semiotics

 1) What meanings are the audience encouraged to take about the two main characters from the opening of the film?

2) How does the end of the film emphasise de Saussure’s belief that signs are polysemic – open to interpretation or more than one meaning?

1) What did Ferdinand de Saussure suggest are the two parts that make up a sign?

He found that there is a 'signifier'  which is something materialistic used to detonate a meaning of something. He also found that there is the signified which is something non materialistic which is made in order to connote a deeper meaning without physically showing it.

2) What does ‘polysemy’ mean?

 it is the term used to define how wide a range the audience 

3) What does Barthes mean when he suggests signs can become ‘naturalised’?

its where he found that most annotations have become so widely accepted that its barely a connotation as most people could easily infer (eg: a red rose symbolising love)

4) What are Barthes’ 5 narrative codes?

symbolic code

cultural code

hermetical code

proairatic code

5) How does the writer suggest Russian Doll (Netflix) uses narrative codes?
1) Find two examples for each: icon, index and symbol. Provide images or links.

Icon: i think that the icon is the fact that there are tow people kissing in the center of the screen, this is because it has been widely accepted that kissing is a way of symbolising love.

Index: the index is the gun’s being aimed towards the opposite side of the poster where there are also guns being held towards them. this is an index because most people would know if guns are aimed towards each other it means that violence is about to break out however some people who have progressed slower than us will not be able to tell what’s going on in the poster.

Symbol: the symbol is the writing saying “my only love sprung from my only hate” as this shows no possible representation of anything as to someone who doesn’t understand english this means nothing

2) Why are icons and indexes so important in media texts?

Because its important for a wide audience range to understand what you mean.

3) Why might global brands try and avoid symbols in their advertising and marketing?

because some people of different cultures might not understand what the symbols mean and would make them confused. And so if there are groups confused by what a company logo could symbolise, it could badly affect the business.

4) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) where the producer has accidentally communicated the wrong meaning using icons, indexes or symbols. Why did the media product fail? (This web feature on bad ads and marketing fails provides some compelling examples).

I feel as though this advertisement has failed as a media product. The reason I think this is because of many controversial meanings within this poster. To start off,  it is most likely the case that the creator of this advertisements have made this advertisement in order to introduce their new menu item and have tried to show its new length through making it seem as though the burger is continuous off screen in order to truly emphasise the size of it. Their chosen quote "it'll blow your mind away" could also have been used to show to us that the size flavour and price of this product are going to shock the consumers. Although this is their preferred reading, There are also many oppositional readings to debunk. First off, most people would be able to connote that this advertisement has been approached in a sexual approach by the way the product is positioned , This is further proven through the model of choice being of a female gender which is the gender most would expect to do the action hinted by the advertisement.

5) Find an example of a media text (e.g. advert) that successfully uses icons or indexes to create a message that can be easily understood across the world.

This advertisement has been made in order to raise awareness for safer driving and possibly drunk driving, they have used the symbol of a gun that we as an audience can denote the fact that whatever the main point of this advertisement it’s clear that it is referring to the dangerous risks that come with it. As most of us know, a wide range of deaths come from driving unsafely / drunk driving. This reinforces the point that the advertisement is trying to make as the quote “takes one life every 25 seconds” at the time of this advertisement, this was the time people would fall victim to gun crime. the fact that this has been referenced was to emphasise that you can prevent these outcomes if you continue to drive safely otherwise it’ll be as though you are shooting yourself.