Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
48 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Semiotics |
The study of signs, symbols & signification; how meaning is created |
|
|
Text |
Any cultural object or media we analyze (false eyelashes, horror movies, sitcoms, animated GIFs) |
|
|
Intertextuality |
Borrowing signs and meanings from other texts; the shaping of a text’s meaning by its relationship with, and to, other texts (parodies, spoofs, ironic advertising) |
|
|
Denotation |
The literal, face-value of a sign |
|
|
Connotation |
All the social, cultural and historical meanings that are added to a sign’s literal meaning |
|
|
Studium (photos) |
The “truth function” of a photo; evidence, proof, documentation, the banal; all photos have studium |
|
|
Punctum (photos) |
Deeper, emotional function of a photo; memory, mortality, affect, feeling; not all photos have punctum for all people |
|
|
Code |
The cultural rulebook by which we read something (image or text) |
|
|
Referent |
The actual object in the world that the sign is related to |
|
|
Sign (Saussure) |
Describes the relationship between a word, image or object and its specific meaning in a particular context; signifier + signified |
|
|
Signifier |
A sound, word or image that is attached to the signified |
|
|
Signified |
Mental concept or idea represented by the signifier (the referent) |
|
|
Syntagmatic |
Signs that gain their meaning from the signs that surround them in a still image, or come before or after them in a sequence in a moving image; sequential order (positioning) |
|
|
Paradigmatic |
Signs that gain their meaning from a contrast with all other possible signs (‘it is this because it is not that’); the storage shelves of possible selections (substitution); substitutions must be made within a limited set of possibilities, not any |
|
|
Metonymic (sign) |
Sign is associated with something else, that then represents something else |
|
|
Synecdochal (sign) |
Sign is either a part of something standing in for a whole, or a whole representing a part |
|
|
Polysemic (sign) |
A sign that has more than one meaning |
|
|
Myth (Barthes) |
Refers to the ideological meaning of a sign that is expressed through connotation; hidden set of rules, codes and conventions trough which meanings, which are in reality specific to certain groups, are rendered universal and given for a whole society; occurs when connotative meaning appears denotative (literal or natural); Myths are a subset of ideology |
|
|
Symbolic |
Arbitrary; there’s no connection between the signifier (word/image) and the thing signified, except that imposed by convention (language, words) |
|
|
Iconic |
Resemblance; there’s a resemblance between the signifier (word/image) and the thing signified (drawing, photo of a person) |
|
|
Indexical |
Causal; there’s a physical causal connection between the signifier (word/image) and the thing signified (smoke = fire somewhere, photograph because it was taken in the presence of the person) |
|
|
Anchorage |
Allows a reader to choose between what could be a confusing number of possible readings of an image (caption in newspaper) |
|
|
Relay |
Describes text/image relationships which were 'complementary,' the words and images tell a story equally (words are not giving the picture meaning) |
|
|
Preferred Meaning |
Dominant or intended meaning that is encoded by producers (of an ad, tv show, jeans, etc) |
|
|
Interpellation |
How viewers are "hailed" by signs, how we recognize they are being addressed by an image |
|
|
Excorporation |
Process by which subordinates make their own culture out of the resources and commodities provided by the dominant system |
|
|
Incorporation |
Process in which producers exploit popularity of subordinate style and incorporate signs of resistance into new commodities |
|
|
Bricolage (Hebdige) |
Systems of connection between things which perfectly equip their users to 'think' their own world; the improvised combinations of signs to create new meaning |
|
|
Conspicuous Consumption/Refusal (Hebdige) |
The idea of displaying or rejecting a dominant commodity that may signify wealth or status; it is how youth subcultures communicate style |
|
|
Syncretic (Mercer) |
The combining of different, often contradictory beliefs, while blending practices of various schools of thought (the conk, jive-talk, zoot suit) |
|
|
Polyvalence |
Occurs when audience members share understandings of the denotations of a text but disagree about the valuation of those denotations to such a degree that the produce notably different interpretations |
|
|
Encoding |
The production of meaning in cultural products; the process of creating a meaningful message according to a particular code (speaking, writing, filming TV show) |
|
|
Decoding |
The process of interpreting and giving meaning to cultural products in conformity with shared cultural codes; the process of using a code to decipher a message and formulate meaning (listening, reading, watching TV show) |
|
|
Dominant Reading (Hall) |
Viewer identifies with the hegemonic reading in an unquestioning manner |
|
|
Negotiated Reading (Hall) |
Viewer can negotiate an interpretation from the image and its dominant meanings |
|
|
Oppositional Reading (Hall) |
Viewer can take an oppositional position, either by completely disagreeing with the ideological position embodied in an image or by rejecting it altogether |
|
|
Resistive Reading (Ceccarelli) |
Same as Oppositional Reading (Viewer can take an oppositional position, either by completely disagreeing with the ideological position embodied in an image or by rejecting it altogether) |
|
|
Strategic Ambiguity (Ceccarelli) |
Intentional decision to craft a vague, semantically rich text that is purposefully open to multiple interpretations; usually rhetorical, as it is used for particular, conflicting audiences at a particular historical moment |
|
|
Hermeneutic Depth (Ceccarelli) |
Critical recognition of multiple meanings in a text as the source of its overall meaning |
|
|
Kitsch |
Refers to images and objects that are trite, cheaply sentimental and formulaic; associated with mass-produced objects that offer cheap or gaudy versions of classical beauty; gained value precisely because they became recognized as iconic of a historical moment in which everyday life was saturated with cheesiness (Hello Kitty) |
|
|
Camp |
Refers to intentionally exaggerated thematic or genre elements, especially in television and motion picture mediums. “Camp” style willfully over-emphasizes certain elements of the genre or theme, creating an almost self-satirical milieu (Rocky Horror Picture Show) |
|
|
Gaze |
Looking practices embedded in social/contextual “field of looks” |
|
|
Scopophilia |
Act of looking as a source of (sexual) pleasure |
|
|
Voyeurism |
Pleasure derived from looking without being seen |
|
|
Mirror Stage |
The psychoanalytic theorist Jacques Lacan describes this moment in an infant’s development between 6 and 18 months as formative of the structuring of subjectivity, when individuals begin to recognize themselves as "I" |
|
|
Castration Anxiety (Freud) |
An unconscious fear of penile loss originating during the phallic stage of psychosexual development; when the infantile male becomes aware of differences between male and female genitalia he assumes that the female's penis has been removed and becomes anxious that his penis will be cut off by his rival, the father figure, as punishment for desiring the mother figure |
|
|
Sadistic Voyeurism (Mulvey) |
One of the two avenues of escape that film provides for escape from castration anxiety; refers to the pleasure derived in looking at a person experiencing pain without being seen |
|
|
Fetishistic Scopophilia (Mulvey) |
One of the two avenues of escape that film provides for escape from castration anxiety; refers to the act of looking at a fetishized/eroticized object as a source of pleasure |
