SIGNS, CODES AND
CULTURES
SMST 101 The Moving Image
Lecture 3
Tuesday 24 March 2009

CODES PROVIDE A
FRAMEWORK WITHIN WHICH
SIGNS MAKE SENSE
Tuesday 24 March 2009

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Tuesday 24 March 2009

CODES ARE INTERPRETIVE
FRAMEWORKS USED BY BOTH
PRODUCERS AND
INTERPRETERS OF TEXT
Tuesday 24 March 2009

3 KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE
NEEDED BY INTERPRETERS
1. the world (social knowledge);
•
2. the medium and the genre (textual knowledge);
•
3. the relationship between (1) and (2) (modality
•
judgements).
Tuesday 24 March 2009

DOGS MUST BE CARRIED
ON ESCALATORS
Tuesday 24 March 2009

IN CREATING TEXTS WE
SELECT AND COMBINE SIGNS
IN RELATION TO THE CODES
WITH WHICH WE ARE
FAMILIAR IN ORDER TO LIMIT
THE RANGE OF POSSIBLE
MEANINGS
Tuesday 24 March 2009

Tuesday 24 March 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=qNq_WMRTOAY&feature=related
Tuesday 24 March 2009

• In reading texts, we interpret signs with reference
to what seem to be appropriate codes
• Learning these codes involves adopting the values,
assumptions and 'world-views' which are built into
them without normally being aware of their
intervention in the construction of reality.
Tuesday 24 March 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjNY4o_i5RY
Tuesday 24 March 2009

• We have to decode the cues. Semioticians argue
that, although exposure over time leads 'visual
language' to seem 'natural', we need to learn how
to 'read' even visual and audio-visual texts
Tuesday 24 March 2009

SIGNS ARE NOT MEANINGFUL
IN ISOLATION, BUT ONLY
WHEN THEY ARE
INTERPRETED IN RELATION
TO EACH OTHER
Tuesday 24 March 2009

WHO CARES?
Tuesday 24 March 2009

SEMIOTICS AND
POP CULTURE
Tuesday 24 March 2009

PEOPLE USE SYMBOLIC POWER
TO ACHIEVE INDIVIDUAL AND
COLLECTIVE OBJECTIVES
Lull, 2000 (p 172)
Tuesday 24 March 2009

THE
AMERICAN
DREAM
Tuesday 24 March 2009

THE
AMERICAN
DREAM?
Tuesday 24 March 2009

BOW WOW -
BASKETBALL (FT.
FABOLOUS &
JERMAINE DUPRI)
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=xAL3mAdr5VU
Tuesday 24 March 2009

“THE MEDIA CONTINUE TO
CONCENTRATE ON
STEREOTYPICAL ASPECTS OF
AMERICAN BLACK CULTURE
IN PURSUIT OF CORPORATE
PROFITS”
Lull 2000 (p 184)
Tuesday 24 March 2009

STREET BALL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kSmis2g3SI
Tuesday 24 March 2009

“THE BASKETBALL SHOES ...
NOT ONLY TURN CULTURE
INTO A COMMODITY, THEY
ALSO EXTEND THE CULTURE”
Lull 2000 (p 182)
Tuesday 24 March 2009

IRONICALLY,
MAINLY WHITE-OWNED
COMMERCIAL MASS MEDIA
ARE LARGELY RESPONSIBLE
FOR PROMOTING BLACK POP
Lull 2000 (p 184)
Tuesday 24 March 2009

SUGARHILL - RAPPER’S DELIGHT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqFpAF70UWI
Tuesday 24 March 2009

CROSSOVER
The culture crossover converges from all ethnicities toward
black popular culture, but not the other direction
Tuesday 24 March 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHoel3njATA
Tuesday 24 March 2009

Tuesday 24 March 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMCs7W5RqM8
Tuesday 24 March 2009