Assignment 2: Experiment 2A

'The Rhetoric of the Image' by Roland Barthes

For the first part of Assignment 2 we were asked to read the ‘Rhetoric of the image’ by Roland Barthes. I struggled with the text although having read it a couple of times and looked up a lot of words I think I have managed to partially understand some of the main points. To begin with I think Roland Barthes is talking about the power of an image. He raises the following questions: How much can an image say and how is something said using an image? How does an image have meaning, how does it represent something? I think he goes on to say that some of what we understand is related to our life experiences but the power of an image and how we understand an image is disputed. Meaning behind an image is often weak and unrecognised. However, in advertising an image is meant to mean something, the image is relevant and important. Signs in an advert should be clear

I think he also goes on to say that the advertisement discussed within the chapter has 4 signs, which I understood to be:

1.Liguistic message.

2.Culture affects the interpretation of a message

3.What is pictured gives a message, the arrangement of identifiable objects/overall appearance of an image affects the message. ‘A message without a code’

4. The literal message

All the elements within an advertisement are intended to signify something:

In this case the colours and text signify Italy

Overall appearance looks like that of a still life

However an image can be polysemous which means it has many meanings.

Roland Barthes discusses ‘The 3 messages’ as each image contains different messages. (Not sure if this is correct)

The 3 messages are:

A linguistic message

A coded iconic message

A non-coded iconic message (literal/denoted)

Barthes then gives and order for the messages: Linguistic, non-coded, coded. However I struggled to understand whether we naturally read an image like this or we should read an image like this.

The linguistic message

Things to consider:

• Is there always text in the image/surrounding the image. Where is text in relation to the image?
• The structure of an image can be analysed once the text is removed.
• Does the image say the same as the text does? Or does the text add new information?
• Text is commonly seen with an image. ‘We are still, and more than ever, a civilization of writing’

What I understood about the linguistic message is that there are two functions of the linguistic message one is ‘relay’ and the other ‘anchorage’. Anchorage means that the text identifies the image and draws together the contributing parts of the message. The text focuses not simply the viewer’s gaze but also the understanding of the viewer-provides clarification. The text makes the viewer think what the advertiser intends, not what you may interpret without the text. Relay is a less commonly used, it can be seen in cartoons and comic strips where little snippets of dialogue are used. The image and the dialogue are intended to compliment one another, meanings that would not otherwise be seen in the image are explained, the text also provides a sequence to the images, which is very important in film. In film the ‘relay’ function is commonly used.

The denoted image

In advertising there is always text, never only an image.

I really struggled to understand much of this section. Here are some of my guesses:

• Analysis of an image is objective, affected by society, background, age, and gender. If we are given an image with no hidden message, we try to find something/interpret, find hidden meaning. This is due to the way the human mind works.
• Lines, colours and form are easily identified and with intelligence information can be gained from this.
• Photographs do not have a code. Photographs record, mechanical process. Surely the photographer still chooses what to photograph and what to crop out?
• Drawing does have a code? Only certain aspects are drawn, what is selected and why? The creator selects the angle, point of view, scale etc of a drawing. All drawings have a style.
• Drawings transform what we see in to a pictorial representation.
• This sentence caught my attention ‘The more technology develops the diffusion of information (and notably of images), the more it provides the means of masking the constructed meaning under the appearance of the given meaning’, although I am unsure as to what it means and I am yet to find anyone who could help me out.

Rhetoric of the image

The variations in reading and understanding the image are due to different kinds of knowledge – practical, national, cultural, aesthetic. Each person is likely to identify different things although one person might have knowledge in all these areas.

‘Scattered traits’ are likely to be discovered between what meanings different people find within an image.

How does this relate to Textile Design?

In design perhaps we need to be aware that text is not always important or required with an image. Barthes seemed to suggest that a lot can be interpreted from an image with no text, but perhaps key words/phrases are necessary if we want to make certain our work is received as we intend it to be. If no text is included our work could be interpreted differently to how we intended due to peoples knowledge, background, age, gender, interests etc-would this be a problem? On the other hand not including text with an image could make the viewer look at our work longer as they may need to search for clues if they are going to understand what the piece is about? Text gives the viewer instant answers and direction without much personal thought.