WEEK 7 READINGS
Key Questions:
What kind of terms and ways of thinking about media have been core to this field of knowledge and inquiry?
How do we/audiences ‘make sense’ of texts?
The Readings
In reading ‘Approaching Media Texts’ by Roy Branston (5th edition, 2010) I learnt some definitions and history that examines and demonstrates how people ‘make sense’ when readings texts. Texts can be anything ‘in which can be investigated’ dancing, TV and many other forms of art and expression are categorized as texts.
A major example of a qualitative approach when studying texts in relation to their social surroundings/contexts is known as semiotics.
Semiotics is defined as the study of signs, or ‘the social production of meanings and pleasures by sign systems’. In easier to understand terms it is the study of how things have come to hold significance in the particular society and culture in which they bare significance. For example a still image of a lead character in ‘Game of Thrones’ would have no significance and hold no meaning prior 2010, however now it contains meanings that hold significance e.g. people may associate this image with greed and gluttony.
In the late 1950’s individuals judged T.V shows on their ‘convincing characters’ ‘truthfulness’…….however after a while people began to question the critical terms used and asked why was something ‘original’ ‘beautiful’? according to what criteria? For whom? Experienced by whom? This is the backbone of semiotics which emphasises emphasises that reality in itself is constructed and shaped by the words and signs we use, in various social contexts.
A well-known linguist Saussure suggested that a sign consists of a physical signifier and an immaterial signified (the idea that spawns from the physical signifier). For example: There is a difference between our hearing of the rose and concept of the rose. When someone mentions a rose a generic picture of a red rose on a stem may enter our thoughts, however the individual may be speaking of a different type of rose, that holds a different meaning to them. This demonstrates the difference between the hearing and the conceiving. The word rose is a physical signifier and our concept of a rose is what follows the signifier.
Semiotics when consuming media: The news structures the realities they describe and ‘stand in for’. Semiotics does not assume the news is simply the ‘window to the world’. This disturbs powerful notions of ‘the truth’ in the world. This is why semiotics has kept media accountable, people question what they are being shown and question it, in order to find the truth. For example, when I watch A Current Affair I question the T.V producers motives and the integrity in what they are showing, and my beliefs and attitude shape what I think of the show and how I interpret the presented information.
Other terms/definitions/thoughts
In contrast to semiotics, content Analysis is qualitative data of sets and trends. It’s a prime quantative method.
- Structuralism: How is meaning constructed in regards to the culture in which it was formed. In structuralism people no longer questioned the value of the art, they instead looked at how meaning was constructed.
- Iconic signs are those that resemble what they stand for, so when there is a kangaroo on the sign that says ‘kangaroos 5km’ we see the denotation of the kangaroo so we respond. In airports they have these signs to transcend language barriers
- Indexical sign is when there is a causal link between the sign and that for which it stands for. For example a runny nose stands for a cold or illness (though in itself it is not an illness)
- I found the blurring example interesting. Digital media complicates what we see as realist codes. People can manipulate images based off how they believe the audience will perceive them.
- Marx and Freud were both structuralist thinkers
- Structuralist’s argued that only meaning could be understood within systematic structures and the differences or distinctions which they generate. Semiotics is within cultures. Structuralism works with opposites, think of titanic upper deck/lower deck is a blindingly obvious symbol.
- Denotation and Connotation. Denotation is the literal meaning. Connotations are the associations that come from the sign. For example an image of a red car may seem more ‘sporty’ than an image of the same car painted in the colour grey.