Undertaking Semiotics Dr Sarah Gibson the material reality [of texts] allows for the recovery and critical interrogation of discursive politics in an empirical form; [texts] are neither scientific data nor historical documents but are, literally, forensic evidence (Hartley, 1992: 29) Today 1. Textual Analysis 2. Semiotics Ferdinand de Saussure Roland Barthes 1. Textual Analysis 3. Semiotics as a Research Methodology What is Textual Analysis? Gather information about how people make sense of the world Educated guess at the most likely interpretations of that text Interpretation of something s meaning Reveal concealed power relations 1
Reading Texts How texts tell their stories How texts represent the world How texts make sense of the world Textual Analysis Methodology Accessible Texts Relatively few resources Interpretive method Limitations of Textual Analysis Meanings not fixed in text Does not reveal the author s intention Does not reveal how it was received or understood by the audience Privileges academic readers of texts Critical Reflection of your own subject position and choice of methodology Textual Analysis Methodology Genre Analysis Narrative Analysis Semiotics Critical Discourse Analysis The Study of Signs Anything that communicates meaning is a sign 2. What is semiotics? Any sign can be studied using semiotics Allows us to examine the cultural specificity of representations and their meanings One set of methods and terms can be used across a range of different signifying practices 2
What can semiotics be applied to? Semiotic Analysis Film Theatre Fashion Body Television Magazines Museums Cities Food Material Culture Hairstyles Music Photography Advertising Newspapers Internet Define your object of analysis Gather the texts Describe the texts Interpret the texts Draw out the cultural codes Make generalisations Make conclusions Ferdinand de Saussure the linguistic sign unites not a thing and a name, but a concept and a sound-image. I call the combination of a concept and a sound-image a sign (Saussure, 1966: 66-67) 1. Signifier Material Aspect Sound-Image or text/writing The Sign 2. Signified Mental concept All signs are arbitrary Signs Negative value Binary oppositions Langue / Parole Codes and Conventions 3
Red - stop Amber - get ready Green - go Traffic Lights / Robots Iconic Indexical Symbolic Charles Sanders Peirce Roland Barthes non-verbal signs in everyday life the domain of culture ICON INDEX SYMBOL Signify by Resemblance Causal connection Examples Pictures, statues Fire / smoke Process Can see Can figure out Convention Flags Must learn Builds on the signifier-signified-sign model Myth is a second order semiological system Mythologies 1. Collection of essays, first appeared in the magazine Les Lettres Nouvelles (1954-1956), called Mythology of the Month 2. Myth today a long essay which appropriates and extends Saussure s theories 4
Denotation and Connotation Rolls Royce Denotation = the literal meaning Connotation is the second-order meaning = culturally specific meanings Myth Cultural values and beliefs expressed at level of connotation allows connotative meaning to appear denotative Semiotics the process of demystification I am at the barber's, and a copy of Paris- Match is offered to me. On the cover, a young Negro in a French uniform is saluting, with his eyes uplifted, probably fixed on a fold of the tricolour. All this is the meaning of the picture. But, whether naively or not, I see very well what it signifies to me: that France is a great Empire, that all her sons, without any color discrimination, faithfully serve under her flag, and that there is no better answer to the detractors of an alleged colonialism than the zeal shown by this Negro in serving his so- called oppressors. I am therefore again faced with a greater semiological system: there is a signifier, itself already formed with a previous system (a black soldier is giving the French salute); there is a signified (it is here a purposeful mixture of Frenchness and militariness); finally, there is a presence of the signified through the signifier. Denotation A photograph of a black soldier saluting the French flag Signifer: the arrangement of coloured dots on a white background Signified: the concept of the black soldier saluting the tricolour 5
Connotation Denotation [the black soldier is saluting the flag] becomes a secondlevel signifier Connotation: French Imperiality the saluting Negro becomes the alibi of French imperiality The Rhetoric of the Image Three Messages in an Advert 1. The linguistic message 2. Denotation: a non-coded iconic message 3. Connotation: a coded iconic message 1. The Linguistic Message All the words in the ad Captions, labels, brands Need cultural knowledge to decode text (French language) Connotates "Italianicity" through the sound and familiarity of this particular text 2. Non-coded Iconic Message some packets of pasta, a tin, a sachet, some tomatoes, onions, peppers, a mushroom, all emerging form a half open string bag, in yellows and greens on a red background (Barthes: 33) Anchorage 6
