1) What meanings are the audience encouraged to take about the two main characters from the opening of the film?
The two main characters are represented as rebellious and threatening. The scene at the beginning in the park connotes the characters to be menaces on society, with the way they disturb the elderly man and don't stop until forced. Through costume, the two characters can be associated with gangs and so the audience is encouraged to see them as bad young people.
2) How does the end of the film emphasise de Saussure’s belief that signs are polysemic – open to interpretation or more than one meaning?
The ending reveals that both characters are deaf, and so gives newfound context and meaning to the short. The scenes where they ignore various people calling out to them, such as the old man, the gang and the shopkeeper, could initially be interpreted as the boys being rebellious and rude. However now it simply shows that they couldn't hear them. This portrays the main characters as being much more sympathetic and likeable than without the context of them being deaf.
Media Magazine theory drop: Semiotics
1) What did Ferdinand de Saussure suggest are the two parts that make up a sign?
The signified and the signifier.
2) What does ‘polysemy’ mean?
2) What does ‘polysemy’ mean?
When one signifier has multiple meanings.
3) What does Barthes mean when he suggests signs can become ‘naturalised’?
when the connotation is so well established we don’t consider other meanings
4) What are Barthes’ 5 narrative codes?
Hermeneutic, Proairetic, Semantic, Symbolic, and Cultural
3) Why might global brands try and avoid symbols in their advertising and marketing?
Symbols can mean different things in different societies, and so to avoid meaning being misconstrued they will avoid symbols.
4) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) where the producer has accidentally communicated the wrong meaning using icons, indexes or symbols. Why did the media product fail?
The ad conveys a sexist narrative that women need to act like men in order to be successful at their jobs.
5) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) that successfully uses icons or indexes to create a message that can be easily understood across the world.
3) What does Barthes mean when he suggests signs can become ‘naturalised’?
when the connotation is so well established we don’t consider other meanings
4) What are Barthes’ 5 narrative codes?
Hermeneutic, Proairetic, Semantic, Symbolic, and Cultural
5) How does the writer suggest Russian Doll (Netflix) uses narrative codes?
Icons, indexes and symbols
1) Find two examples for each: icon, index and symbol. Provide images or links.
Icon:
Index:
Symbol:
2) Why are icons and indexes so important in media texts?
They give media actual meaning, as fundamentally everything is build upon the language of icons and indexes. The famous painting The Treachery of Images by René Magritte brings this into light through stating that a painting of a pipe is not actually a pipe, it is simply a representation of a pipe.
Icon:
Index:
Symbol:
2) Why are icons and indexes so important in media texts?
They give media actual meaning, as fundamentally everything is build upon the language of icons and indexes. The famous painting The Treachery of Images by René Magritte brings this into light through stating that a painting of a pipe is not actually a pipe, it is simply a representation of a pipe.
3) Why might global brands try and avoid symbols in their advertising and marketing?
Symbols can mean different things in different societies, and so to avoid meaning being misconstrued they will avoid symbols.
4) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) where the producer has accidentally communicated the wrong meaning using icons, indexes or symbols. Why did the media product fail?
The ad conveys a sexist narrative that women need to act like men in order to be successful at their jobs.
5) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) that successfully uses icons or indexes to create a message that can be easily understood across the world.
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