One of the topics of today’s lecture was the concept of semiotics. Having studied Year 12 Media, I already had some prior knowledge about the concept and was interested in Brian’s further discussion. I found this week’s reading about Barthes’ theories particularly interesting.
Here are some notes I took about semiotics and sign systems:
The semiotic tradition of analysis
Key terms:
-Sign, signifier, signified (referent)
-Denotation, connotation
-Codes
-‘Myth’/ideology
A sign can be visual, linguistic, aural, combination etc.
Signs have two parts –
Signifier: ’dog’
Signified: drawing of dog, all the things that are associated with the word ‘dog’
Denotation – literal or first order meaning
Connotation – cultural or second order meaning
e.g. ‘Red’ denotes a primary colour, next to orange on the colour spectrum
The colour and word red connotes different things in different cultures
