Roland Barthes

Semiology

He researched how audiences interpret what they see.

He said….“If narratives are episodic this helps our reading. A chain of cause and effect is expected but the

audience desires to see a story of morals.”

He argued that:

“The audience look for signs to help them interpret the narrative….

….these deeply rooted signs are based on expectations the audience has due to their prior knowledge of old tales or

myths”

His theory of how we interpret is as follows:

Signifier(The object)

Signified(The meaning)

Semiology(The relationship between the signifier and signified)

Sign(the total of the signifier and signified e.g. how we interpret

the combination of the signifier and the signified)

So for example what can this symbol represent?

A fashion brand A Sports Brand

A Sponsor

A global company

Subsidiaries

So the Nike symbol has now taken on many different meanings

• Marketing methods such as these are no longer needed:

The Symbol itself is recognisable enough and now has many deeper meanings.

Applying the theory to film.

• We can apply the theory of Semiology to film by looking for deeper meanings in what we see – rather than accepting the text on face value.

• Watch the following clip from John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood.

• Can we interpret any deeper meanings from the text that create a representation of this collective group?

Use the flow chart to help you interpret the symbols from the clip:

Signifier(The object)

Signified(The meaning)

Semiology(The relationship between the signifier and signified)

Sign(the total of the signifier and signified e.g. how we interpret

the combination of the signifier and the signified)

Some possible interpretations:

The Stop sign (the signifier) is to prevent traffic going that way (the signified).

We can combine this with the other images we saw and interpret it to mean that the stop sign is for the people.

It could be argued that the stop sign implies that the black community cannot leave this are – This is the ‘Sign’

Therefore, it could be highlighting the fact that the lives of this collective group are being restricted.

Other images that reinforce this:

Try and apply theory of Semiology to our key texts:

• Looking back at each of our key texts come up with textual analysis that you can apply semiology to:

• Are there any deeper meanings in the representations of our collective groups.

• Come up with notes on the sinifier, signified and the sign.