QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS

CRITICAL TEXTUAL ANALYSIS, PART 2—MYTHIC ANALYSIS, SEMIOTICS & STRUCTURALISM

A. Myth involves a shared narrative or story◦ 1.  Operates at an unconscious level◦ 2.  Themes of myths are probably universal◦ 3.  Involves ultimate truths about life and death,

fate and nature, God & humans B.  Film in particular is receptive to myth

◦ 1. Means of modern mythmaking◦ 2.  Film "speaks the same language"

(picture/image)◦ 3.  Both are associated with dreams (S. Langer)

I.  Mythic/archetypal analysis

C. Myths are symbolic representations highly valued by societies ◦1. Have common characteristics◦2. Powerful appeal, esp. to the

unconscious◦3. Often have universal meanings,

understood within a cultural context D. Films use both universal & cultural

archetypes, & universal & cultural myths E. Types include character archetypes,

story archetypes, and symbols

Mythic/Archetypal Analysis, con’t.

A. The study of the social production of meaning from signs◦ 1. The science of signs which investigates “the

nature of signs" & their social impact, so as to create laws (Griffin 98)

◦ 2. Derived from linguistics (C. Pierce, F. Saussure, R. Barthes)

B. The study of signs (both verbal & non-verbal) & how they mean in a culture◦ 1. Central focus of semiotics--"the relationship

between a sign and its meaning; and the way signs are combined into codes" (Fiske & Hartley 34)

II. Semiotic Analysis

2. Looks at how signs function, "how meaning is generated & conveyed" (Berger 17) within "socially shared discourse" (Trenholm, 47)

3. Looks at how the representation of signs & story structures establish meaning for particular groups, via discourse & specific texts

4. Textual analysis articulates how this struggle between discourses is engaged. ◦ a. Texts are how discursive knowledge is

circulated, established, or suppressed

Semiotic Analysis, con’t.

◦b. A text is a signifying structure composed of signs & codes 1) A message that has a physical

existence beyond the sender & receiver, composed of representational codes

2) Also a network of codes working at a number of levels, capable of producing a variety of meanings

Semiotic Analysis, con’t.

4. Codes--A code is a system of signs, governed by rules agreed upon (explicitly & implicitly) by a culture◦ a. Presentational codes use the body as a

transmitter & indicate a subject's internal or social state

◦ b. Representational codes are free standing signs isolated from the sender--abstract, generalizable, iconic or symbolic

◦ c. Codes can be digital or analogic (particle/wave idea)

Semiotic Analysis, con’t.

d. There are behavioral codes (e.g. law, rules of football, etc.) & signifying codes

e. Signifying codes have these characteristics:◦ 1) convey meaning which is shared,

conventional, & learned; and◦ 2) transmittable through appropriate media of

communication f. Language depends on verbal codes (primarily

representational & digital) g. Non-verbal codes may be digital or analogic,

presentational or representational (more ambiguous)

Semiotic Analysis, con’t.

5. A sign is something which designates something other than itself. ◦ a. Signs are arbitrary & learned through culture◦ b. Do not stand alone, but are part of a system

of classification (or codes)◦ c. Have 3 characteristics:

1) physical form 2) reference to something other than itself 3) recognizable as a sign

◦ d. have 2 elements—signified & signifier

Semiotic Analysis, con’t.

6. Types of signs (Pierce):◦ a. Icon--signifies through a marked physical or

perceptual resemblance between signifier and signified

◦ b. Index--signifies through a connection to its object 1) usually causal (but can also be existential);

e.g. smoke/fire, spots/measles, footprint/person, snarl/anger

2) Tend to operate metonymically (e.g. a cowboy hat for the whole cowboy)

Semiotic Analysis, con’t.

c. Symbols--signifies through conventions or rules; arbitrary, conventional signs which stand for something other than themselves ◦ 1) Have to learn the meanings of symbols ◦ 2) All words are symbolic; other images may be

a mixture of types ◦ 3) Tend to be metaphoric or abstract (e.g. a

gold coin symbolizes wealth) ◦ 4) Symbols can be archetypal or stereotypical,

as well as cultural or individual

Semiotic Analysis, con’t.

7. Orders of signification (Barthes):◦ a. Denotation, simple

1) simple or literal relationship of a sign to its referent

2) assumed to be "objective" & "value-free”◦ b. Connotative, 2nd order--meaning extended

to the realm of values, associative, expressive, attitudinal, evaluative meaning

◦ c. Ideological, 3rd order--the connotations & myths of a culture are manifest signs of its ideology (Fiske & Hartley)

Semiotic Analysis, con’t.

8. Signs can also be metaphoric or metonymic◦ a. Metaphors—signs that stand for something

else than original; creates images & myths◦ b. Metonymy--when part of a sign stands for the

whole, e.g. a city street for the city, 2 or 3 pickets for an union trade strike, a soldier for Army etc.

9. Can analyze signs as part of a paradigm, or a set of units which combine with others ◦ a. Meaning is determined by how units

(syntagms) interact with others (e.g. a sentence forms paragraphs)

Semiotic Analysis, con’t.

b. Paradigmatic analysis focuses on an associative metaphoric code◦1) Examine vertical sets of units representing latent meaning

◦2) Read synchronically or “down the chart”

◦3) “Read against the grain," looking for patterns of opposition or themes, etc.

