How We Negotiate the Meaning of Images
According to Barthes’s model, images can have a denotative and connotative meaning. The denotative meaning of an image is the literal context of what the image contains. A good example is the tank and student image taken at Tiananmen Square Beijing China. The literal context of the image is a man standing in front of a military tank. Connotative meaning gives context to an image. The connotative meaning of that same image is a man who is standing in protest of the war in Tibet. This image portrays an act of bravery, as the tanks line up preparing to run the man in protest over. Additionally this image can spark feelings of remorse, fear and sadness. Additionally, images can have a sign, or a recognizable symbol that induces a feeling or reference. Signs are composed of a signifier and signified meaning. For a smiley face, the image is the signifier, and the meaning of happiness is signified. Some images and art forms purposely go against the traditional meanings of signs. Yue Minjun’s Butterfly is a good example of this. The piece of artwork uses smiles to signify agony or anxiety instead of happiness.
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