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My Presentation for a sample 30mins class for my PhD course "Academic Teaching".Credits to:- Mazzali-Lurati S., Cantoni L., (2005), Semiotics of Photography, inKeith Brown (ed.), ELL - Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics.Elsevier, Oxford, 2nd edition, v. 9, pp. 569-571.- Rose, G. (2007), Visual Methodologies: an introduction to theinterpretation of visual materials, London, SAGE, cap. 5, pagg.74-106.
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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.