THE SEMIOTICS OF

MEDIA

The Semiotic Tradition

Semiotics: the relationship among the

SIGN, the REFERENT, and the HUMAN MIND
It helps us to see how signs and symbols
are used, what they mean, and how they
are organized
Media messages consist of a blend of
symbols that are organized spatially and
chronologically to create an impression,
transmit an idea, or elicit a meaning in an
audience

The Use of Semiotics

A tool for examining the impact of mass

media
Media content is important, and it is a
product of the use of signs
Focus on the ways producers create signs
and the ways audience understand them
Signs take on special significance in the
media, and the media shape how signs
function to us.

Jean Baudrillard & the Semiotics of

Media
Signs have become increasingly
separated from the object they
represent and that
The media have propelled this
process to the point where nothing is
real

Stages of signs

Symbol order: a sign is a simple representation

of an object or condition
Counterfeits: signs actually produced new
meaning that were not necessarily a natural
part of the experience of that which was
signified (ex.: status, wealth, & prestige were
connected to things because of how they were
signified)
Production: machines were invented to take
place of humans, making objects independent
of any human use of signifiers

Stages of signs

Simulation: signs no longer represent

BUT CREATE- our reality. Simulation
determines who we are & what we do

Rather than have genuine communication

involving interaction among people, the
media dominate our lives with information
that forms what we perceive to be genuine
experience but that is far removed from the
natural order of things

The Role of Media in

Simulation

Fostering our commodity culture. The simulated

environment tells us what we want it forms
our tastes, choices, preferences, & needs
Consumption takes on value in and of itself.
That we are consuming becomes most
important, not what we are consuming or what
we actually want.
Possession is more important than use. Our
lives are full of objects that have no real use,
make a life of pure symbolicity

The Role of Media in Simulation

Media messages are filled with carefully

designed symbolic images formulated to
influence individuals and society.
Baudrillards envisions a malleable mass
of people in which societywide
depersonalized relations replace
individuality, community life, and ethnic
identity