SummaryAssessment Type Analytical Report semiotic analysisDu.docx
- 1. Summary Assessment Type: Analytical Report: semiotic analysis Due Date: Friday, Week 6 Weighting: 40% Length: 1500 words Task Undertake a semiotic analysis of one of the texts provided on the unit web site (to be posted by the tutor three weeks prior to due date) in the form of a report divided into five sections (see below). In your analysis, make use of a range of the terms, concepts and strategies introduced in Tutorials 1 – 4 of the unit. Your analysis must define any terms used, include in-text references and a reference list, and follow the guidelines of referencing set out in Guidelines for Referencing, Faculty of Arts, Griffith University. Your analysis needs to: 1. identify and describe the signs and sign systems at work in the text, employing a range of the following (minimum of 5): syntagms, paradigms, metonym, metaphor, connotations, denotations, icon/index/symbol, mode of address, binary oppositions, othering, intertextuality, ambiguity (500 words, 10 marks) 2. undertake a commutation test to test the paradigmatic value of one or more of the signifiers (250 words, 5 marks) 3. show how the gaze operates in the text (250 words, 5 marks) 4. show how the text includes and excludes identities and meanings through myth and ideology (250 words, 5 marks). 5. show how the text can be read in terms of dominant, negotiated, and oppositional readings (250 words, 5 marks) 6. Writing, referencing (-5 marks). Marks will be deducted (maximum of 5) for incorrect grammar, spelling, punctuation,
- 2. referencing, and report composition. *please note - marks will be adjusted out of 40. Lodgement: your assignment needs to be lodged as a Word file through the Assignment Submission portal on the Blackboard website for this unit. No PDF or other non-word file formats allowed. There is no need to use terms and concepts other than those presented in the Study Guide, text book and readings provided. Reference all terms and concepts. There is no need to analyse every signifier, although you will need to engage with the text at the signifier level to show how signification takes place. Avoid simply listing signs and sign systems. Do not use material found on internet sites in your analysis. Draw only from the material provided in the unit. WORD LENGTH: THE WORD LENGTH FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT IS 1500 WORDS. PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU STAY WITHIN THIS LIMIT AND NOT GO OVER IT (10% leeway allowed either way). Marking Criteria The marking criteria for the second assignment is as follows: For (4) Pass or better: · evidence that you have engaged in analysis of the text, indicating logical connections between signs at various levels, as distinct from simply identifying and describing signs. Some attention to mode of address and reading positions. · evidence that you have read and understood the main definitions of key terms, arguments, concepts, examples relevant to answering the question. · attention to the criteria specified in the question. · written expression is adequate, with minimum grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors. · referencing compliant with requirements to an adequate level.
- 3. For (5) Credit or better: · a more thorough analytical engagement with the text, indicating logical connection between signs at various levels, and their production of meaning, mode of address and reading positions. · evidence that terms and concepts are used correctly. · attention to the criteria specified in the question. · little or no redundant material, i.e. material which does not extend or develop argument. · written expression is good, with minimum grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors. · referencing generally compliant with requirements. For (6) Distinction or better: · thorough analysis of a range of signs and sign systems at work in the text, drawing out complexities of signification and the production of meaning, mode of address and reading positions. · evidence that terms and concepts are used strategically to further analysis. · no grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors. No redundant material. Essay is coherent. · referencing fully compliant with requirements. For (7) High Distinction: · as well as the above criteria, the essay should be outstanding in every way. There should be very little in this essay that could be faulted. · high level of capacity to use terms in strategic ways, to advance an argument or point. It should show command over the way the text produces meaning at all levels. · engage in a critical reading of the text, its relation to broader cultural and social meanings, identities. · ideas clearly expressed, with no problems of ambiguity or lack of clarity.
