The Semiotic Analysis of

By: Alyssa Thomson

Semiotics• Semiotics is the science of signs.• Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure

founded semiotics, or the interpretation of signs. Saussure claimed that signs are made up of sounds and images, what he called signifiers, and the concepts that these sounds and images bring to mind, what he called the signified.

• American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce is the founder of semiotics. This is broken into a trichotomy of icons, indexes, and symbols. Icons are signified by resemblance, indexes signify by cause and effect. And symbols signify on the basis of convention.

What’s the Point?

While it’s easy to enjoy the humor and appeal of shows such as the Big Bang Theory, but to really appreciate the different aspects they must be examined.

Television often draws from real life situations and social codes, and this show is no different. It is interesting to look at how a combination of simulating real people and situations and manipulating the expectations of that formed reality creates humor and entertainment.

The characters on this show are meant to portray real people and represent an entire lifestyle through the use of semiotics.

The Question: How do television shows like the Big Bang Theory use signs to simulate real life people and lifestyles?

How it was done• To figure out the semiotics of this show, I

watched episodes of Big Bang Theory in consecutive order and recorded patterns of signs and how they helped aid the story line and character development.

• Since I watched the show outside of my research, I was more aware of the character developments and the point of their actions. I recorded instances of different semiotic aspects and analyzed them and their meaning.

• Most of the examples are from Season 2, which I used for the majority of the research.

• I used this method because the best way to determine the relevance of the codes is to not only observe the symbols, but to see how they are used in the story line of the show. I found the best way to do this was to mainly focus on a sample of episodes, such as a season, and see how the symbols are used throughout them.

Expectations

• From my readings and studying semiotics, I expected to find that the characters in the show used well known symbols to aid in the understanding of the plot and people.

• My hypothesis: viewers rely on semiotics in television to relate to story lines and characters. Furthermore, the humor in the show would come from both the use and diversion of these recognizable signs.

• I expect this show to use several aspects of semiotics, such as codes, intertextuality, similes, and metaphors to aid in this hypothesis.

Meet the cast

Rajesh Koothrappali

Job: Partical AstrophysicistAbout: • Known as “Raj.”• Originally from New

Delhi.“Nerd Quality”• Suffers from selective

mutism, which doesn’t allow him to talk to women without alcohol

Howard Wolowitz Job: Aerospace EngineerAbout: • The only member of the

group without a PhD, which he defends by saying that most engineers have no use for.

“Nerd Quality”:• Lives with his overbearing

mother.• Unwarranted confidence• Arsenal of cheesy pick up

lines. For example: “I’m the small package good things come in.”

Leonard HofstaderJob: Experimental PhysicistAbout: • The most “normal” of

the four men. • Lactose-intolerant• Roommate of Sheldon

Cooper• Incredibly patient. “Nerd Quality”: • Short stature • Glasses• Video game, comic

book, and science fiction obsessions.

PennyJob: Waitress at the Cheesecake FactoryAbout:• Originally from

Nebraska• Aspiring actress• Has a shoe addiction“Nerd Quality”:• Penny is not a nerd, but

she is used to highlight the qualities of the people that she hangs out with and their abnormal qualities.

Sheldon Cooper

Job: Theoretical PhysicistAbout: • Originally from Texas• Has intense OCD• Has strict rules that his

friends must follow“Nerd Quality”:• Avid online video gamer• Collects mint-condition

comic books• Socially awkward

The Results

Semiotics of Clothing

Wardrobe• Penny: modern, normally

form fitting clothing, age appropriate with her 22-year old character. Bright colors. Meant to be used as a symbol for youth and her place as the attractive female figure.

• Howard: low v-necks paired with turtlenecks. Bright, neon colors and tight pants. Used as a symbol of his outgoing personality and to illuminate his awkwardness. He looks abnormal, but he wears it with pride.

Wardrobe cont. Raj: brown pants, lumpy sweaters and sneakers. This is a symbol of his reserved attitude. He is not usually the center of the attention, and especially paired with his selective mutism is makes sense for him to dress in a way that doesn’t attract much attention to him.

Leonard: Glasses, a t-shirt layered with a hoodie and jacket. Glasses are often used as symbols of intelligence, which is necessary to establish him as his behavior is not as odd as the others. Otherwise, his look is casual and consistent, which is also symbolic of his behavior.

Sheldon: graphic t-shirts over long sleeve shirts and pants. The graphic t-shirts that often feature some kind of cartoon or superhero. This is a symbol of his interests and makes it obvious that he is different, since men his age wouldn’t normally wear their abnormal interests so blatantly.

Sheldon as a symbol of Asberger’s Syndrome?

