Signs. One of the first media concepts that I need to get my head around. A sign can be absolutely anything, and can mean a number of things. First of all the concept is split into two key terms:
Signifier - the form of which the sign takes.
Signified - the concept it presents.
To turn the concept into an example. If you see a picture of a rose (signifier) you immediately denote it to a flower. However it can connote passion, love, emotion. These would be the signified.
•This all links in with genre, as you can gain clues as to what genre the text will be due to its signifiers•
When you are analysing a media text, you must consider the text as a whole - Macro Analysis.
And go into more detail, picking the item apart and looking at individual features - Micro Analysis.
When you analyse any piece of media text, there are a number of different signs that you need to look out for.
-Iconic Symbols: Symbols which work through resemblance (photograph)
-Symbolic: Symbols which are learnt (Arbitrary signs, such as words)
-Indexical: Symbols which work through a casual link (Smoke indicates fire)
Binary Opposition: This term tackles the idea of our understanding of opposites. How can we understand something unless we understand the opposite meaning? The answer is - we can't. How would we know know what hot is, unless we knew what cold is as well. As a culture, we accept the opposites we know as we have been taught them since the day our brains started learning. Consequently, we never challenge cultures perceptions, as we are comfortable with the way life is.
No comments:
Post a Comment