Skip to main content

Reading Questions for Danesi’s “Semiotics of Media & Culture”

1. What is “semiotics?” semioticsis to study semiosis(the production andcomprehension of signs) as it manifests itself in human and non-human spheres 2. What is the “semiosphere” and how it can be both liberating and constraining. The semiosphere regulates and enhances human cognition in tandem. It can be cognitively straining because we are born into a fixed system, and that can alter the world we see around us. It can be liberating because we have the resources to construct new signs and systems at will. 3. What is the “semiotic law of media? The semiotic law of media states that when the media changes so does the sign systems of the culture. 4. The author sees the 1938 Radio Broadcast “War of the Worlds” as a “simulacrum.” What does he mean by that?This is when we believe what the media says to be true even when we know it is false. We then blur the lines between what is reality and what the media is saying. 5.What did Paul Lazarfeld discover in a 1956 study on media and elections? What is “Flow Theory,” and why was the 1960 election different?In 1956 they found out that media audiences constituted interpretative communities guided by opinion leaders. Flow theory is where the information wanted to be communicated to audiences is interpreted by a group leader, and then the information is relaid to the group members. The 1960 election was different because the people responded to Kennedy's appearance on TV better than Nixon. 6. Describe McLuhan’s idea of the “mediashpere.” The mediashpere is where we take celebrities and idolize them like religious figures. An example is calling someone a "Modonna" or how people used to treat Elvis Presley with the same respect as a religious figure. 7. According to Roland Barthes, how can a photograph have CONNOTATIVE meaning? What is “textual pastiche?”What is the “culture industry?” What forces does Chomsky identify as shaping factors on media production? A photograph can have a connotative meaning by the way it is laid out, where the photo is located, and if there is any text on the picture. Textual pastiche is where text is laid out on a photo to give the concept of the photo a potentially different meaning. Culture industry is producing popular text quickly for people to read. The forces he identifies are that the people who control the funding for the media (government) pressurize the media and and present the news coverage that is favorable for them. 8. Stuart Hall identified three possible “readings” to a cultural media text. - Describe them.Preferred reading: makers intend to convey with text. An example is everyone genuinely laughing at a joke. -Negotiated reading: involves negotiation or compromise with the intended meaning. An example is some people laughing at the joke while others sneer at it. -Oppositional reading: what is the opposition of what the makers text intended. An example of this is no one finding the joke funny. 9. What is “markedness?” Markedness is when grammatical structure mirrors political power. This is when the universal word to describe a group of people is portraied in the masculine or feminine spelling. 10. Roland Barthes held that all texts have denotative (linguistic) and connotative (rhetorical) power. Explain. Rhetorical power means that a word or phrase can have more than one item associated with it. Linguistic power is what we first think of when we hear a word or phrase. 11. Name some evidence of Levi-Strauss’ idea of "mythic opposition" in Star Wars. Youth v. Old age Nature v. Technology Father V. Son 12. How would Mikhail Bakhtin describe and explain the antics of outrageous celebrities in modern media? That pop culture never posed any serious subversive political challenge to the moral or ethical status quo. He would describe them as being in a carnival.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chocolate Rain

History of Chocolate Rain: This song was created by Tay Zonday back in 2007. Written to talk about racism. Website Thoughts :          Tay Zonday was the creator of this crazy song Chocolate Rain. Which went viral back in 2007. Tay Zonday says that his song deals with race issues in America. He hits points like prison racisms amongst African Americans, economic racism, and racial problems. Initially, when I first heard this song I would have never guessed that this song focused on racism. - Did you like the song? - Did you know it was about racism?

Intro

Hello!    I am Kamari Littlejohn. In this class I plan to learn how to create blogs and how to attract an audiences. I also want to cover how to make a website and how to create a brand for myself. I am looking forward to a great year! Can't wait to see what the future holds.