Language theory

There are 5 key theorists to learn:

 1] Levi Strauss

2] Barthes

3] Todorov

 4] Neale

5] Baudrillard

Theories of media language:
• Barthes will be relevant to any connotative analysis.
• Neale will be relevant to any consideration of genre.
• Levi-Strauss and Todorov will be relevant to any study
of narrative.
• Baudrillard will be relevant to any intertextual product.


 1] Levi Strauss- key quotation

“What is important is not the identity of any individual unit, but the relation between any two units compared in a binary pair. Binary pairs, particularly binary opposites, form the basic structure of all human cultures, all human ways of thought, and all human signifying systems…Even more importantly, in every binary pair, one term is favored and the other disfavored.” 

(Strauss)

2] Barthes

Media Theory:  Semiotics (Saussure & Barthes)

• In every day life you are unknowingly doing something that we call semiotic analysis (sounds fancy!)
• The study of semiotics or the process of semiotic analysis was first suggested by a fine gentleman by the name of Saussure.
• To explain semiotics, it is easiest if we look at some examples…

• Semiotics is the study of the way meaning is created within a particular culture or society… by its various sign systems.
• It applies not only to media texts but to all kinds of human creations. It offers a truly important way of deconstructing and analysing all kinds of media texts.
• 
  When we discuss semiotics we are suggesting that anything and everything in a media text can act as a sign which signifies a particular meaning.
• The producer of a media text needs to know that the audience will understand the signs in their text and what they signify.
• However, cultural context is important.  If the audience do not share that culture then they may not understand the sign and what it signifies.  Think, how many Bollywood films do you count amongst your favourite movies?  Would your grandparents recognise the Superman logo used above?
• This is probably because they feature many signs which are very specific to a culture which is very different to yours.
• 
  

Key quotes(Barthes)

The first order of signification is that of denotation: at this level there is a sign consisting of a signifier and a signified. Connotation is a second-order of signification, which uses the denotative sign (signifier and signified) as its signifier and attaches to it an additional signified. “

“The orders of signification called denotation and connotation combine to produce ideology. “

“Myths serve the ideological function of naturalization. Their function is to naturalize the cultural - in other words, to make dominant cultural and historical values, attitudes and beliefs seem entirely 'natural', objective and 'true' reflections of 'the way things are'.”



 4] Neale

5] Baudrillard

In semiotics and postmodernism, hyperreality is an inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality, especially in technologically advanced postmodern societies. Hyperreality is seen as a condition in which what is real and what is fiction are seamlessly blended together so that there is no clear distinction between where one ends and the other begins. It allows the co-mingling of physical reality with virtual reality (VR) and human intelligence with artificial intelligence (AI). Individuals may find themselves, for different reasons, more in tune or involved with the hyperreal world and less with the physical real world.

Baudrillard defined "hyperreality" as "the generation by models of a real without origin or reality"; hyperreality is a representation, a sign, without an original referent. Baudrillard believes hyperreality goes further than confusing or blending the 'real' with the symbol, which represents it; it involves creating a symbol or set of signifiers which represent something that does not actually exist, like Santa Claus. Baudrillard in particular suggests that the world we live in has been replaced by a copy world, where we seek simulated stimuli and nothing more. 

Hyperreality is significant as a paradigm to explain current cultural conditions. Consumerism, because of its reliance on sign exchange value (e.g. brand X shows that one is fashionable, car Y indicates one's wealth), could be seen as a contributing factor in the creation of hyperreality or the hyperreal condition. Hyperreality tricks consciousness into detaching from any real emotional engagement, instead opting for artificial simulation, and endless reproductions of fundamentally empty appearance. Essentially, (although Baudrillard himself may balk at the use of this word) fulfillment or happiness is found through simulation and imitation of a transient simulacrum of reality, rather than any interaction with any "real" reality.

Simulation

Simulation is characterized by a blending of 'reality' and representation, where there is no clear indication of where the former stops and the latter begins. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being, or a substance; "It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal."^[  Baudrillard suggests that simulation no longer takes place in a physical realm; it takes place within a space not categorized by physical limits i.e., within ourselves, technological simulations, etc.

Simulacrum

The simulacrum is often defined as a copy with no original, or as Gilles Deleuze (1990) describes it, "the simulacrum is an image without resemblance". Baudrillard argues that a simulacrum is not a copy of the real, but becomes truth in its own right, aka the hyperreal. He created four steps of reproduction: (1) basic reflection of reality, (2) perversion of reality; (3) pretence of reality (where there is no model); and (4) simulacrum, which "bears no relation to any reality whatsoever".