- 4. ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION COVER SHEET Student name: Student Number: Course code: CMM19 Assignment: Assessment Item 2: Semiotic Analysis This is an electronic submission. By submitting your assignment electronically you are accepting the conditions outlined in the Academic Integrity Declaration. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY DECLARATION Breaches of academic integrity (cheating, plagiarism, falsification of data, collusion) seriously compromise student learning, as well as the University’s assessment of the effectiveness of that learning and the academic quality of the University’s awards. All
- 5. breaches of academic integrity are taken seriously and could result in penalties including failure in the course and exclusion from the University. Students should be aware that the University uses text-matching software to safeguard the quality of student learning and that your assignment will be checked using this software. I acknowledge and agree that the examiner of this assessment item may, for the purpose of marking this assessment item: reproduce this assessment item and provide a copy to another Griffith staff member; and/ submit this assessment item to a text-matching service. This web-based service will retain a copy of this assessment item for checking the work of other students, but will not reproduce it in any form. Examiners will only award marks for work within this assignment that is your own original work. I, hereby certify that : except where I have indicated, this assignment is my own work, based on my personal study and/or research. I have acknowledged all materials and sources used in the preparation of this assignment whether they be books, articles, reports, lecture notes, or any other kind of document or personal communication. I have
- 6. not collaborated with another student or person in planning, developing and writing this assessment item. This assignment has not been submitted for assessment in any other course or at any other time in the same course. I have not copied in part or in whole or otherwise plagiarised the work of other students and/or other persons. I haven’t made this piece of work available to another student. Providing this declaration falsely is considered a breach of academic integrity. I have retained a copy of this assessment item for my own records. Assessment Item 2: Semiotic Analysis of Patek Philippe Text Signs and Sign Systems The Patek Philippe advertisement (The World of Interiors, 2012, back cover) is comprised of a full page image of a woman and girl sitting together drawing. The woman wears a Patek Philippe
- 7. watch and ring, also depicted in a smaller image in the bottom right corner. In the bottom left corner is a description of the products and a contact number. The Patek Philippe logo and slogan “Begin your own tradition” are in the top right corner. There is also a caption below the main image “Something truly precious holds its beauty forever”. If a text is a combination of signs (Thwaites et. al. 2002, p. 77) and a sign is something which produces meanings (Thwaites et. al. 2002, p. 9), this advertisement is a piece of text and all the components above signs. Studying the main image the reader immediately has a mental impression, a “signifier”, as defined by Thwaites et. al., which creates an abstract concept, a “signified” (2002, p. 31). yes The woman leans towards the girl smiling, her arm circling the girl’s chair in a protective manner. Watching the child drawing, her pencil is poised ready to help if needed. Both figures are attractive and dressed in smart casual attire. Many possible signifieds, or connotations (Study
- 8. Guide CMM19 2013, p. 38), can be identified. These possibilities include femininity, elegance, mother/daughter, innocence and affluence. Yes It is the line, “Something truly precious holds its beauty forever”, that enables denotations to be determined. Yes Denotations are “the most stable and objectively verifiable of connotations” (Thwaites et. al. 2002, p. 62). These words remove ambiguity and anchor the image to the denotation (Study Guide CMM19 2013, p. 28). In this case the mother and daughter drawing together signifies preciousness and beauty. Yes, good analysis Transferring the qualities of a girl onto jewellery is an example of a metaphor (Study Guide CMM19 2013, p. 34). Yes The Patek Philippe products, like a child, are “truly precious and hold their beauty forever”, and investing money in Patek Philippe is comparable to investing in one’s children. The signifier of the sketchpad is another metaphor
- 9. comparing the product to a piece of art. The mother and daughter are a metonym as they are a part representing the whole (Study Guide CMM19 2013, p. 34), in this case a family. yes Having determined the denotations of the sign, the watch and rings can be classed as fetish items. Yes but fetish objects displace hidden desires They are not necessities, but “designed to enhance the consumer’s identity or lifestyle and to suggest hidden desires” (Study Guide CMM19 2013, p. 41). What is the hidden desire? This is supported by the syntagm, or the combination of signs (Study Guide CMM19 2013, p. 22) that we see in this text. These signifiers were selected from a paradigm, or range, of choices (Thwaites et. al. 2002, p. 43). They combine into a syntagm signifying an affluent family full of beauty and preciousness. This is also an example of the cultural imaginary (Study Guide CMM19 2013, p. 7). Readers aspire to own Patek Philippe jewellery believing it will signify that they are now living the good life. Generally sound with some very good points. You’ve missed an opportunity to
- 10. analyse the hidden desire however. Commutation Test A commutation test is conducted to test the paradigmatic value of the signifiers in a text changing or interchanging different elements of the signifiers present (Study Guide CMM19 2013, p. 25). ✓ The signifier of the woman could be tested by altering her appearance. Changing her hair colour from brown to blonde would not necessarily change the connotation of elegance; however the sign would lose its meaning as a metonym for family and the connotation of the mother/daughter relationship would not be so apparent. Thus the physical appearance of the woman and child and the familial resemblance between the two has a high certain paradigmatic value.
- 11. Another signifier that has a high paradigmatic value is the clothes that the mother is wearing. Exchanging the simple, yet classic top she is currently wearing for a ratty tracksuit would not alter the mother/daughter connotation, but would alter that of elegance and femininity and the connotation of Patek Philippe as a luxury brand would disappear. But this is not a likely signifier here. A third commutation test could be carried out on the sketchpad as a signifier, replacing the drawing with maths homework. Whilst the comparison drawn between the product and the artwork could no longer take place, the connotations of family and beauty are not altered, nor is the overall meaning of the text. The connotations of preciousness and beauty could still be drawn, indicating that the paradigmatic value of the sketchpad is not as high as the appearance or
- 12. clothes of the people in the image. ✓ Good work. The Gaze The addresser and addressee are positions both constructed and linked by the text (Study Guide CMM19 2013, p 11). In this case the authorial presence of the addresser is indirectly addressing the reader. ✓ Both the woman and the girl are looking at the sketchpad in front of them, and the reader “is given the role of voyeur” (Glossary of terms CMM19 2013, p. 6). Bearing witness rather than voyeurism But however oblivious the woman is to the reader, she would be fully aware of the image she is projecting: feminine and elegant, yet maternal. As a subject of the male gaze she is constantly aware of how she appears and her capacity to be looked at by men (Study Guide CMM19 2013, pp. 13-14). ✓
- 13. Sturken and Cartwright (2001, p. 76) suggest that women are presented as being either a sexual being or a maternal figure by the media. ✓ The demure clothing and conservative hairstyle chosen from a paradigm of signifiers suggest she is portraying the maternal figure. However she is still very attractive according to modern conventions: slim and pretty, with a perfect, clear complexion and glossy hair. Together with the young girl they “conform to a rigid set of normative codes about beauty” and “go hand in hand with an image culture which incites women, and increasingly men, to see themselves and their appearance as inadequate in some way.” (Sturken & Cartwright 2001, p. 82). ✓ The addressee produced by the text is someone who aspires to the myths of beauty and affluence in the text. A woman who reads the text is a female wishing to be the subject of the male gaze (Study Guide CMM19 2013, p. 14).
