act as
analogies for other systems
Post structuralism
While structuralism focuses on the
structures of meaning in any signifying system…
Post structuralism focuses on the
interpreter/reader and the precarious nature of meaning
Structuralism reduces everything to related
elements within a signifying system
This is authoritarian in nature
It assumes the presence of meaning (the
metaphysics of presence) logocentrism
Anything
that does not fit discarded or ignored
Post structuralisms aim to deconstruct assumptions
and emphasis the plurality of interpretation
Difference
Jacques Derrida established this term both
in development of Saussure and disagreement
Differer – To differ and to defer
Differance is both differing and deferring
simultaneously
Derrida states that meaning is not only
established in difference/opposition but is also being deferred
Intertextuality
‘every text is from the outset under the
jurisdiction of other discourses which impost a universe on it’ (Julia
Kristeva)
Intertextuality describes how text are
constructs /collages of previous texts…
When writers write they are also written
Simulacra
Jean Baudrillard introduces the idea of
hyperreality in prepresentation… a copy without an original
That we have lost the ability to recognize
the difference between nature and artificiality
“The territory no longer precedes the map,
nor does it survive it. It is nevertheless the map that precedes the territory
– precession of simulacra – that engenders the territory” (JB)
Stages of simulacra
1.
the image is a clear counterfeit
of the original (pre modern)
2.
distinctions between the copy
and original begin to break-down through mass-production and distribution
(modern)
3.
pure simulacra where the copy
precedes and determines the teal (post modern)
Considerations for art and design
Considerations in analyzing art and design?
Considerations in creating art and design?
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