Life is full of text or signs, in semiotics, communication specialist study these signs, they explains how discourses and ideologies are visually constructed and how it helps us study culture and laws governing social life.
As stated by Chandler (2007, p.2), ''Semiotics involves the study not only what we refer as 'signs' in everyday speech, but of anything which 'stands for' something else.'' In this post i will use Zooey Deschanel as my text and explain further how semiotics, by using these 7 key terms; signifier, signified, sign, denotation, connotation, codes and anchoring, can be a powerful tool in today's world.
As stated by Chandler (2007, p.2), ''Semiotics involves the study not only what we refer as 'signs' in everyday speech, but of anything which 'stands for' something else.'' In this post i will use Zooey Deschanel as my text and explain further how semiotics, by using these 7 key terms; signifier, signified, sign, denotation, connotation, codes and anchoring, can be a powerful tool in today's world.
As claimed by Griffin (2009, p. 324), Signifier is ''The physical form of the sign as we perceive it through our senses; an image.'' From my understanding a sign formed by the 5 senses; sight, smell, sound, touch and taste. In the word 'Zooey Deschanel', the letters 'Z o o e y D e s c h a n e l' are the signifier as we see it with our sense of sight.
As for signified, is the mental image formed by the sign itself, further noted by Griffin (2009, p. 324), signifier is "The meaning we associate with the sign." By looking at the word 'Zooey Deschanel' alone, a mental image of Zooey Deschanel is instantly generated as shown below especially for Zooey Deschanel fans. One signifier can have many signified or mental images.
With the explanation of Signifier and signified already in place, the combination between these 2 terms or meanings lead to the development of a 'sign', as perceived by Griffin (2009, p. 324) "The inseparable combination of the signifier and the signified". Therefore, the letters formed by the word 'Zooey Deschanel' detected by our sense of sight is the signifier and the mental image formed by looking at the letters in 'Zooey Deschanel' is the signified, hence Zooey Deschanel is the sign whereas signs are very broad, it can varies from symbolic being abstract, indexical or less abstract and iconic or real life-like. These signs are utilized by the Media or Public Relation Officers in big companies to manipulate the society.
As stated by Chandler (2007, p.137), '''Denotation' tends to be described, literal, obvious or common-sense meaning of the sign.'' In my view, it is the literal description of a sign. For example the image found below, the denotation would be 'A pretty lady with blue eyes, red lipstick and dark brown hair holding a 'ZOOEY DEsCHANeL' sign in front of her'.
As for signified, is the mental image formed by the sign itself, further noted by Griffin (2009, p. 324), signifier is "The meaning we associate with the sign." By looking at the word 'Zooey Deschanel' alone, a mental image of Zooey Deschanel is instantly generated as shown below especially for Zooey Deschanel fans. One signifier can have many signified or mental images.
With the explanation of Signifier and signified already in place, the combination between these 2 terms or meanings lead to the development of a 'sign', as perceived by Griffin (2009, p. 324) "The inseparable combination of the signifier and the signified". Therefore, the letters formed by the word 'Zooey Deschanel' detected by our sense of sight is the signifier and the mental image formed by looking at the letters in 'Zooey Deschanel' is the signified, hence Zooey Deschanel is the sign whereas signs are very broad, it can varies from symbolic being abstract, indexical or less abstract and iconic or real life-like. These signs are utilized by the Media or Public Relation Officers in big companies to manipulate the society.
As stated by Chandler (2007, p.137), '''Denotation' tends to be described, literal, obvious or common-sense meaning of the sign.'' In my view, it is the literal description of a sign. For example the image found below, the denotation would be 'A pretty lady with blue eyes, red lipstick and dark brown hair holding a 'ZOOEY DEsCHANeL' sign in front of her'.
As noted by Chandler (2007, p. 138), "The term 'connotation' is used to refer to the socio-cultural and 'personal' associations (ideological, emotional, etc.) of the sign." and according to Langer's Theory of Symbols in LittleJohn (1996, p. 70-71), "Connotation of a symbol is the direct relationship between the symbol and the conception itself. Connotation includes all of one's personal feelings and associations attached to a symbol." In my perspective, connotation is the representation of the sign, connotations are like metaphors of a sign. Zooey Deschanel is a sign or a text and the word 'Zooey Deschanel' alone connotes the meaning of adorable, elegant, beauty, sweet, quirky and cute.
Advertisement companies frequently use 'Anchoring' to advertise their products, the main idea of anchoring is to holds down a certain or specific meaning of an interpretation because without anchorage, image can go to any meaning. Anchoring can shapes how we view and see things.
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| Before 'anchoring' |
This advertisement of 'New Girl' by Zooey Deschanel is a good example how anchoring works, without the word 'New Girl' the sign just shows a picture of Zooey Deschanel, this can confuse the people looking at the advertisement, this most importantly leads to a number of meanings.
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| After 'anchoring' |
References:
Chandler, D. (2007). Semiotics The Basics (2nd ed). New York: Routledge.
Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Littlejohn, S. W. (1996). Theories of Human Communication (5th ed.) California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Chandler, D. (2007). Semiotics The Basics (2nd ed). New York: Routledge.
Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Littlejohn, S. W. (1996). Theories of Human Communication (5th ed.) California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
