final presentation

1. By: Mallory Pelton
SEMIOTICS

2. Semiotics in other words is the science of signs and symbols. Semiotics can
often times be very tricky and complicated. Some people consider semiotics
to be the study of meaning and making. Overall, the use of semiotics is to
study the structure and meaning of language more in depth. The picture
below demonstrates an example of semiotics. This picture represents a sign
that signifies men and women’s bathroom.
WHAT IS SEMIOTICS?

3. Semiotics is known to come from two sources. The first source is Ferdinand
de Saussure (bottom left) and the second source that it comes from is Charles
Sanders Peirce (bottom right). Saussure was the founder of semiology and
Pierce was the founder of semiotics. A lot of their studies on semiotics has
been recognized in philosophy as well as in psychology.
SEMIOTIC HISTORY

4. Signs are made up of sounds and images, also known as signifiers. These
signifiers then represent concepts of certain sounds and images. Signs can
really be anything, a facial expression, colors, clothes and even body language.
Every single culture is filled with signifiers. Signs can have exactly the same
meaning in cultures or completely different meanings depending on the
culture. One example of how sign conveys a certain meaning in the U.S.
culture along with many others are high fives or more recently fist bumps.
This is a sign that represents excitement, encouragement and is used to
congratulate people on accomplishments. Signs create meaning overtime, they
don’t just evolve out of the air. Signs evolve historically overtime. Take
clothes for example, dresses became the thing that women would wear and
still to this day women tend to wear dresses and if a male is seen wearing a
dress is it out of the ordinary.
SIGNS AND CULTURE

5. COMMON SIGNS IN THE U.S.
CULTURE

6. • Icons: they signify by resemblance. Icons are usually signs that are closely
related to the things they represent and look exactly like them. It is a pattern
or sign that physically resembles what it stands for. For example the warning
sign on roads of possible deer crossing by. The sign shows an exact picture of
a deer in order to warn people that they could be crossing by the road and to
be careful.
• Indexes: These are signs that signify by cause and effect. Indexes can be
defined by some sensory feature such as something that is directly visible,
audible or smellable that then correlates with and implies something broader
than language. An example of this would be a a no smoking sign.
• Symbols: signify on the basis of convention. The only reason why you know
what symbols mean is because you associate it with a certain relationship
overtime. An example of a symbol is stoplights. Green means go , yellow
means slow down, and red means stop. These are symbols that are just known.
You don’t have to tell someone what they mean.
ICONS, INDEXES AND SYMBOLS

7. ICONS, INDEXES, AND SYMBOLS
EXAMPLES

8. I am going to use semiotics in my analysis by taking apart the image I am
using and figuring out what the signifier is and the signified. I am going to do
this by taking a look into the deeper meaning of the sign. I am going to see if
the sign demonstrates any hidden signs or in other words codes. I am also
going to see if there is a denotation or connotation that is associated with the
sign. Since the image represents an icon I am going to figure out what the
icon resembles and whether that icon is symbolic or not.
THE USE OF SEMIOTICS DURING
AN ANALYSIS

9. IMAGE BEING ANALYZED

10. This image represents both connotation, denotation, metonymy, and
intertextuality. Overall the image is trying to relate the bottle to the famous
icon Marilyn Monroe. Connotations exhibit an inferred meaning or in other
words a figurative meaning. Denotation is the literal meaning of the image. It
is the meaning that is obvious and evident. Metonymy means that there is
something that is communicating by association by making connections
between things. Intertextuality is a term that deals with relation between texts
and is used to show how texts borrow from one an another.
KEY CONCEPTS ASSOCIATED
WITH THE IMAGE

11. The literal meaning that is evident in this image is the vodka bottle being
touched with a silk cloth. It is evident that there is a bottle of vodka and that
there is skirt being blown upward from an air vent below.
DENOTATION

12. The connotation in this image is tricky because there are a lot of different
pieces to it. Due to the negative space, the white space and the empty space
we see a large focus on the bottle itself, this then creates the viewer to only
focus on the bottle and exhibit uncertainty of why there is a silk skirt wrapped
around the bottle. Another connotation associated with the image is that it is
an ad that shows feminity and purity. Another connotation that is associated
with this image is that women are objects of male desire and implies that the
person has no feelings. The last connotation that could be associated with
this image is a sense of health due to the transparency of the bottle.
CONNOTATION

13. This image shows metonymy because it has
a spotlight and stage effect to it with words
that say ‘Absolut Marilyn’ and since Marilyn
Monroe was a famous icon in Hollywood it
is showing metonymy connecting between
the two. It shows a type of seductiveness
because of the skirt being blown up by an
air vent below. This demonstrates
metonymy because Marilyn Monroe was
known to be seductive and hold many
photo shoots with silk clothes and air
blowing up her skirts or hair creating a
seductive and glamorous look. The ad is
implying that if you want to be sexy and
glamorous like Marilyn Monroe than you
should buy this bottle.
METONYMY

14. This ad uses intertextuality because the silk cloth is shaped exactly like the
famous ‘Seven year itch’ photo of Marilyn Monroe that was publicly shot.
INTERTEXTUALITY

15. The hidden codes that are being applied are that women are objects of male
desire. They are using an attractive famous female icon to make the bottle
seem more desirable. The are trying to make the bottle fashionable and
desirable so that people will buy it. They are doing this be using a seductive
stage like theme with a scandalous skirt being wrapped around the bottle. By
doing this they are objectifying women like they do in many other ads. The
hidden codes here is that if you buy Absolut you will be considered
fashionable and cool just like Marilyn Monroe.
CODES

16. The interpretation of the text is that it demonstrates the act of drinking
Absolut vodka to be fashionable and cool just like Marilyn Monroe. It
conveys meaning behind Marilyn, it uses the same wardrobe as her and stage
like effect in order to sell a product. The curvy text flowing into the cloth
compliments the shape of the skirt. The viewer can then relate a sense of
meaning with a famous Hollywood setting and this makes the product
glamorous. The text conveys meaning about Marilyn Monroe because it is
using her name after Absolut to show how iconic, fashionable, famous and
cool she is in order to make their product sell. They use her name so that
when people are at the store looking at bottles they associate an attractive,
fashionable, famous Hollywood women and are more likely to buy it because
it creates a meaning inside them that makes them feel good about there selves.
SYNTAGMATIC ANALYSIS