Semiology

and the photographic image

Roland Barthes: semiology as cultural

criticism

From the study of verbal language to that of

cultural phenomena: films, photographs,
fashion, advertising, etc.
Developing a common vocabulary and a
rigorous or scientific method for the critical
analysis of mass culture.
Understanding the complexity and
meaningfulness of all cultural artefacts despite
their apparent "obviousness.

The reality-effect (Roland Barthes)

The
impression of reality (Christian
Metz)

The photographic message:

the reality-effect

The reality-effect:

A product or production of the image--its structure

of signification as a message.
The appeal to a belief:

So-called realism of the image makes it appear to be

"natural" rather than socially and historically constructed.

I know very well that this is only a photograph, yet I

choose to believe in its reality.

Arguing that the photograph functions as a sign is

to discredit it as an innocent or neutral
representation.

What is a sign?

There is an arbitrary relation between a

sign and its meaning.

Referent: what the signifier purports to

represent
Signifier: representational aspect
Signified: concept or meaning

If the relation between signifier and

signified is only defined by convention,
then meaning or signification is socially
and historically constructed.

Ferdinand de Saussure

The two traditions:

semiology and semiotics

Semiology: the study of signs based on

linguistics

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). Course

on General Linguistics.
Roland Barthes
Christian Metz

Semiotics: the study of signs based on

logic

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)

Umberto Eco
Gilles Deleuze

Defining the sign:

representation

The perceptible aspect of the sign:

how we recognize the sign as
standing for something

Saussure: the signifier

Peirce: the representer or
representamen
Souriau: the first degree of film form

Defining the sign:

representation

Peirce: icon, index, and symbol

An icon signifies in virtue of its resemblance, or

its analogical relation to what it wishes to
represent.
A symbol does not resemble what it refers to; it
signifies through the force of convention.
An index may but does not necessarily
resemble its referent. It signifies in virtue of a
relationship of contiguity with its referent. A
causal or existential link is presumed.
The representational character of signs can be,
and often is, mixed or heterogeneous.

Defining the sign: signification

How signs become meaningful to

individuals and societies.

Saussure: the signified

Peirce: the interpretant
Souriau: the second degree of film form

Signification is always defined by

convention.
The distinction between speech (parole)
and language (langue).

Defining the sign: signification

The distinction between speech

(parole) and language (langue).

Speech: the everyday use of language. A

potentially infinite number of statements.
Language: the limited number of rules we
use in speaking.

The distinction between message and

code.

Defining the sign: signification

The message is

actual
concrete
singular
heterogeneous

A code is

ideal
abstract
general
homogenous

Defining the sign: signification

A message is a singular, meaningful unit of

discourse.
A code is an abstraction created by the
analyst--a logic reconstructed from the
materials provided by the message.
A code is a principle of intelligibility
formulated by the film theorist through the
analysis of specific "messages."

Its unity or homogeneity is not of a sensory or

material order; rather, it is an order of logical
coherence, valued for its explanatory power.

Roland Barthes on
photography

The photographic message

a sign can be a very complex structure that mixes

forms and materials of representation;
a sign is meaningful only in context.

Denotation and connotation

The photographic paradox
The photograph is a message without a
code.

The photograph is
a message without a code
MESSAGE

CODE

signifer(representation)
denotation
photograph
obviousorinformational
traumatic
naturalnoncode
records

signified(meaning)
connotation
caption
symbolic
ideological
culturalcode
transforms

studium

punctum
signifiance

Roland Barthes on photography

The denotation of the photograph

"Certainly the image is not the reality but at least it is its

perfect analogon and it is exactly this analogical perfection
which, to common sense, defines the photograph (17).
The photograph as a "mechanical analogon" whose
message is "the scene itself, literal reality."

The photographic paradox

The spectators fascination with "the here-now, for the

photograph is never experienced as an illusion ..., its reality
[is] that of the having been there, for in every photograph
there is always the stupefying evidence of this is how it
was, giving us, by a precious miracle, a reality from which
we are sheltered" (44).

Roland Barthes on photography

The code gravitates toward connotational

meaning.

The imposition of a second meaning through editorial

choice, laboratory manipulations, cropping, layout, etc.
The informational or "obvious" meaning of the
photograph.

Connotation is to denotation as a caption or

written text is to the photograph.
If the message is "informational" then the code
structures the "symbolic" level of meaning, that is,
the range of meanings accruing to the image in
virtue of conventional or cultural associations.

Roland Barthes on photography

Ideology and the image:

How the image structures social belief and
meaning
The ideological function of connotation, as regulated
by given codes, is to reassure individuals and to
integrate them into the society overall.
How the image is naturalized by the code.
The traumatic quality of the photograph as a
suspension of language