Language Theories

• Barthes - Semiology

  ->The study of signs

  • Society is structured by a whole system that determines how the people in it see things
  • Humans create and attach meaning to signs
  • Groups agree to what different signs mean
  • Societies and cultures develop their own myths about things.
• Levi-Strauss - Structuralism

  -> The study of the hidden rules that govern a structure

  
  

  Thought the human mind could be investigated by studying the fundamental structure underlying myths and fables from around the world

  
  

  Developed the idea of the 'binary opposition'

  • The system of myths and fables was ruled by a structure of opposing terms
  • The overall system is an ideology rather than human consciousness
• Baudrillard - Postmodernism

  -> Argues that society has moved beyond 'modernism' in art and cultures and ideology

  
  

  Individuals construct their identity in a world of simulation - representations of reality

  • Caused by implosion of differences (gender, class, politics) where social distinctions are less important
  • Identities are created by different social distinctions coming together
• Baudrillard - Postmodernism & Hyperreality

  -> Hyperreality is a media simulation that blurs the lines between reality and representation where audience cant separate the two.

  
  

  The media creates representations using signs and symbols that no longer refer to real things but rather things created by the media

  • Uses references to other media to make representations

  We experience events through media, therefore we only experience simulation / simulacrum