Visual Culture by Howells and Negreiros Chapter 5: Semiotics

Semiotics originated with the Swiss linguist de Saussure, who devised the 'lexicon of signification', a group of terms comprising the 'signifier' (that which stands for something else), the 'signified' (the idea it stands for) and the 'sign' (the union of the two).

The key is that nothing naturally means anything and therefore meaning must be cultural. There is nothing God given that DOG means a four footed domestic animal, for example. Sign is arbitrary, else there would be only one language.

(A good example would be secret code - the sign is to be secret in order that only certain people can know what the signifier stands for).

Car names provide examples of names that signify different things in different cultures. No Va means "doesn't go" in Spanish. Mitsubishi brought out the Pajero in 1980s - means wanker in Spain, where care is sold ad Montero.

In visual world , can see that tie is a classic signifier, suggests we are serious and professional, creates an impression that we treat the occasion with respect.

signs are arbitrary - witness that there is just one stroke difference from Mercedes Benz badge to CND logo.

Signs can change too. Eiffel Tower nowadays is quintessentially Paris, but it was an eyesore in early days.

Barthes extended Saussure's work from words to visual and popular culture, and to a study of 'myths'. i.e the concept of a chain of signifier, signified etc. E.g DOG is signifier, domestic animal is signifier, but dogs signify fideility. So myth is 'sum of signs'.  it is something standing for something else, the intention is more important than the form (he uses the example of a black soldier saluting the French flag on the cover of Paris Match). Of course Renaissance painters included many symbols in their work.

Importance here is that journalist or other maker of myths frequently finds a form to fit a pre existing concept - e.g. finding starving people on a mission in a famine area. Photographers find images to fit idea of 'quaint village'.

Barthes' 'impoverished signifier' also makes sense - a scantily clad girl is designed to suggest sex appeal and in doing so loses her individuality. (Sport is interesting in this respect. too - consider role of team colours, why Leeds chose white).

Barthes is mainly concerned to show how myth represents the interests of the bourgeois, it misrepresents history as nature (i.e this is how things are naturally, rather then resulting from historical forces). Similar to Berger's ideas. Myth to Barthes is all about 'it goes without saying'. whereas actually nothing goes without saying.

Barthes discusses wrestling, an activity where things are not what they seem. The passion is false but the concepts of goodie against baddie are not.

Barthes is infatuated with idea that bourgeois values (extended to middle class values of smug, reactionary unthinkingness).

Problem with Barthes is that he is selective in his approach - some brilliant insights rather than sustained analysis - and he sees exactly what he wants to see (like Berger).

Semiotics can be seen a lot in advertising. Howells and Negreiros use the example of Renault 19 ad campaign with the priest, I come up with Orange ads, very well known because a phone never appeared in the ads, the whole idea being implication, the apotheosis of this being the series of amusing cinema ads where the company executives wish to make the phone very obvious in an advertising story line but the authors of the subtle ideas are aghast at the crudity of the suggestions.