3. The Coded Iconic Message 1. Return from market (freshness of products and domestic preparation) Style of photo still life Open string bag Red background 2. Italianicity (yellow, green, red) Product 3. Total culinary service 4. Still Life Vegetables onion, tomato, mushroom, peppers Text The mythologist as cultural critic We inhabit a world of signs which purport to be natural but which support existing power structures 3. Semiotics as a Research Methodology the mythologist exposes these signs as culturally constructed Semiotics Semiotics helps us to think analytically about how such texts work and the implications they have for the broader culture in which they are produced and disseminated (Deacon et al., 2007: 141) Semiotics Semiotics is concerned with how meaning is created and conveyed in texts The focus of semiotics is the signs found in texts. Signs are combinations of signifiers and signifieds. Because nothing has meaning in itself, the relationships that exist among signs are crucial Texts can be viewed as being similar to speech and as implying grammars or languages that make texts meaningful. (Berger, 2012: 18) 7
Semiotics: Theory or Method? semiotics is all theory and very little method, providing a powerful framework for analysis and very few practical guidelines for rigorously employing it (Slater, 1998: 238) Semiotic Analysis A semiological analysis entails the deployment of a highly refined set of concepts which produce detailed accounts of the exact ways the meanings of an image are produced through that image (Rose, 2002: 69-70) Semiotics is a bunch of concepts Concepts inform critical readings rather than through any more precise or specific application Requires a creative application of a conceptual and theoretical corpus to particular texts Conceptual and theoretical corpus provides a framework for interpretive work (see Deacon et al., 2007: 148) Semiotics Semiology very often takes the form of detailed case studies of relatively few images, and the case study stands or falls on its analytical integrity and interest rather than on its applicability to a wide range of material (Rose, 2002: 73) Stages in a Semiotic Analysis Define your object of analysis Gather the texts The analysis Denotation Connotation Cultural Knowledge Ideological Position Relate to theoretical and conceptual frameworks Choosing Images Semiologists choose their images on the basis of how conceptually interesting they are, it seems (Rose, 2002: 73) Requires extensive knowledge of the type of image which the case studies will analyse 8
Strengths of Semiotics Demands detailed analysis of images Relies on case studies and elaborate analytical terminology Creates careful and precise accounts of how the meanings of particular images are made Concerned with the construction of social difference through signs Focuses on ideology, ideological complexes and dominant codes (Rose, 2002: 96) Limitations of Semiotics Questions about the representativeness and replicability of its analyses Elaborate theoretical terminology Strong anti-reflexive strain in semiotics No empirical exploration of polysemy and logonomic systems (Rose, 2002: 97-99) Critical Visual Methodology A range of tools for looking at images carefully [vocabulary; analytical precision] Centrally concerned with the ways in which social difference is created [science; ideology] Some of its practitioners advocate a reflexivity (Rose, 2002: 73) Key Elements of a Research Question Why? Theoretical paradigm What? Object of analysis How? Research Method Research Question Method: Semiotic analysis Object of Analysis: the implications and meaning of a text or set of texts; the ideological content of a media message; how media messages relate to cultural myths Theoretical paradigm: feminist theory, Marxism, sexuality, nationalism, postcolonialism, racism, etc. References Barthes, R. 1972. Mythologies. Translated from the French by Lavers, A. London: Paladin Grafton. Barthes, R. (1977). Rhetoric of the Image. In Image Music Text. Translated from the French by Heath, S. London: Fontana. Berger, A.A. 2012. Media Analysis Techniques. 4th edition. London: Sage. Deacon, S. et al. 2007. Researching Communications: A Practical Guide to Methods in Media and Cultural Analysis. 2 nd edition. London: Hodder Education. Du Gay, P. et al. 2013. Doing Cultural Studies. 2 nd edition. London: Sage. Hartley, J. 1992. The Politics of Pictures. London: Routledge. Rose, G. 2001. Visual Methodologies. London: Sage. Slater, D. 1998. Analysing Cultural Objects: content analysis and semiotics. In Researching Society and Culture. Edited by Clive Seale. London: Sage. Stokes, J. 2013. How to do Media and Cultural Studies. 2 nd edition. London: Sage. 9
Suggested Wider Reading Bignell, J. 2002. Media Semiotics: An Introduction. 2nd edition. Manchester: Manchester UP. Chandler, D. 2002. Semiotics: the basics. London: Routledge. Couldry, N. 2000. Inside Culture: Re-Imagining the Method of Cultural Studies. London: Sage. Danesi, M. 2002. Understanding Media Semiotics. London: Arnold. Eco, U. 1976. A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington: Indian UP. Saukko, P. 2003. Doing Research in Cultural Studies. London: Sage. Thwaites, T. 2002. Introducing Cultural and Media Studies: a semiotic approach. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Tudor, A. 1999. Decoding Culture: theory and method in cultural studies. London: Sage. 10