Samenvatting Media Aesthetics semester
1 – 2024
Semiotics
The origins of Media Studies:
- Frankfurter Schule 20s/30s. They asked questions of why right wing
parties were rising. > rising of mass media > ability to seduce large
groups of people. Mass media (TV) is faster than literature, can
sedate people’s thinking.
The positive effects of media are the changing ways of looking at the
world or at topics.
What not to do when analysing media objects:
- Don’t ask the creator for the meaning (not thinking yourself)
- Don’t immerse too much (distance yourself)
What is semiotics?
- Org. sémiotikos (observant of signs). Hippocrates > to identify
warning signs of bodily illness
- Study of sings and their meaning in society
Ex. Sign (raised fist) signifier (victory, protest, defiant)
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 – 1913)
- Founder of Modern Linguistics
- Structuralism > structures in humanity
Sings / signifiers / signifies
- Signs: things we use to communicate (words, objects, emoticons)
- 1st part of the sign = signified (mental component)
- 2nd part = signifier (physical component)
Relation signified and signifier
- Arbitrary > no direct relationship between how it looks and what it
means
- Based on convention > it is thaught
- Meaning of a sign is dependent on the position of the sign in relation
to other signs
Paradigm & syntagm (combination of paradigms)
paradigm can be cat, dog, bird, syntagm is animals. A cat is a cat
because it’s not a dog
shoes, pants, shirts are all paradigms, the outfit is the syntagm.
Paradigms have different meanings but are interchangeable.
,Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 – 1914)
Developed the symbol/index/icon triad
1. Icon
Icons are signs that physically resemble what they represent. The
relationship is based on likeness or similarity. The icon resembles or
imitates its objects/referent. (photographs, portraits, maps)
2. Symbol
Symbols are signs that have an arbitrary or culturally agreed-upon
relationship to what they represent. They rely on learned
conventions or social agreements. (languages, traffic lights,
mathematical symbols)
3. Index
Indices are signs that have a direct or causal connection to what
they represent. They point to something by virtue of being physically
or temporarily linked to it. (smoke, footprints, thermometers,
pointing fingers)
Photographs contain all three categories of signs.
Iconic > it has properties in common with its objects
Symbolical > you have to “read” a photograph
Indexical > made by light
Roland Barthes (1915 – 1980)
- Uses semiotics to develop his theory of the ‘myth’ (what he calls a
second-order sign)
Denotation vs. connotation
Denotation (first order) = literal meaning (what all viewers from any
culture at any time would recognize the image as depicting)
First order wordt vaak overgeslagen bij het bekijken van een media object.
Connotation (second order) = socially / culturally / personally informed
Image and text
- Different kind of sings working together
- Not versus each other but with
- Work together to create meaning (denotation and connotation)
‘Text on images limits the meanings/ connotations’
- Text on memes anchors the possible meaning
- Texts can forward the meaning of the image so text is not only
narrowing
Key terms
Signifier: physical component of sign
Signified: mental component of sign, the idea associated with it
Sign: things we use to communicate, words/visual images/objects
,Icon: signs that physically resemble what they represent. The relationship
is based on likeness or similarity. The icon resembles or imitates its
object/referent. (photos/maps/portraits)
Symbol: signs that have an arbitrary or culturally agreed-upon
relationship to what they represent. They rely on learned conventions or
social agreements. (languages/traffic lights/math symbols)
Index: signs that have a direct or causal connection to what they
represent. They point to something by virtue of being physically or
temporarily linked to it. (smoke/(foot)prints/thermometers/pointed fingers)
Connotation: refers to the implicit meanings of a sign. The broader
cultural ideas that become attached to a sign. Socially/personally
informed.
Denotation: literal meaning, what all viewers from any culture at any
time would recognize the image as depicting. It is a description of the sign.
Myth: provide ways of understanding the world and our place within it.
Offer ways of organizing and framing what we think of as reality. Myths are
culturally constructed ideas that appear to be natural and self-evidently
true.
Narration
Narration (noun)
- (early 15C) “act of telling a story or recounting in order the
particulars of some action”
Storytelling and oral tradition
- Before writing > oral storytelling was a primary means of education
and entertainment
- Myths, legends, folktales
- Storytellers had a central role in preserving cultural memory. They
used repetition and rhythm
- Stories were a way of shaping collective identity and fostering social
cohesion
- Ex. Homerus, indigenous Australian storytellers, Norse skalds
- Politics and storytelling are very intertwined
Story vs. plot
Plot (what we watch) is what makes the sequence of events that
constructs the story. (not necessarily chronological)
Story (chronological/what happens) is represented by a sequence of
events that happened, or happened because of a character’s actions.
