Semiot ics in the Visual : uncovering the prejudices beneath the

surface of the beautiful

Sara Vannini

Academic Teaching - Dec. 2011

resea

rching vi

sual

materia

ls

composit

ional inter

pretati

on

conten

t analy

sis

semiotic

s

discourse

analy

sis

anthropology

photo-elic

itatio

n

Steve McCurry,

The Afghan Girl,

National Geographic Magazine cover,

June 1985

Steve McCurry,

Afghan Girl revealed,

National Geographic Magazine,

April 2002

Steve McCurry,

Found - a life revealed,

National Geographic Magazine cover,

April 2002

do photographs portray reality?

the visual is never innocent

(Rose, 2007)

images work in relation to others

we make meanings of them

we are decoders, called to decode

(Williamson, 1978)

as decoders, we are not completely

free to decode

always one preferred meaning

the preferred meaning can be

established either individually or

socially (Hodge and Kress, 1988; Bal

and Bryson, 1991)

James Mollison, Food for life, United Colors of Benetton

campaign, February 2003.http://www.benetton.com/food/press/index.html

3 levels of visual analysis:

- image

- production

- reception

dominant codes (Hall, 1980)

referent systems (Williamson, 1978)

referent systems and dominant codes

express ideologies and pre-existing

knowledges that can be accessed through

signs

signs: basic unit of a language

(Saussure, 1916)

signifier signified

referent

the relation between signifier and

signified is not inherent, but

conventional !

signs > connected among each others

Semiotics is the study of signs and

sign processes, rhetoric, signification,

and communication

usually used to analyze advertisement,

semiotics can be applied also to other

visual-related fields

5 fields of visual production, different

levels of correspondence signifier/

referent: art, advertisement, information,

science, personal production.

(Mazzali-Lurati and Cantoni, 2005)

pros:

- considers social complexities

- considers the 3 levels of analysis

- demands detailed analysis

- demands theoretical reflection

cons:

- representativeness/replicability/generalizability?

- complex jargon

- polysemy claimed only theoretically

- how are signs identified?

References•Hodge, R., Kress, G., (1988), Social Semiotics, Cambridge: Polity Press. •Mazzali-Lurati S., Cantoni L., (2005), Semiotics of Photography, in Keith Brown (ed.), ELL - Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics. Elsevier, Oxford, 2nd edition, v. 9, pp. 569-571.•Rose, G. (2007), Visual Methodologies: an introduction to the interpretation of visual materials, London, SAGE, cap. 5, pagg. 74-106.•Williamson, J.E., (1978), Deconding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising, London, Marion Boyars.