Semiotics

This week's topic was semiology; the study of social signs we encounter in day-to-day life. We discussed the various types of symbols we subconsciously analyse and gave examples of signs for roads, restrooms etc. The types of signs are as follows:

• Non-coded iconic - Information retrieved through pictures 
• Linguistic - Information retrieved through reading words
• Coded iconic - The connotations an image carries with it; what further information is triggered by viewing a particular symbol?

Whereas the first two of the above three types tend to mean the same from person to person, the third, we discovered, often differs due to the interpretation of the viewer. The individual's past experiences will have an effect upon how an image is perceived, and what they associate with it.
To further our understanding, we watched Johnny Cash's haunting music video for song "Hurt", analysing it first without the sound, then secondly with. The effect this had was to remove any lyrics that indicated meaning to the imagery, then afterwords, to view the sequence of images with their context.

If I apply the above three codes to this poignant music video, these are my personal results -

• Non-coded iconic - Imagery related to aging (showing him young), religion (Jesus on the cross), vanitas paintings 
• Linguistic - Lyrics tell of his regret ("What have I become?"), his memories of loved ones
• Coded iconic - Closure (closing of the piano, music building & then ending abruptly), loss of loved ones (portrait on the wall)