Narration is how these events are represented on-screen. Narration houdt
zich bezig met hoe. De manier waarop iets wordt verteld.
Levels of narrative (diegesis)
, - Diegesis: the narrative world of film, it encompasses everything
that exists within the film’s universe, incl. characters, events and
object.
- Diegetic levels: these levels describe the different layers of
storytelling and perception within the film
1. Diegetic: elements that are part of the story world and experienced
by characters (dialogue, on-screen music)
2. Non-diegetic: elements that exist outside the story world and are
not perceived by the characters (film’s score, voice-over narration)
3. Meta-diegetic: elements that exist within the story but have a
special status (film within film, character hearing voice-over)
Narrative perspective
- 1st person perspective: the story is told from the perspective of a
single character. We see and hear only what this character
experiences
- 3rd person: the narrator exists outside the story and describes
events from a 2rd person point of view
Omniscient person: the narrator has an all-knowing perspective and can
access the thoughts and experiences of all characters
Limited persp.: the narrative is confined to the knowledge and
experiences of a single character or a limited set of characters (1st/3rd)
Unreliable narrator: the narrator’s credibility is compromised , leading
to a distorted or misleading version of events
3rd person limited: the narrator is limited to and knows the thought and
feelings of one character. ‘limited’ = provides a focus on one perspective
but maintains some narrative distance
3rd person objective: the narrator only reports what is observable
without delving into a character’s internal thoughts and feelings.
‘objective’ = more detached and external perspective
Narrative structure
- Lineair: story that unfolds in chronological order. Often follows a
standard plot structure – exposition, rising action, climax falling
action, and resolution.
- Non-lineair: story that does not follow a straight chronological
order. It may jump back and forth in time or be presented in a
disjointed manner.
- Fragmented: story that is told through disjointed, often incomplete
parts. Requires active engagement from the audience to assemble
into coherent whole.
Three-act structure: classic narrative framework that divides story into 3
sections. 1 setup 2 confrontation 3 resolution
Unities of time and space: classical narrative structure based on
Aristotelian concept of unit, which emphasizes that a story should take
place within a single time frame and location. Action occurs over a
continuous period and in one specific setting.
1 – 2024
Semiotics
The origins of Media Studies:
- Frankfurter Schule 20s/30s. They asked questions of why right wing
parties were rising. > rising of mass media > ability to seduce large
groups of people. Mass media (TV) is faster than literature, can
sedate people’s thinking.
The positive effects of media are the changing ways of looking at the
world or at topics.
What not to do when analysing media objects:
- Don’t ask the creator for the meaning (not thinking yourself)
- Don’t immerse too much (distance yourself)
What is semiotics?
- Org. sémiotikos (observant of signs). Hippocrates > to identify
warning signs of bodily illness
- Study of sings and their meaning in society
Ex. Sign (raised fist) signifier (victory, protest, defiant)
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857 – 1913)
- Founder of Modern Linguistics
- Structuralism > structures in humanity
Sings / signifiers / signifies
- Signs: things we use to communicate (words, objects, emoticons)
- 1st part of the sign = signified (mental component)
- 2nd part = signifier (physical component)
Relation signified and signifier
- Arbitrary > no direct relationship between how it looks and what it
means
- Based on convention > it is thaught
- Meaning of a sign is dependent on the position of the sign in relation
to other signs
Paradigm & syntagm (combination of paradigms)
paradigm can be cat, dog, bird, syntagm is animals. A cat is a cat
because it’s not a dog
shoes, pants, shirts are all paradigms, the outfit is the syntagm.
Paradigms have different meanings but are interchangeable.
,Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 – 1914)
Developed the symbol/index/icon triad
1. Icon
Icons are signs that physically resemble what they represent. The
relationship is based on likeness or similarity. The icon resembles or
imitates its objects/referent. (photographs, portraits, maps)
2. Symbol
Symbols are signs that have an arbitrary or culturally agreed-upon
relationship to what they represent. They rely on learned
conventions or social agreements. (languages, traffic lights,
mathematical symbols)
3. Index
Indices are signs that have a direct or causal connection to what
they represent. They point to something by virtue of being physically
or temporarily linked to it. (smoke, footprints, thermometers,
pointing fingers)
Photographs contain all three categories of signs.
