Ronald Barthes is a French essayist who helped establish structuralism and new criticism through his work on semiotics. He created the theory that objects and images carry a denotative meaning and a connotative meaning. Denotative is a direct meaning while connotative are words that offer a secondary meaning from the surrounding context. A myth is a set of ideas that become universally accepted and understood. Myths often carry denotations and connotations. Denotation myths can be traditional stories or beliefs, while connotative myths can be shared values, identities, or stereotypes that can influence our perspective of the world. Barthes's theory is beneficial to the planning of film because it provides a framework for creating narratives, symbols, and visuals that enhance audience engagement by going into layers of meaning while emphasizing culture and social contexts. I watched a video clip from Mockingjay Part 2. A woman showed off her gown and wings to a crowd full of people. A man is discussing their marriage until he mentions a baby, and then the crowd becomes outraged. All the people on stage lock hands with one another and the power goes out. Four visual codes I found in the film are the setting: ceremonial stage, acting: an emotionless expression, costume: the black dress with wings, and sound: going from cheering to yelling. The codes' connotations reveal that the Hunger Games ceremony had been taken over and the people on stage have a part in the plan.
Reflection
The objective of the activity is to create a semiotic analysis table based on Ronald Barthes's theory of denotative and connotative signs to recognize and define visual and audible signs when analyzing media products. I created a PowerPoint presentation to show how Barthes's theory is used in media. I'm at an intermediate level with PowerPoint since I have been using it for about 7 years now, but I still have a lot to learn about it. In the first slide, the words myth, denotation, and connotation are all defined as they are important in understanding the objective of the PowerPoint. In the second slide, the signifier setting is the Hunger Games Ceremonial Stage. In the denotative meaning of the image presented image shows two people on a stage in front of a big crowd. The connotative meaning is that the ceremony is to open an event and to recognize someone's achievements. In the third slide, the signifier acting is the woman's emotionless facial expression. The denotative meaning is that the woman is showing no strong emotion on her face. The connotative meanings are that she has a plan and cannot show emotion to reveal herself and that she does not care about the ceremony. In the fourth slide, the signifier costume is a black dress with wings. The denotative meaning is a long black dress with wings. The connotative meanings are that the wings can be a sign of wanting freedom and that she must be a significant person in the film, because of her unique outfit. In the fifth slide, the signifier sound is the dialogue of the audience when they go from cheering to yelling. The denotative meaning is the crowd got startled when the lights went off. The connotative meanings are that the crowd thought something bad was going to happen and that the crowd knew that the lighting turning off was not a part of the ceremony. This exercise was done in a group of two with one person searching up the information and the other writing down the information. I learned that a simple saying or image can have different layers of deeper meaning.
Work Cited
T. F. (2014, October 29). The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Movie CLIP #6 - The Mockingjay Appears (2013) Movie HD. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM1ABOZQ8Po
Semiotics | Definition, Theory, Examples, & Facts. (2023, November 17). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/semiotics
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