Semiotic Analysis, con’t.

c. Syntagmatic analysis looks at linear patterns (such as syntax or the grammatical structure)◦1) Examine horizontal, systematic sets

of units linked to each other, representing manifest meaning

◦2) Read diachronically or “across the chart”

◦3) Often chronological (e.g. the structure of fairy tales & narratives)

◦4) Formulaic & logical in sequence

Semiotic Analysis, con’t.

A. Structuralism & post-structuralism are complex theoretical positions◦ 1. In general, structuralism dedicated to the

systematic elaboration of rules ◦ 2. Also looks at the constraints on such rules◦ 3. Looks at systems, relations,& forms (the

"structures") that make meaning possible in any cultural activity or artifact

B. Not an interpretative approach to meaning--does not seek to reveal hidden or intrinsic meaning in a text

C. Instead texts reveal meanings through their "structures" or relationships within a system of signs

III. Structuralism

D. One way of analyzing texts is to examine binary oppositions◦ 1. How meanings are generated out of two-term

systems◦ 2. Originally developed from anthropological &

literary analysis of myth (e.g. Vladamir Propp's Morphology of the Folktale & Claude Levi-Strauss, Structural Anthropology)

◦ 3. Binaries arise out of culture, out of the nature of language itself & the products of our signifying systems (e.g. images)

Structuralism, con’t.

4. Binaries structure our perceptions of the natural & social world in an orderly & meaningful way

5. Meaning is generated by opposition◦ a. Signs mean most in terms of what they are

not; always imply their opposites◦ b. Most extreme, yet basic form of difference is

binary--only two signs, e.g. LAND:SEA 1) Mutually exclusive 2) Yet together form a complete system--the

earth's surface 3) Similar binaries: US:THEM, GOOD:BAD,

LIGHT:DARK, MEN:WOMEN, etc.

Structuralism, con’t.

c. Binary logic produces ambiguities◦ 1) Repressed but often emerge as a sub-text

(e.g. between LAND & SEA is the BEACH--a territory not quite land or sea)

◦ 2) Binary logic finds this "scandalous“◦ 3) Often a site of taboo in a culture

a) Activities or states that don’t fit the binary system subjected to repression or ritual

b) This taboo territory is a liminal, or transitional, state--a state out of time, on the edge of experience

c) In many cultures this is a sacred time

Structuralism, con’t.

d. Transitional (liminal) states require a rite-of-passage from one state to another, e.g. passage between CHILD:ADULT (youth), or between SINGLE:MARRIED (engaged)

e. Ambiguities also resolved through a type of THESIS:ANTITHESIS:SYNTHESIS process◦1) Often occurs through myth (see Levi-

Strauss)◦2) Ambiguous term mediates between the

oppositional poles)

Structuralism, con’t.

f. Binary oppositions are structurally related◦ 1) Function to order meanings◦ 2) Lead to transformations of one underlying

binary running through a story structure, e.g. MALE:FEMALE into terms like PUBLIC:PRIVATE, NATURE:CULTURE; etc.

◦ 3) Each binary has an overlap representing the overlap the taboo, ambiguous category

◦ 4) Although repressed, the ambiguous category can be transformed as well

◦ 5) Each of the terms on one side is invested with the qualities of the others on that side

Structuralism, con’t.

g. Thus binaries are highly ideological◦ 1) Nothing natural about them◦ 2) The logic of binaries is hard to escape (e.g.

GOOD:EVIL often gets linked to US:THEM) ◦ 3) The ideological nature of binaries is further

enhanced because positive & negative values attach themselves to opposed terms

◦ 4) For example, in the current abortion debate, the terms move as follows: GOOD is to EVIL as LIFE is to DEATH is to

ABORTION ACTIVISTS vs. ABORTION DOCTORS◦ 5) This frames the debate in absolute moral

terms

Structuralism, con’t.

E. Another approach is deconstruction of texts◦ 1. Deconstruction is a mode of literary analysis

a. Derived from Jacques Derrida b. Argues philosophical assumptions

underlying writing do not guarantee their meaning

c. On the contrary, the discourses systematically undermine the assumptions

◦ 2. The method takes nothing for granted◦ 3. Challenges belief that language is merely

referential--naming an already existing reality

Structuralism, con’t.

4. Deconstruction dedicated to teasing out the repressed, marginalized & absent in the chosen discourse

5. This is not the same as looking for a hidden meaning--the meaning is manifest, extrinsic, it just needs to be "deconstructed“

6. Deconstruction a method associated with post-structuralism

Structuralism, con’t.

7. Post-structuralism combines structuralist ideas with psychoanalytic theory (esp. looking at the role of pleasure in producing & regulating meanings) ◦ a. Also concerned with external structures

(beyond the text), such as class, gender, & ethnicity, which make meaning possible

◦ b. Original structuralism more concerned with internal textual structures

◦ c. A shift in focus from text to reader (thus sometimes also linked to reader-response theory)

Structuralism, con’t.