In the first line of Rhetoric of Image, Barthes questions wether “‘the copy’ can produce true systems and signed not merely simple agglutinations of symbols’ with regards to the semiology of images. ‘The image is re-presentation’.
‘Image is felt to be weak in respect of meaning: there are those who think that the image is an extremely rudimentary system in comparison with language and those who think that signification cannot exhaust the image’s ineffable richness’. Barthes questions how does meaning get into the image? Where does it end? And if it does end, whats the future of images’ meaning?
Semiotics are a huge part of this essay with Barthes discussing the implied meaning within advertising images, which have a graphical commerciality and necessary intended meaning. In advertising in particular, the audience needs to understand the communication within images in a much shorter time frame than within an editorial/fashion photograph. Often adverts are only viewed for a split second to a few seconds, so the time frame in which an audience can fully process the connotations and meanings is severely reduced. Barthes says that within advertising especially ‘the significance of the image is undoubtably intentional’ and the corresponding signifieds within the image’s message are formed by certain attributes of the product’. Bathes says that these signifieds (symbolic meanings and connotations) need’s to be transmitted as clearly as possible for the intended meaning to be understood in such a small timeframe.
Barthes says that ‘advertising image is frank’ rather than open to interpretation like many fashion editorials or abstract photographic concepts.
Barthes breaks down the three messages presented in Panzani’s advertisement for a pasta they make. Barthes notes their ‘Italianicity’ and the ‘back from the market’ connotations due to the art direction and arrangement of props, which can be denotational and connotational. The written communication can be classed as one message, yet when combined with the image several denoted messages can arise. The tricoloured hues of the vegetables are also yellow, green and red, which is signified to Italianicity yet this reading all relies somewhat on a pre-standing knowledge of Italian tourist stereotypes. These non-verbal ways of understanding an image contribute silently to how it is perceived, even informing us of the intention without necessarily stating that it is a magazine advert- Barthes says how the caption, composition and preset conventions are deep routed into common culture and acts as a further ‘information pointer’ to construct our understanding.
In reference to the Panzani advert Barthes says children only learn what an image is at about four years old, but they also need to know what a tomato is, a string bag and packet of pasta are, which is almost a matter of anthropological knowledge’ (p.154). This can be seen as more of a literal message than a symbolic message, as the visual communication is much clearer and straight to the point. Using Barthes’ analytical framework, we can understand that an image can be broken down into three messages- a linguistic message, a coded iconic message and a non-coded iconic message. Broken down further, we can investigate the linguistic message (what is physically said), the denoted image (signifieds and dennotations) and finally the connoted image (symbolic meaning of products, pre-existing knowledge of worldly culture and like connotations).
The linguistic message is simply anything which contains language, typography or verbal communication. From the early stages of book making and production, the appearance of the book has been linked to the frequent combination of image and text. Chip Kidd said either to say ‘Apple’ or draw a picture of an apple, and not to do both. Barthes also questions ‘does the duplicate certain of the informations given in the text by a phenomenon of redundancy or does the text add a fresh information to the image?’, in Kidd’s oppinion, the repetition of text and like signifieds within image based communication is not the best way to communicate an idea, as you are only presenting the viewer with one fixed intended meaning. Naturally, this is a great benefit to advertising or ‘instant communication’ (more modernly seen with the combination of images and Instagram handles/hashtags to reinforce the images intended meaning). In today’s world of mass communication, Barthes says that ‘the linguistic message is indeed present in every image; as title, caption, accompanying press article, film dialogue, comic strip balloon’. Barthes adds, ‘we are still, and more than ever, a civilisation of writing and speech’ (p.155). The information structures can be continued to be broken down as a long body of text may only relate to one global signified (point of understanding) and it is ‘thanks to this connotation that the text is put in relation with the image’.
The linguistic message is especially important when considering advertising and editorial design, the copy can either enhance or contrast the image as well as introducing further signifieds to the piece holistically. Barthes says that ‘in every society various techniques are developed to counteract the terror of uncertain signs’, which is why the linguistic message is so important. As a society it is apparent that we still fear the unknown - on no matter what scale. By spelling out/confirming our reading then the denoted message is brought to the foreground and the audience can investigate the signifiers in more detail due to their initial reading being proven correct (or incorrect) by the accompanying text. Barthes says that text has a ‘representative value’ and we can see ‘that it is at this level that the morality and ideology of a society are above all invested’.
Anchorage is the most common tool related to the linguistic message, most commonly found in press photographs and advertisements. Often, just a single line of text can form a complementary relationship becoming ‘fragments of a more general syntagm and the unity of the message is realised at a higher level’ (Barthes, p157). Barthes classes the symbolic message within images as ‘operational’ (p.157) we never encounter a literal version of the image in it’s purest state. Barthes says how it would be impossible to remove these codes as they ‘impregnante the whole of the image’, especially when moving away from fashion and considering still life compositions for advertising.
‘The photograph, message without a code, must thus be opposed to the drawing which, even when denoted, is a coded message’ (p.158.) RELATES TO EARLY VOGUE COVERS.
RELATES TO THE SNAPSHOT. When considering early covers of Vogue, young Parisian artists were commissioned by Conde Nast to create provocative and ‘modern’ covers to set the magazine aside from it’s competitors at the time. The soft illustrative nature is non-the-less packed full of signifieds, anchorage and denotation, which may be lost on the 21st century observer considering the shift in societal culture due to the time which has passed.
When utilising photography in terms of the snapshot, despite the candid spontaneity of the picture taking, the decisive moment of capture was chosen purposely by the photographer. This can be done for a number of reasons, often related to aesthetics and composition, yet never the less emotion and narrative are huge factors which contribute towards the decisive moment. In snapshot terms, the photographer does not construct the scene, merely acts as an observer in the documentation. However, when investigating photographic practices by artists such as Tim Walker, the same level of detail goes into the communication of his pre-constructed images just as if it was physically illustrated.
Several factors of coding can be seen in both an illustration and a fashion photograph. The point of view of the illustrator will alter the outcome (eg: if they thought Hitler wasn’t that bad during WW2 then there wouldn’t be anti nazi covers, p.o.v doesn’t mean that it is a fact or even a truthful projection). According to Barthes, there are three levels of this coding- perspective, style and the execution, as all of these factors have their own connotations and denotations which effect the outcome’s coded meaning.
Barthes says that ‘the denotation of the drawing is less pure than that of the photograph, for there is no drawing without style’. On the other hand, the photograph is more of a ‘relationship between nature and culture’, the scene is ‘captured mechanically, not humanly’ (p.158), raising questions about objectivity as any form of drawing must be created by the human hand and mind, rather than an impartial piece of technology acting as the curator of the codes. Barthes adds that photographic techniques used by photographers however, alter the plane of connotation. Techniques such a framing, distance, lighting, props and shutter speed all impact the cultural codes and output of the intended meaning.
‘For every photograph there is always stupefying evidence of this is how it was…a reality from which we are sheltered’ (Barthes, p.159). However, when considering fashion images using a utopian frame work, the photograph may actually be reinforcing unrealistic aspirations as none of the things presented to the viewer are 100% accurate. These elements can influence pastiche’s heavily.
Rhetoric of image
The composition carries an aesthetic signified and connotations of it’s own- certain aesthetics can instantly incur a meaning, wether it be nostalgic or referencing a text/period in art history.
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