Lecture Slides from Week 2

1. POP CULTURE
IN EVERYDAY
LIFE
WEEK 2

2. 1. It is a process we
participate in, rather than
a static thing we know.
2. Culture is collective: it is
a shared system of
meanings and pleasures.

3. A SIGN IS…
“anything which produces
meaning.”
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRS
TUVWXYZ
KEY

5. SEMIOTICS
The study of signs / tries to
understand how communication is
meaningful
It means to examine how words (speech,
writing), images (film images, computer
graphics, photographs, drawings, paintings,
graphic designs), sounds (speech, music,
noises) communicate meaning.

6. SEMIOTICS SAYS
Signs are organised into codes and
systems
And codes and systems always
operate within cultures

7. SEMIOTICS: Codes & Systems
How signs are organised
Selection of a specific signs from
a paradigm of similar signs
Putting the signs in order
Everything we consume is drawn
from a huge range of options
(signs) and assembled in an
order.

8. I LOVE YOU
SIGNS:
DESIRE
CARE ABOUT
LUST AFTER
LIKE
♥

9. ORDER COUNTS:
YOU LOVE I
LOVE YOU I
I LOVE YOU
THIS IS ONE CODE

10. SEMIOTICS: More Codes & Cultures
Body
Rituals
Aesthetics
Genre
And lots, lots more
Let’s look at a photograph & check
the signs & what they signify?

12. BUT IF SIGNS ARE SO
PLENTIFUL & WE’RE
ALL INDIVIDUALLY
INTERPRETING THEM…

13. WHY DO MEANINGS
SEEM SO RELIABLE
& PREDICTABLE

14. BECAUSE…
DISCOURSE

15. DISCOURSE:
the way language and
representation (the
description or portrayal of
something) are used to
make knowledge of the
world

16. DISCOURSE:
we learn how to
make and
understand meaning
from other people

17. DISCOURSE:
our way of personally
understanding things is
informed by a huge host
of things: our gender,
national ID, ethnicity, age,
our family, etc.

18. DISCOURSE:
Meanings are
limited and fixed by
prevailing social
relations.

22. SEMIOTICS of Deadpool
Casting & Costuming: macho bro,
pizza dude
Rituals: pizza delivery, tipping, fist-
bumping
The order of the scene is why it’s
surprising
Genre: Superhero but…
Word choice: ‘stalker’
The kiss

24. SEMIOTICS of Mad Max: Fury Road
Screen colour
Gender and genre conventions and
Furiosa’s prothetic arm (never
explained)
Drive the scene forward making it
entertaining and meaningful