Semiotics: blog task

 English by Tarun Thind analysis

1) What meanings are the audience encouraged to take about the two main characters from the opening of the film?

-That they are foolish character who are not able to achieve anything because they are poor and homeless. Also they may also think that they black homeless boy may have a weapon on him and this is a stereotype that black people are criminals, however this is so wrong because the black character does not have a weapon on him instead it was a pencil. They also assume that because the white boy is mute he is not able to do day to day things like any other human being, this is also a stereotype that disabled people are not 'normal functioning humans', which is proven wrong through his character.

2) How does the end of the film emphasise de Saussure’s belief that signs are polysemic – open to interpretation or more than one meaning?

-The ending emphasise de Saussure's belief about polysemic signs because both of they characters are seen differently to how they actually are the black character isn't a criminal hiding a weapon but instead a pencil and the white character isn't a foolish disables character. It is just about how the audience takes the meaning behind each character, based on their beliefs and how the society also influences them.

 Media Magazine theory drop: Semiotics 

1) What did Ferdinand de Saussure suggest are the two parts that make up a sign?

-The signifier - the thing that does the communication
-The signified - that which is communicated

 
2) What does ‘polysemy’ mean?

-Something having more then one meaning, but also how interpret a something based on personal opinions and society.

3) What does Barthes mean when he suggests signs can become ‘naturalised’? 

-This means that certain meanings, are created or brought about in society and, over time, once enough people know about these newly constructed meanings, they are ‘naturalised’, accepted and agreed

4) What are Barthes’ 5 narrative codes?

-hermeneutic, proairetic, cultural, connotative, and symbolic code.

5) How does the writer suggest Russian Doll (Netflix) uses narrative codes?

-So the title acts as a symbolic code here. The symbol of the Russian doll helps us (eventually) to make sense of the narrative. At some point, fairly early on, the camera pans past and lingers on a close up of a bowl of fruit that is entirely rotten – only the most observant viewer (usually the student or teacher of film and media) sees this. This is an example of an enigma code.

Part 3) Icons, indexes and symbols

1) Find two examples for each: icon, index and symbol. Provide images or links.

Icon:
-a physical resemblance to the signified, the thing being represented.

Index:
-evidence of what’s being represented.

Symbol: 
-no resemblance between the signifier and the signified.

2) Why are icons and indexes so important in media texts?

-Because they allows the producers to communicate with their audience.

3) Why might global brands try and avoid symbols in their advertising and marketing?

4) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) where the producer has accidentally communicated the wrong meaning using icons, indexes or symbols. Why did the media product fail? (This web feature on bad ads and marketing fails provides some compelling examples).

 

-Pepsi debuted an ad depicting Kendall Jenner in the middle of a photoshoot when she spots a protest happening in the middle of the streets. She walks up to a police officer manning the protest crowd and hands him a Pepsi, therefore stopping protests—and socio-economic conflict, racial tension, gender inequality. Pepsi mistook social justice movements for opportunities to sell soda, which is pretty disrespectful to the people who have suffered and sacrificed for the sake of protest and change. Using serious social issues to sell a product is insensitive and insulting.

5) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) that successfully uses icons or indexes to create a message that can be easily understood across the world 

-Why is there a ghost on the Snapchat logo?
The iconic Ghost face Chillah, depicted in the Snapchat logo, represents the essence of the application, and the fact that the photos in it are being deleted after the time set by a user. The ghost is a graphical reflection of the brand’s “phantom” policy.