In our week 5 lectorial we discussed textual analysis, the traditions and the structure of the texts within a media based context.
In this lecture, it reminded me of the analysis I did in highschool english and literature, with similarities yet still in its own universe. Analysis of media text has its own construction. It is relatively new, as before the turn of the 20th century, literature was seen as the only piece of text worth close analysis. This modern idea of textual analysis within media is a 20th century turn against particular idea’s of culture. To me this makes sense, as media base texts started to rise rapidly in this time.
The texts are vehicles for the production of cultural meaning. Texts in media, communications and cultural studies include a range of images, products and social practises, so much so that media constructs the world that we live in. This statement I found truly encapsulated the message of the lectorial:
“Texts are the material traces that are left of the practise of sense-making – the only empirical evidence we have of how other people make sense of the world.”
We also discussed the traditions, signs, codes, denotation and connotations of analysis. A denotation is the literal first order meaning that can be made and connotation is the cultural or second meaning. Social codes include family, sex, gender, race etc. Formal codes detail the technicals, composition and genre of the text. We then applied these analytical traditions to an example, a brand of clothing for men.
Plainly put, it was of a father throwing his presumed son happily into a pool, with a backdrop of an expensive looking resort in the background, as they smiled about the presumed success of their socially acceptable lives. We deduced from the example given to us that it was contrived to make the viewer believe that this brand will offer you the life they are offering in the advertisement. So not only are they selling a product, but a lifestyle too. The denotation of the advertisement was a man throws a child into a pool. The connotation offers much more in terms of analysis; a father throws his young son playfully into the pool. The social codes show that the brand is aiming their product towards white, probably straight, stereotypical middle aged male. The composition suggests wealth, the background of a fancy resort suggesting this. The colour codes of soft blue and white are welcoming to the eyes, and purposefully done so in order to further appeal to their target demographic.
For me, this opened my eyes even further to how contrived advertisements are. Every detail is thought through down to the colour of the shoelaces. Not only this, but it proved that media texts are extremely interesting to analyse as they surround us all day, every day, therefore making sense of it is all the more satisfying.
