In this eighth part of our Integrating Theory and Practice: Heroes lecture we focused upon semiotics and specifically Roland Barthes. We focused on two of Barthes’ key ideas which were his theories on mythologies and Camera Lucida. Roland Barthes was a Marxist and, therefore, looked at mass culture from this political perspective. His main aim was to demystify the signs, signals and symbols of mass culture language.
His ideas on mythology suggested that society are provided with myths which are then reinforced by social beliefs and systems – for example, the myth of purity is constantly reinforced within commercial communication. Advertisements containing unrealistic airbrushed models enforce the myth that this ‘pure’ and idealistic version of beauty is attainable through their product, which causes society to accept this myth of purity (after repeated exposure) and then strive and aspire to become pure and perfectly beautiful themselves.
Take the above advertising campaign for Rimmel make-up featuring the face of the brand – supermodel Kate Moss. You wouldn’t believe that the photograph below featured the same woman, but this is a much more realistic shot of the model. Airbrushing creates unrealistic expectations in society, as they begin to accept the purity myth and then strive for such unattainable perfection themselves, such as that displayed in the above advertisement.
After our lecture I decided to look further into semiotics and Roland Bathes’ theories, and I found his enigma and action code theories. I found this interesting as the Rimmel make-up advertisement itself contains a range of signs and signifiers which deliver a specific message to the viewer through both of Barthes’ enigma and action codes –
Enigma codes: this is the theory that texts contain a piece of mystery or ‘intrigue’ in order to draw the audience in and question “What does this mean?”, encouraging them to then engage with the text fully.
Action codes: this is the theory that a sign within a text represents something within the narrative, in order to move the narrative along at a faster pace. For example, take the below image from Pulp Fiction, by showing guns this signifies that someone is in danger of being shot and moves the plot along faster than the actors saying “We’re going to shoot you”. Therefore, in this image the guns are action codes.
The enigma code within the Rimmel make-up campaign for red lipstick is the model Kate Moss’s facial expression. Her sultry, slightly parted full lips and slightly closed eyes present an atmosphere of mystery and intrigue. Upon first glance, the audience would wonder what the model was pondering and then engage fully with the poster in order to discover their answer. The action code within this advertisement would be the lipstick itself, rather than simply stating that Rimmel are promoting a new lipstick they place an image (or action code) of the lipstick, in order to move the narrative of the text along (which is that the lipstick Kate Moss is wearing, is the lipstick displayed in the poster).
The advertisement also contains many other signs and signifiers such as the use and combination of the colour red and a heart – which both have connotations of love, lust and romance. This suggests to the audience that by endorsing in this product, it will improve your love-life and make you sexually desirable – part of Roland Barthes mythologies theory.
Therefore, throughout this lecture I’ve learnt in-depth information on semiotics in terms of signs, signifiers, connotations, mythologies, action codes and enigma codes.
Graphic Communcation: 