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Weekly Response #12

After discussing Roland’s section “Rhetoric and Image”. It gave me more clarity on what the section was about. By analyzing the advertisement helps to understand what do people see in an advertisements and how to interpret them. There are three types of interpretation of an advertisement: the linguistic message, the coded ionic message, and the non-coded ionic message. I never thought that a simple advertisement can be broken up into separate categories. I didn’t understand that what the “Rhetoric and Image” meant the first around, however through a lot of explanation. I get the message

#late #rohan

Weekly Reading Response #12

I find Barthe's emphasis on the distinction and connection between the image and the significance interesting. I've audited film classes which refer to this phenomenon in film as shown verses imposed images and have read elsewhere on the way body horror in particular is full of instances of very forward images (creatures, etc.) which can be read as attempting to elicit primal fears in one way or another. I kept trying to think of similar examples while reading Barthe's analysis.

Weekly Reading Response #12

In this week’s reading I found it interesting how Barthes explores ways of in-taking and articulating different pieces of information within a photograph. Although the text was difficult to follow, I was able to understand the differences between a linguistic message, a coded iconic message, and a non-coded iconic message. Linguistic shows how it’s important to analyze the written language within a photo (in this case the Panzani advertisement) to reveal certain qualities. A coded iconic message is how the photo communicates information without blatantly stating it, whereas non-coded is the exact opposite-where information is displayed outright. Overall, I think that the reading explained a very through way to analyze photos.

#Barthes

Reading Response #12

I found the section where Barthes discusses how text plays a role in advertisements particularly interesting. Barthes claims that the linguistic message is a technique used to “fix the floating chain of signifieds in such a way as to counter the terror of uncertain signs” (39). By this, he means that the text directs the viewer’s interpretation of the image and restricts him or her to perceive the image in a certain way. So although an image may be interpreted in many ways if one only looked at it, the addition of the text influences one’s mind and changes the way it is interpreted by focusing on specific aspects of it. This limits what the viewer sees and guides their interpretation of the image.

#Barthe

Reading Response #12

There were several new concepts and ideas exposed in the reading such as the three messages offered by the photograph, these include “a linguistic message, a coded iconic message, and a non-coded iconic message”.I never appreciated the linguistic message of images which significantly help in simplifying the “floating chain of signifieds” which easily conjoin the relation in significance between image and text, however, I did find some of the author’s claims difficult to understand.

#Barthes

Reading Response 12

Barthes claims that even One of the most interesting sections of this reading was on page 42. Barthes claims that “we never encounter a literal image in a pure state.” These words imply that there are no images that show their actual subject in an advertisement. While an advertisement may feature a picture of a plant, it never actually means to portray a plant alone. Instead, Barthes says that even images that acquire a pure state are paired automatically with a symbolic message. This section of the text was interesting to me because it took away the inherent value of the images used in advertising. It implies that these images hold no value on their own, but that we pair up images with words and symbols in our minds subconsciously to give them meaning. This in turn implies that advertising images appear or mean different things to everyone who views them.

#Barthes

Weekly Reading Response 12

Reading this piece, I found it to be inherently confusing. Both the sentence structure and the vocabulary used were unnecessarily confusing and complex. This made this reading rather unpleasant to read. Barthes discusses different messages conveyed through a photograph or advertisement (linguistic, coded iconic and non-coded iconic). He also discusses how advertisements always carry other symbols conveying certain connotations other than solely the item alone its advertising. This reminded me of The Story of My Teeth, and how Highway was able to sell things by emphasizing the “story” or other connotations associating with the object.

Weekly Reading Response 11

There were several things that surprised me in the latter half of The Story of My Teeth. The first was the physical description given by Voragine. Up until that moment, I had formed my own physical image of Highway. Being given a physical description so late in the novel fit with the theme of surprising the reader on several fronts. The end of the book also shows a change in Highways character. Up until the end, I assumed Highway was naive, massively flawed and extremely quirky. What I did not pick up on was the fact that Highway himself was the one stealing the art from the museum and framing his son for it. This came as a big shock to me when we discussed this in class. On a side note, I also found it extremely hilarious that he inserted his own last name in the middle of the artists names.

Reading Response #12

This reading by Roland Barthes was quite confusing but also insightful. When I first started reading it I was unsure of exactly what he was speaking about from the beginning so I went back and started reading again. The most interesting part that I found was relationship between text and image and how that is used to convey a certain message for an advertisement. I think very often we glance at advertisements and we understand exactly the message they are trying to tell us without realizing how they are able to communicate it. This reading gave a lot of insight into how they do that. Barthes talks about a linguistic message, a coded iconic message and a non-coded iconic message that is conveyed when analyzing a photograph.

Overall, I was pretty lost majority a lot of the time but I was able to understand the complexity of thoughts that go into conveying messages in certain advertisements and images.

#Barthes

Weekly Reading Response #12

Roland Barthes’s “Rhetoric of the Image” was a rather confusing text. His use of complex words made me focus on the meaning of each individual word rather than the meaning of the passage. On top of that, the text seems poorly translated. The misspellings and grammatical errors were numerous, especially around the beginning. I feel that I would have understood the text the same had it been left in French; several words are not even translated. I had to read sentences twice to even pretend to understand the meaning, which is what I would have done if I had read the untranslated work. Perhaps it is my fault for not reading and annotating a physical copy to help my understanding.

