Barthes: Semiotics

• denotative readings are the literal or physical contents of a text or media imagery
• connotative readings subconsciously push the reader to think or feel a particular way
• audiences recognise connotative readings through their cultural knowledge and experience of similar material
• polysemy means that media imagery can be interpreted to have multiple meanings
• to create a more universally understood connotation, producers can use anchorage; a vice which holds connotated meanings from proliferating
• barthes' five code symphony includes

  hermeneutic codes (enigmas)

  proairetic codes (actions)

  semantic codes (connotations)

  symbolic codes

  cultural codes
• Enigma codes construct moments of mystery engineered to engage audience intrest
• Action codes are moments of suspense constructed by action of some kind
• semantic codes refers to any element within a media text that creates a single connotative effect
• symbolic codes can be repeated motifs or uses of a semantic code
• cultural codes refer to meanings generated as the product of prior knowledge
• Myths are made when a group collectively agrees on a connotation and it's societal applications
• Naturalization is when a myth presents itself as everyday or the norm
• Myths are reductive, they reduce large scale problems to simple points
• Myths reinforce existing power structures, those who hold the power control the myth
• Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols
• Semiotic theory seeks to understand how signs communicate meaning
• challenges to Barthes

  • Levi-Strauss would be more interested in the way that media products articulate oppositions rather than the effect of a single connotation
  • Todorov would argue that media products produce meaning via narrative progression and that isolated instances are less significant