Semiotics is a theory by Roland Barthes. Semiotics is the study of the social production of meaning from sign systems. In other words, it is the analysis of anything that can stand for something else (Griffin 323). According to Barthes, a "sign" is the combination of the signifier and the signified. The "signifier" is the actual image of the sign, as we see it through our senses. The "signified" is the meaning we associate with the sign. Signs carry ideological baggage/meaning with them, wherever they go. This ideological baggage/meaning is called "connotation" (Griffin 324).
The example that I found to illustrate Roland Barthes' Semotics is the well-known Oscar. The Oscar is the award that is given out at the Academy Awards Ceremony.
The Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnGtmKEPko4 (The embedding option was disabled, so you have to go to the site)
The signifier is the golden Oscar statue. The signified is respect. In the movie industry, if you win an Oscar, you receive a great deal of respect from your fellow peers and the public. The prestige-building Ocsar statue.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Semiotics in the World of Flowers
According to Roland Barthes, Semiotics is “the study of the social production of meaning from sign systems”, also known as “the analysis of anything that can stand for something else” (Griffin 324). Every sign in his eyes was a combination of a signifier (the physical form of the sign as we perceive it through our senses, also known as an image), and the signified (the meaning we associate with the sign (Griffin 325). According to Saussure, “semiotics tells us that we are always sending messages to other people and they are sending messages to us. But interpreting what these signs mean is a complicated matter” (Berger 7).
As seen in this video, there are many different interpretations and meanings behind roses and the different colors that they hold. Seeing as Valentine’s Day was somewhat recently, I thought that this example was fitting, because of how taxing it can be sometimes for men and women to interpret the meaning behind the different colored roses and flowers that they receive from others, whether it is on Valentine’s Day or not. I know that when I was in high school, around Valentine’s Day there was always a rose sale where one could send different colored roses to friends and loved ones, white, pink, or red, and it was always a challenge to decipher what it meant if you received one from a boy. I recall that if you received a white one it meant friendship, a pink one it meant I like you, and a red one it meant I love you, and yet it could not always 100% of the time be assumed that way.
I think if Barthes theory shows us anything, it is that different signs can really stand for a number of different things, and I think that is exactly what the above video fails to show. I know that in watching the video, I thought beforehand that a number of those different colored roses stood for different things then what the video said, but I think that is what the video does not portray. For example, I always believed that the yellow rose stood more for mourning and funerals and such, seeing as you tend to see them displayed so much in death situations, but the video instead said that the white rose stood for that. I think it is an interesting concept to think about, and I’d be curious to see what all of you think on the topic. What do you all think the different colors stand for? Do you think that they all have multiple meanings and can stand for different things, or can be interchangeable?
As seen in this video, there are many different interpretations and meanings behind roses and the different colors that they hold. Seeing as Valentine’s Day was somewhat recently, I thought that this example was fitting, because of how taxing it can be sometimes for men and women to interpret the meaning behind the different colored roses and flowers that they receive from others, whether it is on Valentine’s Day or not. I know that when I was in high school, around Valentine’s Day there was always a rose sale where one could send different colored roses to friends and loved ones, white, pink, or red, and it was always a challenge to decipher what it meant if you received one from a boy. I recall that if you received a white one it meant friendship, a pink one it meant I like you, and a red one it meant I love you, and yet it could not always 100% of the time be assumed that way.
I think if Barthes theory shows us anything, it is that different signs can really stand for a number of different things, and I think that is exactly what the above video fails to show. I know that in watching the video, I thought beforehand that a number of those different colored roses stood for different things then what the video said, but I think that is what the video does not portray. For example, I always believed that the yellow rose stood more for mourning and funerals and such, seeing as you tend to see them displayed so much in death situations, but the video instead said that the white rose stood for that. I think it is an interesting concept to think about, and I’d be curious to see what all of you think on the topic. What do you all think the different colors stand for? Do you think that they all have multiple meanings and can stand for different things, or can be interchangeable?
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