A picture of the advertisement helps a little with my understanding of the text. Barthes describes other pictures; it would have been helpful to show them as well. Just like The Story of My Teeth, pictures are described but not provided, making it difficult to imagine what they look like.

#roland barthes #rhetoric of the image

Weekly Reading Response #12

While reading Roland Barthes “Rhetoric of the Image”, I kept thinking of Einstein’s famous quote: “Any darn fool can make something complex; it takes a genius to make something simple.” In this text, Barthes analyzes an advertising image and draws many profound symbols and messages from it. My main issue throughout the entire piece was that Barthes intentionally uses unnecessary, complex diction to get his points across. He also uses the passive voice: “The code from which this message is taken is none other than that of the French language”. I did not enjoy this text primarily due to its unnecessary complexity. This piece reminded me of Scott McCloud’s work: “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art” and how well he brought his points across, teaching readers through simple examples and explanations. Unlike McCloud, Barthes just came off as obnoxious as he focused too much on sounding like a smart, well-versed individual.

#Barthes

Reading Response 12

I was honestly so confused while reading Barthes Rhetoric of the Image. What I took from the beginning of this reading was that Barthes is arguing the worth of an image and how it can limit the understanding of an individual. This concept reminded me of our reading with Scott McCloud and the significance of symbols and images, and how detail can influence how we interpret illustration. Barthes seems to have a somewhat similar opinion regarding the image when he argues the “limit of the image.” Barthes then progresses to describe the different meanings we can take from advertising images. The first of which ties directly to the concept of linguistics and language and how these culture aspects change the meaning of an advertisement. This example reminded me of Story of My Teeth and the concept of the worth of objects depending upon their history and background. Barthes describes the cultural aspects of the advertisement and how using these methods allows the ad to target a specific audience.

#Barthes

Weekly Reading Reflection 12

At first, I thought that I was confused by the reading because I was really tired. Then, I realized that Barthes is kind of full of himself and his own theoretical reasonings/musings about advertisement. Maybe he has a right to be full of himself – I found his main arguments and awareness to be pretty profound – but it would be more accessible to a broader audience if he conveyed these ideas in less convoluted terms.

That being said, I actually enjoyed reading this piece after I overcame my initial shock at the extreme shift in narration from Story of my Teeth. It reminded me of our advertisement assignment from the beginning of the year, and allowed me to analyze my own analysis of the advertisement I chose.

I enjoyed the illumination of the potential for a specific story behind every image, and the ways in which advertisers or artists can rely on their audience’s own bank of connotations and iconography, as well as the ways that the relationship between signifier and signified can shift based on this complex system of associations.

#barthes #rhetoric of the image #image music text

Weekly Reading Response #12

In Rhetoric of the Image, Barthes describes the multiple portions of advertisements that relay both literary and symbolic information. In general, most of the writing was highly abstract and full of jargon and complex descriptions of Barthes’s own terms. One of the most distinct descriptions of advertisements came from the ideas given by the “pure image,” which appears after the initial linguistic message. The pure image is composed of the individual portions that combine together to describe a particular value. For example, Barthes reports on the “Italianicity” of the Panzani advertisement due to its colors and touristic stereotypes. Its fascinating to acknowledge the internal connections that form between symbols and previous knowledge, leading to a positive or negative response from a observer. The entire section opened up a new view into the world of advertising and the subtle clues that are used to convince the viewer to trust and desire a product, especially in a way that works unconsciously. Overall, Barthes presented inspiring and slightly terrifying commentary on the power of an image or advertisement to call upon unspoken, common knowledge. It makes a observer question which ideas and desires about an advertisement are their own.

#Barthes

Weekly Reading Response #12

Reading Roland Barthes’ commentary on the idea of advertising, I found myself intrigued yet sometimes genuinely lost. One of the most interesting ideas that Barthes brings up is the idea of imitation, which is particularly relevant because the word “image” itself is based on the latin word imitari, which means imitation. The essay focusses on the central question of whether images can truly function as conveyors of meaning even though they are essentially just imitations of something else. Moreover, I think that even if an image is just a “direct analogical representation” of something else, this idea becomes irrelevant when you consider the context in which the image is placed. Moreover, advertisements themselves are also images made up of other images and where the larger image isn’t an imitation of anything else, therefore this idea somewhat falls apart when you consider advertisements as a whole as images too.

#barthes

Weekly Reading Response #11

The closing chapters and the afterword of Valeria Luiselli’s The Story of My Teeth brought a much needed sense of clarity to the novel and left me feeling far less confused. I think that one of the particularly interesting parts of the novel was the chronologic, which wasn’t even written by Luiselli, but rather by her translator. Instead of providing information that helped to provide greater context and hopefully further inform my understanding of the book, the chronologic mainly functioned to further isolate me because of the vast amount of references that I didn’t understand. What’s even more pertinent and somewhat sad to note is that at no point during my reading of this section did I find myself compelled to look further into any of these pieces of art. This “name-dropping” of several famous works of art works adds very little to the text and therefore I think it aims to play into the book’s idea that art itself has little inherent value and it’s the stories that come along with it that actually add value.

#teeth

Weekly Reading Response #12

#Sacco

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