[ semiotics main wk 3  .  denotation + connotation  .  course notes  .  course main ]
 

roland barthes
the photographic image
the imagination of the sign

in his essay the photographic image, barthes refers to the manner in which we
perceive and interpret photographs. we will use this essay as a model for
understanding all communication.

(below) diagram based on the shannon and weaver model, for nightly tv news
the message is never objective, but rather the result of a myriad number of choices
(point of view, angle, lighting, word choice, order,  etc) which are selected and
dispersed to the audience. this is both a structuralist and post-structuralist point.
 

according to structuralists( incl semioticians) and poststrucutralists
(incl deconstructivists) the code of connotation is always historical/cultural.
we operate within the possibilities the codes present.

 
it depends on our knowledge for interpretation and understanding.
for instance, denotation is concerned with literal meaning and one
can understand a written or spoken word if, and only if, one know
the language of the original message.

however, even within this seemingly simple explanation lies complexity
that is multiplied over time and space. for example, i can say

i am going to the movies or i am going to see a film
i read an excellent review of it in the new york times or
i read an excellent review of it in the newspaper
 

how does the meaning change? what factors influence this?
 
 

click on her to see the next juxtaposition

symbolic:
systematic / paradigmatic: pattern or example, the meaning of something
syntagmatic:

relationships occur among various signs
words in a sentence, sentences in a paragraph, etc.

deconstruction / poststructuralism

Jacques Derrida initiated the concept of deconstruction in his book
Of Grammatology, published in France 1967, translated into English 1976

"Deconstruction rejected the project of modern criticism, and focused not on
themes and imagery of its objects but on the structure, the system that
frame their production."

It attacks the oppositions put forth by the structurralists by showing how the
one (negative) inhabits the other. (nature and culture) constructed oppositions to
elevate one over the other, support ecological destruction (culture is supreme over
nature). derrida states that culture is embedded in nature.

speech/writing
beginning with greek philosophers, writing was seen as an inferior copy of speech.
speech is alive writing is dead. derrida refutes this by claiming that writing is an
active form of representation. phonetic writing includes all sorts of non-phonetic
symbols - such as numbers - which are ideographic in nature.

below are examples of poststructuralism in book design

Strange Attractors, book, designed by Marlene McCarty and Tibor Kalman,1989
The New Museum of Modern Art. source: Lupton/Miller, Design Writing Research, 1996.

Glas, book, by Jacques Derrida. English Edition. 1986, Univeristy of Nebraska Press.
Designed by Richard Eckersley. source: Lupton/Miller, Design Writing Research, 1996.

Photography Between Covers: The Dutch Documentary Photobook after 1945, book,
designed by Fred Struving, 1989. footnotes and traditional marginalia occupy the
center of this bilingual book. source: Lupton/Miller, Design Writing Research, 1996.

why is deconstruction so important?
it refutes the neutrality of signs (see Barthes)
the idea that cultural forms fabricate what we view as natural - race, class,
sexuality, etc. --- see feminism, multiculturalism, etc.

it attacked our conventions by questioning authority. reading is an example.
what is the role of the author? the reader?
(by many this has meant an openness of meaning)
death of the author = interior self is constructed by external systems and technologies

deconstruction refutes kantian notion of parerga
which refer to framing devices as ornamental appendiges, they touch the work but remain
safely outside it. kant's aesthetics are the basis of modern art criticism, which looks to the
art object as whole and complete. the frame is an example of this, as are spacing, punctuation,
all the variables of design and typography. which means that the  frame, the space, holds value
because, rather than be invisible, it is part of the form.

further questions
how does one give voice to all?
consider multiples, the plurality of society in communication?
 

[ semiotics main wk 3  .  denotation + connotation  .  course notes  .  course main ]