Iconic > it has properties in common with its objects
Symbolical > you have to “read” a photograph
Indexical > made by light
Roland Barthes (1915 – 1980)
- Uses semiotics to develop his theory of the ‘myth’ (what he calls a
second-order sign)
Denotation vs. connotation
Denotation (first order) = literal meaning (what all viewers from any
culture at any time would recognize the image as depicting)
First order wordt vaak overgeslagen bij het bekijken van een media object.
Connotation (second order) = socially / culturally / personally informed
Image and text
- Different kind of sings working together
- Not versus each other but with
- Work together to create meaning (denotation and connotation)
‘Text on images limits the meanings/ connotations’
- Text on memes anchors the possible meaning
- Texts can forward the meaning of the image so text is not only
narrowing
Key terms
Signifier: physical component of sign
Signified: mental component of sign, the idea associated with it
Sign: things we use to communicate, words/visual images/objects
,Icon: signs that physically resemble what they represent. The relationship
is based on likeness or similarity. The icon resembles or imitates its
object/referent. (photos/maps/portraits)
Symbol: signs that have an arbitrary or culturally agreed-upon
relationship to what they represent. They rely on learned conventions or
social agreements. (languages/traffic lights/math symbols)
Index: signs that have a direct or causal connection to what they
represent. They point to something by virtue of being physically or
temporarily linked to it. (smoke/(foot)prints/thermometers/pointed fingers)
Connotation: refers to the implicit meanings of a sign. The broader
cultural ideas that become attached to a sign. Socially/personally
informed.
Denotation: literal meaning, what all viewers from any culture at any
time would recognize the image as depicting. It is a description of the sign.
Myth: provide ways of understanding the world and our place within it.
Offer ways of organizing and framing what we think of as reality. Myths are
culturally constructed ideas that appear to be natural and self-evidently
true.
Narration
Narration (noun)
- (early 15C) “act of telling a story or recounting in order the
particulars of some action”
Storytelling and oral tradition
- Before writing > oral storytelling was a primary means of education
and entertainment
- Myths, legends, folktales
- Storytellers had a central role in preserving cultural memory. They
used repetition and rhythm
- Stories were a way of shaping collective identity and fostering social
cohesion
- Ex. Homerus, indigenous Australian storytellers, Norse skalds
- Politics and storytelling are very intertwined
Story vs. plot
Plot (what we watch) is what makes the sequence of events that
constructs the story. (not necessarily chronological)
Story (chronological/what happens) is represented by a sequence of
events that happened, or happened because of a character’s actions.
Narration is how these events are represented on-screen. Narration houdt
zich bezig met hoe. De manier waarop iets wordt verteld.
Levels of narrative (diegesis)
, - Diegesis: the narrative world of film, it encompasses everything
that exists within the film’s universe, incl. characters, events and
object.
- Diegetic levels: these levels describe the different layers of
storytelling and perception within the film
1. Diegetic: elements that are part of the story world and experienced
by characters (dialogue, on-screen music)
2. Non-diegetic: elements that exist outside the story world and are
not perceived by the characters (film’s score, voice-over narration)
3. Meta-diegetic: elements that exist within the story but have a
special status (film within film, character hearing voice-over)
Narrative perspective
- 1st person perspective: the story is told from the perspective of a
single character. We see and hear only what this character
experiences
- 3rd person: the narrator exists outside the story and describes
events from a 2rd person point of view
Omniscient person: the narrator has an all-knowing perspective and can
access the thoughts and experiences of all characters
Limited persp.: the narrative is confined to the knowledge and
experiences of a single character or a limited set of characters (1st/3rd)
Unreliable narrator: the narrator’s credibility is compromised , leading
to a distorted or misleading version of events
3rd person limited: the narrator is limited to and knows the thought and
feelings of one character. ‘limited’ = provides a focus on one perspective
but maintains some narrative distance
3rd person objective: the narrator only reports what is observable
without delving into a character’s internal thoughts and feelings.
‘objective’ = more detached and external perspective
Narrative structure
- Lineair: story that unfolds in chronological order. Often follows a
standard plot structure – exposition, rising action, climax falling
action, and resolution.
- Non-lineair: story that does not follow a straight chronological
order. It may jump back and forth in time or be presented in a
disjointed manner.
- Fragmented: story that is told through disjointed, often incomplete
parts. Requires active engagement from the audience to assemble
into coherent whole.
Three-act structure: classic narrative framework that divides story into 3
sections. 1 setup 2 confrontation 3 resolution
Unities of time and space: classical narrative structure based on
Aristotelian concept of unit, which emphasizes that a story should take
place within a single time frame and location. Action occurs over a
continuous period and in one specific setting.
