Barthes & de Saussaure

Key terms: Semiotics, Signifier and Signified, Active Audience, Enigma Code, Action Code, Semic Code, Symbolic Code & Cultural Code, Myth, Structuralism, Ideology,

Semiotics

This is a term to describe the study of signs and symbols.

Signifier and Signified

Ferdinand de Saussure suggested that anything in media can be interpreted as a sign, also that a sign is made up of two parts, the signifier and the signified (aka denotation and connotation).

A written word is a signifier, what it calls to mind is called the signified, so, for example, the signifier ‘table’ signifies a flat platform elevated on four legs… easy.

However media is not just about words, there are other signifiers which communicate meaning. Visual signifiers, for example if you were going to draw ‘death’ you might decide on a skull (with or without accompanying bones). It’s also worth noting that language evolves and new signifiers emerge. For example, the word ‘Brexit’ has only recently become a part of the English language.

Also the emoji of an aubergine has taken on an altogether ‘different’ meaning from merely signifying moussaka for dinner! Then there is the peach emoji…

 

Roland Barthes and Myth

Barthes identifies two interrelated theoretical perspectives:

• Semiotics – the study of individual signs.
• Structuralism – the study of the relationships between those signs.

Barthes built on de Saussure’s earlier work on semiotics and wanted to understand how certain signifiers become ‘naturalised’ in society. Essentially, he suggested that once enough people recognise a certain signifier and its associated signification they become consider to be generally accepted and socially agreed up – essentially the idea becomes a ‘myth.’

For example, imagine this scene in a film of TV show.

A school day begins in a wide shot of all the students clustered together chatting, waiting for the day to begin. Cut to a low angle shot of a girl swaggering in. She wears torn denim & black chunky boots. A graffitied bag is casually slung over one shoulder. Her face is heavily made up with black eyeliner and lipstick. She grinds a cigarette out under the heel of the chunky boots. The chatter dies down to silence and all the other students turn to look at the girl, who walks through the crowd of parting of students.

We know this character, we understand what she signifies and we can make a good guess at the role she will play in the narrative. She is a disruptive force, she is going to shake up the status quo in the school, she will push back against establishment rules and will probably end up in a relationship with another character. Initially, they will seem ill-suited, but they will ultimately end up helping each other to develop and grow through the course of the narrative…they’ll probably fall in love if it’s a romantic comedy / drama.

The Theory

The Active Audience – Barthes considered texts to be open to many possible interpretations (readings) from many different perspectives. To consider different possible readings, he pulled media texts apart, to look at the pieces (semiotics) and how they fit together (structure). He suggests that rather than meaning being determined by a producer, or one which is somehow ‘in’ the text,  Barthes considered the meaning of the text (a book, song, film or advertisement…) to be created by the audience, therefore a text always remains open to interpretation!

Myth and Ideology – The term ‘myth’ has two everyday meanings:

• A traditional narrative which explains symbolically the origins of the world and natural phenomenon and is passed down through generations, for example, creation myths explain how the world began
• Something which is untrue although it is believed to be true, such as, ‘It is a myth that students can leave after fifteen minutes if their teacher doesn’t turn up!’

For Barthes, myth works at the level of ideology. Representations created in the mass media, through signs (semiotics) and the structures between them (structuralism), naturalise a particular view of the world; these stereotypes/representations may ‘mask’ reality. The construction of myths in representations and narratives determines the text’s ideological perspective.

Barthes & Narrative Codes

Barthes Narrative codes, describe how meaning is made in fiction narratives through these five codes:

1	The ENIGMA CODE  a.k.a. the hermeneutic code	Narratives set up puzzles to be solved; these enigmas delay the end of the narrative & maintain the audience’s interest & anticipation. The answers to the puzzles are satisfyingly resolved later in the text	For example, the origin of Harry Potter’s lightning scar is not made clear until later in the series.
2	The events and ACTIONS CODE  a.k.a. the proairetic code	Relates to progression in the narrative and involves codes of behaviour or actions that lead us to expect consequences. Barthes asserts that each action could be named giving a series of titles to the text.	These action codes often made very explicit on the DVD – the chapter titles are generally based on events or significant actions.
3	The SYMBOLIC CODE	The process of representing an object, idea or feeling by something else (a visual metaphor). Often used to symbolise opposition which exists in the narrative (ref Levi-Strauss)	For example, a fence between two characters may symbolise their emotional distance / conflict. The broken washing machine in Fargo represents his ‘failure’.
4	The SEMIC CODE	Refers to the use of connotation to give the audience an insight into characters, objects or settings that we learn to read through our understanding of narratives. Media Language	For example the colour red is often used to suggest danger or passion; therefore a red dress worn by a female character is likely to suggest her sexuality and/or danger.
5	The CULTURAL CODE	Concerns the culturally specific knowledge from outside the text which is used to make meaning in a text. Media Language & Audience	For example Big Ben at the beginning of the news references the heart of political power in the UK.

So what?

Primarily you need to drop these names and theories into your textual analysis as it is a key assessment criteria. De Saussure is helpful in that he was the first to use the terms signifier and signified – you should aim to use these in your identification of example ‘signifier’ and as the analytical verb ‘signifies’. Barthes is helpful because he makes the obvious point that codes work in conjunction with each other; a red dress is only a red dress…but on a beautiful haughty looking woman filmed in low angle, these semic codes collectively signify a sense of seductive power. Codes working in this way, he called a ‘paradigm’.

What exam or essay can I use this in?

---

Glossary of Terminology:

• Semiotics: The study of signs
  • Sign: A unit of meaning
• Signifier and Signified:  Denotation and connotation – De Saussure
• Narrative Codes: Action, Enigma, Semic, Symbolic and Cultural – Barthes
• Structuralism: Considers the relationships (structures) between signs to be more important than what a sign may mean on its own.
  • Paradigm: A group of similar signs from which a selection is made to make a text (i.e. a selection may be made between a paradigm of colours, a paradigm of fonts, and a paradigm of sizes to produce red size 12 typography in Arial).
• Ideology: Values, attitudes and belief held by the audience or encoded in a media text (star image / representation)
• Myth: Artificial representations and invalid beliefs about society that circulate in and are perpetuated by cultural products, such as the mass media.
• Active Audience: The audience don’t passively absorb the ideas communicated in the narratives, rather they actively filter the text and its codes through their own ideas, experiences and culture. Therefore meaning is a negotiation between text and audience and the meaning is open to interpretation.