Feb 6: Basics of Semiotics

1. Narrating Hong Kong and media representation
1.1. Narrating=telling stories
1.2. Story-telling is not only individual but also collective and institutional.
1.3. Media is one of the major modes of narrative in the contemporary society.
1.4. From a semiotic perspective, media is a process of producing cultural signs.
1.3. Narrative is linguistic -- a way of organizing cultural signs (units carrying meaings).

Wong is a "Story of Hong Kong"?


2. The fundamental assumptions of semiotics
2.1. Two conventional models for understanding language:
2.1.1. Language as a reflection of the world -- "objectivist"
2.1.2. Language as based in the intentions of the 'author' -- "subjectivist"
2.2. Semiotics rejected both these models and made an inter-subjective emphasis:
-Language is relevant to the world but not reflection of the world.
-Language is both constructed and inherited.
-Language is public but full of contestation.

3. Signifier/ Signified
3.1. Sign: Signifier(意符)/ Signified(意旨)
-Signifier: the sensory impression of the sign: the mental image of marks on a page, or of sounds in the air, for example.
-Signified: the abstract concept the sign invokes.
3.2. Sign functions as signification(意旨作用).




3.3. Example: Is the anti-WTO protest a riot?

Signifier A: Conflict
Signified A: Violence (wielded by demonstrators)

Signifier B: Violence
Signified B: chaos

Signifier C: Chaos
Signified C: Riot
... ...

Photos of police violence

Making use of photos, making up news story

3.4. The relationship between signifier and signified
-The relationship between them is conventional but arbitrary
-A signified might become another signifier.
-Social convention is constituted by the organization of signs.

Further information:
Semiotics-Saussure


4. Denotation(內涵) and Connotation(外延)
















4.1. What does this photo signify?
4.2. Connotation: The set of its possible signifieds.
-The first possible signified:
The repression of the people by the state.
People's resistance and their voice for democracy.
-The second possible signified:
The People's Army is very kind to people. The tanks stopped immediately even though a man blocked their way.

4.3. Denotation: The most stable and apparently verifiable of its connotations.
-A man stood in front of the tanks.
References: The controversy over the incident of June 4
4.4. The conflicts between different signifieds corresponds with power relationship.

5. Metaphor(隱喻) and metonym(轉喻)
5.1. Metaphor is an implicit or explicit comparison between signs.
-Example: “McDonald's”, “Youth”, "Energetic", "Fun", "Happiness" and "Natural"
5.2. Metonym is a sign associated with another of which it signifies either a part, the whole, one of its functions or attributes, or a related concept.
-Example: “Focaccia”=>"herb", ”grass”, "fresh" and "natural"
5.3.Signs are interrelated with one another in metaphorical and metonymical way as social convention.
"McDonald's"<-->"Youthfulness"<-->"Freshness"<-->"Naturalness"

6. Representation and Stereotype
6.1. From the semiotic perspective, the reality and media is representational (再現／呈現的).
6.2. The implications of representation
-Media always repeat certain formulae.
-Media is a construction rather than a window opening to the reality.
-It leads us to pay attention to how different social groups are portrayed by media.
6.3. Example: Gender differences
-How can you tell which of the characters is male and which female?
-Which part of the drawing told you?








6.4. Stereotyping (核板印象化)
-A stablized relationship between signifier and signified/ signifier
-Stereotypes involve a group of people (woman, welfare recipients, black people, poor people, ... ...)
-Stereotyping often leads to discrimination
Example: An advertisement of Virgin Atlantic and homophobia: Romantic story only belongs to heterosexual people?

7. Cultural politics (文化政治)
7.1. Conflicts between meanings/ signifieds (The photo about the incident of June 4).
7.2. Convention and stereotype constrain people's self-understanding, world view and everyday practices.
7.3. Identities: contested interaction between media representation (stereotypes) and individual/ collective construction.


References
Branston, Gill. 2003. The Media Student's Book. London and NY: Routledge, Chapter 1.( RES 302.23 BRAN 2003 c.2)
Fiske, John. 1990. Introduction to Communication Studies. London and New York: Routledge, Chapter 3 and 5.(RES 001.51 F541i 1990 )
費斯克《传播符号学理论》导读
李幼蒸＜略谈电影符号学的美学认识论问题＞

Next week
How to analyze the organization of cultural signs and write a narrative... ...