Not crazy, but…

Sheldon exhibits some behaviors that indicate he might have Asperger's, a form of Autism that is commonly associated with people who have very high levels of intelligence but lack social skills. Some symptoms include: • Always thinking literally• Oblivious to facial expressions, gestures, or tone of voice• Find other people difficult to read, or rather cannot pick up on social

codes.• Failure to behave in socially acceptable ways• Often having one-sided conversations• Exhibiting symptoms of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)While it is never expressed, Sheldon does display all of these symptoms in his everyday behavior. Most obvious are his obsessive compulsions.

Sheldon’s ScheduleMonday: Oatmeal for breakfastTuesday: Cheeseburger nightWednesday: New Comic Book/ Halo Night Thursday: Pizza NightFriday: Vintage game night and Chinese foodSaturday: Laundry night

Sheldon’s Friendship Algorithm

In one episode, Sheldon develops a “friendship algorithm” when attempting to make a new friend. This is evidence for Asperger's because he is approaching a social situation logically, and has difficulty making friends naturally.

Sheldon’s “spot”

Sheldon’s “spot” on the couch is one of the most compulsive aspects of his personality. Alongside his schedule, Sheldon relies heavily on this couch seat as a point of consistency and reacts very negatively to anyone intruding on this space.

Social Codes

Sheldon is also largely the model of social codes as well. Not only is he not able to pick up on social codes, he does not know how to naturally adhere to them. This is apparent in one episode of season 2 when Sheldon tried to get Penny a date so she will break her online gaming addiction. Because he is unaware of the social codes behind what he is saying, Sheldon ends up sending the wrong message to the man he is talking to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkzNiqXWFzI

Codes: these refer to ways of itnerpreting messages that are not eaily understood otherwise. Much of human behavior canbe seen as having “hidden” structures.

Penny Who?

• The character of Penny can also be seen as a symbol. She is the only character whose last name has never been revealed. By doing so, she becomes more of a symbol.

• Penny is a blonde-haired, thin, aspiring actress from Nebraska who now lives in California. In short, she is a symbol of the All-American girl.

• Penny is also a symbol of “normalcy” in comparison to the other characters. She creates an interesting dynamic by being a part of a social group of geniuses, but also stands for the general population. She’s sarcastic, hopelessly ambitious, and just a little naïve.

Similes and Metaphors

• Metaphors: communicating by analogy

• Similes: a subcategory of metaphors that uses “like” or “as” in the analogy.

Simile and Metaphors(and Leonard and Penny’s relationship)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCOE__N6v4o

Simile: When Penny is trying to get Sheldon to help her lie to Leonard about graduating from community college, Sheldon replies with, “When I try to deceive, I myself have more nervous ticks than a lime disease research facility.”

Metaphor: When discussing the pros and cons of Leonard and Penny’s relationship, Sheldon uses Schrodinger’s Cat as a way of explaining it to her:

What do these do?• Similes and Metaphors are

used largely in this show to outline the intelligence of the characters in witty ways.

• Like in the examples, the similes and metaphors are usually used as the highly intelligent characters are trying to explain a situation.

• To them, the comparisons they make are valid and clear, but it’s humorous when we see that Penny, (and probably most of the viewers) can barely follow the train of though. Luckily, Sheldon is normally more than happy to explain himself.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality: deals with the relationship between texts and is used to show how texts borrow from each other, both consciously and unconsciously.• There are large amounts of intertextuality used in the Big Bang Theory.

References to well known popular culture and media are frequent. • For example, in this picture the cast is dressed as the Justice League for a

costume competition. These figures, especially Batman and Superman, are very recognizable and the fake muscles are used to contrast them with the physicality of the characters they are dressed as.

Intertextuality• These recognizable

references are used most importantly to make the characters real people.

• While they are following a story line, Leonard, Sheldon, Raj, and Howard represent a real lifestyles, real interests, and real behaviors.

• Naturally, this is best emphasized by the use of recognizable things from comic books, video games, and movies that express the interests of these characters.

• The intertextuality therefore not only makes them more believable, but also more relatable.

In Conclusion…• The Big Bang Theory uses semiotics to create a false reality, and to add

believability to the characters and their lifestyles.• Metaphors, similes, codes, and intertextuality are the maine aspects of the

symbols used in this show. • Symbols can be seen in everything from clothing to personality types.• The characters themselves, such as Sheldon and Penny, can be seen as

symbols.• Television shows can use symbols to help viewers identify with the characters,

both in similarities and diversions.• Sometimes, breaking the social codes can be used to create comedy.

Sources

"Asperger's Syndrome Symptoms in Children, Teens, Adults." WebMD. WebMD, 03 Jan. 2000. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

"Understanding and Embracing Diversity." Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper: Asperger’s Syndrome’s Poster boy? N.p., 12 Feb. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

"The Big Bang Theory - The Bad Fish Paradigm Quotes." Updates. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

"The Big Bang Theory." TV Fanatic RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.