Complex Media Semiotics - Essay Example

Semiotics interprets language that is expressed by us or others publicly. It is the study of signs according to Daniel Chandler. Signs generally refer to road signs, sign boards used in public places, zodiac or sun signs, sign language, etc. But, there is much more than these visual signs that are covered under the category of signs in semiotics. If semiotics is a study of visual signs, then it covers photography, paintings, art and architecture, sculpture, drawings and tattoos. However, semiotics is a systematic study of even the verbal and non-verbal language that includes words, gestures and sounds. As language with its signs and symbols is a sign, then to many it is linguistics. So, semiotics is a complex subject studying everything that is expressed under the sky. It is no doubt that Saussure, a famous linguist, is one of the early developers of semiotics. Roland Barthes, Greimas, Julia Kristeva, Jakobson are important in modern semiotics. In its course of development, semiotics had close ties with linguistics, structuralism and social psychology. Structuralism looks at language as a set of signs. They explored the underlying structures beneath the language. Modern Semiotics strives to relate signs and their meaning to their social context and situates itself in the wider perspective offered by social semiotics. It is closely allied to Marxist theory in its social concerns. Society and culture are intertwined. So, Semiotics plays a major role in culture studies. Barthes’ Mythologies in 1970 introduced the cultural aspect. Barthes says Semiology aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all of these, which form the content of ritual, convention or public entertainment: these constitute, if not languages, at least systems of signification. (Barthes 1967, 9) Acknowledging Barthes idea of signs, semiotics concerns itself with everything that can be considered as a sign, according to Umberto Eco. Sign is anything that signifies something else. ‘Signify’ is very important in Semiotics. As Daniel says, “n a semiotic sense, signs take the form of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects”. It could be a study of signs in the social, personal or philosophical context. It could be read from Feminist, Marxist or Sociologist perspective. To put in other words, a sign... is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity (Peirce 1931-58, 2.228). Print and other media advertisements can be read closely to reveal themes and trends in the permutations and combinations of signs. It also gives clue of the readers and the advertisers. The signifier and the signified play a huge role in connoting the underlying meaning. The signs could be repetitive or develop patterns during a particular age or in a specific cultural community. However, there is a clear change in the relationship between written language and visual signs with respect to the audience perception of media and its role. Media advertisements also come under this banner of signs. As Jonathan Bignell puts it, magazine is “just a collection a signs"(1997). These signs may be paradigmatic or syntagmatic including the titles, fonts, layout, color and the gender used. These are the signs used to generate meaning. According to Saussure, signs consist of two elements- the signifier and the signified and these are possible only when there is a receiver who derives meaning from the signs. The reader is active to whom it has some meaning (Williamson 1978). Barthes’ concept of the death of the author applies here very much. So, magazine advertisement pictures are complex group of signs that a reader decodes and interprets. It is communication through signs. Here is an analysis of the signs in a print media advertisement and it has been analysed for any underlying ideological or cultural connotations. The advertisement picture given below is from guardian.co.uk,an online magazine and the advertisement is for Loreal product advocating fair skin. In the advertisement image given below, the signs speak of the mythic symbol of the imaginary and sometimes illusionary future. It is a visual representation of the dreams of the woman reader. Two pictures besides each other, one dark skinned than the other seem to connote that the Loreal product will give fair skin over a period of time. The lady in both the pictures appears to be the same, but the image is not similar. The image with dark skin is projected to be without external beauty of the skin with hair tied up but the other one has free flowing hair with confidence brimming. “Ideologically, this play of connotation has the advantage of affording the classic text a certain innocence … denotation is not the first sense, but it pretends to be; under this illusion, it is ultimately only the last of connotations (that which seems at once to found and close the reading), the superior myth by which the text pretends to return to the nature of language, to language as nature” (Barthes, 1974). This advertisement comprises of many codes or signs that are placed in a certain order to attract the reader to particular aspects of the product and sell it in the target market. Fairness product is implied to be a feminine. Bignell, who is a master of media semiotics, says that the female figures in magazines are "iconic signs which represent the better self which every woman desires to become" (Bignell 1997: 69). This is nevertheless true of the reader woman, and the motive of the advertisement. The signs in the advertisement signify personal meaning to each woman who sees herself in it. The signifier is the image the reader wants to become. The female figure signifies a future image that is within possible reach for her if she continues using the product. The signs appeal to the desire of self improvement. (guardian.co.uk) The picture has two parts to it, one against a dark backdrop and the other against a lighter one; One with a dark skin and the other a fair one; one with more traditional hair style and the other more free and stylish. These are nothing but signs that signify an underlying meaning of dualism in pairs that cannot be related. They are opposites. One gains popularity over the other. Fairness is celebrated and projected as a condition that every woman needs for freedom. The bright color of yellow in a dark background seems to imply that the skin is not bright as the outfit; however the lighter grey dress in the second image connotes the opposite. The eyes are tired and lack in confidence in the first image as against the second one. The brighter, larger, lighter and confident image is presented to imply that the product will lead to shine in the life of the reader. It appeals to the personal instinct in every woman to present them acceptable to the society. The sign implies that with fairness comes confidence and acceptability as well, which may or may not be the truth but is conveyed as the truth. In conclusion, semiotics uses multiple ways to analyse the complex signs to identify the connotative and denotative meaning underneath them. It fixes the signifier in the social context and looks from the point of view of the reader. It attaches more importance to the signified and the reader than the author. Though it strives to attach a motive behind the signs, it is the reader, who gains more power according to the semiotics, deriving meaning from the signs. So Media and media advertisements aim at utilizing the power of the readers and design their signs to attract the target market. References Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. Canada: Harper Collins. Bignell, J. (1997). Media Semiotics, an introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press Davis, L. and Mules, W 2002. Introducing Cultural and Media Studies: A Semiotic Approach. New York: Palgrave Eco, Umberto (1976): A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington, IN: Macmillan Glaister, D. (2008). Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved August 20, 2009, from http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Media/Pix/pictures/2008/08/08/Beyonce460.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/08/advertising.usa1%3Fgusrc%3Drss%26feed%3Dnetworkfront&usg=__17HrmNEZU5b1AYnDO6JPAv4256Q=&h=276&w=460&sz=27&hl=en&start=9&sig2=gMX-Z0Ja4jnBH5jU9W5EaA&um=1&tbnid=wsRtYNDBEiRsQM:&tbnh=77&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcosmetics%2Badvertisement%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-nz%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=W-SMSoSuJJOKswPB3rHyCQ Heiligmann, R. and Rutledge Shields, V. R. "Media Literacy, Visual Syntax, and Magazine Advertisements: Conceptualizing the Consumption of Reading by Media Literate Subjects" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Sheraton New York, New York City, NY Online . 2009-05-25 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p11715_index.html McLoughlin, Linda (2000), The Language of Magazines. London: Routledge. Peirce, Charles Sanders (1931-58): Collected Writings (8 Vols.). (Ed. Charles Hartshorne, Paul Weiss & Arthur W Burks). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Williamson, J. (1978). Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertisements. MN, US: Marion Boyars Read More