- 14. Good work on the gaze, but more needed on the way the two figures are looking in terms of the maternal gaze. Myth and Ideology When analysing text, myths are metonyms; they are a single particular idea that ends up representing everything in that system. (Thwaites et. al. 2002, p. 67) Myths present in this text include the myth of female beauty, as identified by Dyer (1997, p. 122) as “the white woman”, the myth of females being the nurturing sex, the myth of the innocence of childhood and the myth of the good life. Also myth of the nurturing mother The reader accepts these connotations and myths as normal and they fit together to form a coherent pattern or ideology (O’Sullivan et. al. 1994, p. 287). ✓ In this case the ideology of the perfect family. ✓ These myths and ideology ies naturalise the meaning of the perfect family to
- 15. being western and white, middle to upper middle class, with two parents of which the mother takes on the role of nurturing and raising children.✓ avoid running myth and ideology together. Do not give the impression that they are one and the same thing This is an example of binary opposition where the strategy of othering is used (Study Guide CMM19 2013, pp. 31-32). This ideological family is set up as being normal or unmarked, whilst any family that does not resemble this is abnormal or marked (Study Guide CMM19 2013, pp. 32-33). This results in the text excluding childless adults, families of other races, single-parent families or families of lower classes as ever being classed as a perfect family. Good work Dominant, Negotiated, and Oppositional Readings
- 16. Reading the text at face value, accepting the interaction between the signs and making the denotations as intended is considered a dominant reading of the text (Study Guide CMM19 2013, p. 49). The preciousness and beauty of the watch and ring signified in the image is accepted by the reader, as is the notion that Patek Philippe is a luxury brand and owning their jewellery will equate to living an affluent lifestyle. The reader would also acknowledge the investment as comparable to investing in something as precious as children and family. ✓ If “the myths portrayed are questioned” and the reader “does not completely inhabit the addressee role” a negotiated reading is taking place (Thwaites et. al. 2002, p. 92). Reading this text it could be acknowledged that wearing an expensive watch and jewellery may be a sign of affluence, but that buying them does not necessarily make one affluent. The reader could also start to question the comparison between family and jewellery; having an expensive watch and
- 17. ring does not ensure a perfect family. ✓ In an oppositional reading the myths present in the text are exposed and the addressee role is rejected (Thwaites et. al. 2002, p. 92). The reader does not aspire to be a part of the ideological perfect family, and recognises that buying a fetish object does not elevate anyone into a higher class. Investing in luxury items is not attainable for everyone and non-affluent people who aspire to these ideals would be better investing money in their family, not jewellery. ✓ Good. Reference List Patek Philippe advertisement, The World of Interiors, October 2012, back cover
- 18. Tony Thwaites, Lloyd Davis and Warwick Mules 2002, Introducing Cultural and Media Studies: A Semiotic Approach, Palgrave, London. Study Guide CMM19 Text and Culture 2013, School of Humanities, Griffith University, Brisbane. Glossary of terms CMM19 Text and Culture 2013, School of Humanities, Griffith University, Brisbane. Sturken, Marita and Cartwright, Lisa 2001, Practices of Looking: an Introduction to Visual Culture, Oxford University Press, Oxford. O’Sullivan, Tim et. al. 1994, Key Concepts in Communication and Cultural Studies, Routledge, London. Dyer, Richard 1997, 'The glow of the white woman', in Richard Dyer, White, Routledge, London.
- 19. Your analysis needs to: (i) identify and describe the signsand sign systems at work in the text, including any or all of the following: syntagms, paradigms, metonym, metaphor, connotations, denotations, icon/index/symbol, mode of address, binary oppositions, othering, intertextuality, ambiguity (500 words, 10 marks) (ii) undertake a commutation test to test the paradigmatic value of one or more of the signifiers (250 words, 5 marks) (iii) show how the gaze operates in the text (250 words, 5 marks) (iv) show how the text includes and excludes identities and meanings through myth and ideology (250 words, 5 marks). (v) show how the text can be read in terms of dominant, negotiated, and oppositional readings (250 words, 5 marks) (vi) Writing, referencing (-5 marks). Marks will be deducted (maximum of 5) for incorrect grammar, spelling, punctuation, referencing, and essay composition.
- 20. This is a very good analysis. Covers most of the elements required and demonstrates strong grasp of concepts.