A Semiotic Analysis of the Bodyguard
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1
Semiotic Analysis
I
face this assignment—explaining semiotics and showing how it can be applied to television and popular culture to those who know little or nothing about the subject—with a certain amount of apprehension. I’m not sure whether semiotics is a subject, a movement, a philosophy, or a cultlike religion. I do know that there is a large and rapidly expanding literature on the subject and that many of the writings of semioticians are difficult to understand and highly technical.
So my mission, if not impossible, is quite challenging: Not only am I to explain the fundamental notions or elements of semiotics, I am also to apply them to television and television productions as well as to popular culture in general. It is a large undertaking, but I think it can be done.
The price I must pay involves a certain amount of simplification and narrowness of focus. I am going to explain the basic principles of semiotics and discuss some sample applications. I hope that after reading this chapter and the annotated bibliography provided, those interested in semiotics will probe more deeply into it at their own convenience.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SUBJECT
Although interest in signs and the way they communicate has a long history (medieval philosophers, John Locke, and others have shown
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01-Berger.qxd 6/17/2004 4:46 PM Page 3interest), modern semiotic analysis can be said to have begun with two men—Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) and American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914). (Peirce called his system semiotics, and that has become the dominant term used for the science of signs. Saussure’s semiology differs from Peirce’s semiotics in some respects, but as both are concerned with signs, I will treat the two as more or less the same in this chapter.)
Saussure’s book A Course in General Linguistics, first published posthumously in 1915, suggests the possibility of semiotic analysis.
It deals
1
Semiotic Analysis
I
face this assignment—explaining semiotics and showing how it can be applied to television and popular culture to those who know little or nothing about the subject—with a certain amount of apprehension. I’m not sure whether semiotics is a subject, a movement, a philosophy, or a cultlike religion. I do know that there is a large and rapidly expanding literature on the subject and that many of the writings of semioticians are difficult to understand and highly technical.
So my mission, if not impossible, is quite challenging: Not only am I to explain the fundamental notions or elements of semiotics, I am also to apply them to television and television productions as well as to popular culture in general. It is a large undertaking, but I think it can be done.
The price I must pay involves a certain amount of simplification and narrowness of focus. I am going to explain the basic principles of semiotics and discuss some sample applications. I hope that after reading this chapter and the annotated bibliography provided, those interested in semiotics will probe more deeply into it at their own convenience.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SUBJECT
Although interest in signs and the way they communicate has a long history (medieval philosophers, John Locke, and others have shown
❖ ❖ ❖
01-Berger.qxd 6/17/2004 4:46 PM Page 3interest), modern semiotic analysis can be said to have begun with two men—Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913) and American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914). (Peirce called his system semiotics, and that has become the dominant term used for the science of signs. Saussure’s semiology differs from Peirce’s semiotics in some respects, but as both are concerned with signs, I will treat the two as more or less the same in this chapter.)
Saussure’s book A Course in General Linguistics, first published posthumously in 1915, suggests the possibility of semiotic analysis.
It deals
Bibliography: Bakhtin, Mikhail M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: Four essays (Michael Holquist, Ed.; Caryl Emerson & Michael Holquist, Trans.) Barthes, Roland. (1970). Writing degree zero and elements of semiology (A. Lavers & C Barthes, Roland. (1972). Mythologies. New York: Hill & Wang. This volume is a collection of short essays on everyday-life topics, such as wrestling, soap Berger, Arthur Asa. (1997). Bloom’s morning: Coffee, comforters, and the hidden meaning of everyday life Berger, Arthur Asa. (1997). Seeing is believing: An introduction to visual communication (2nd ed.). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. This book functions as a primer to help readers become visually literate Berger, Arthur Asa. (1998). Signs in contemporary culture: An introduction to semiotics (2nd ed.). Salem, WI: Sheffield. This book is intended for people who have no familiarity with semiotic thought Coward, Rosalind, & Ellis, John. (1977). Language and materialism: Developments in semiology and the theory of the subject Danesi, Marcel. (2002). Understanding media semiotics. London: Arnold. Danesi, who is the director of the Program on Semiotics and Communication Eco, Umberto. (1976). A theory of semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts (Indiana University Press, 1979). Fiske, John, & Hartley, John. (1978). Reading television. London: Methuen. This is one of the most useful applications of semiotic theory to television to be Goldman, Robert, & Papson, Stephen. (1996). Sign wars: The cluttered landscapes of advertising Gottdiener, Mark. (1995). Postmodern semiotics: Material culture and the forms of postmodern life Guiraud, Pierre. (1975). Semiology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. This is a very brief but interesting explication of semiotic principles, originally published in the French “Que sais-je?” series Hall, Stuart. (Ed.). (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices Leach, Edmund. (1970). Claude Lévi-Strauss. New York: Viking. This book represents one of the more successful attempts to make Lévi-Strauss’s work 38——TECHNIQUES OF INTERPRETATION Lévi-Strauss, Claude. (1967). Structural anthropology. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Lotman, Jurij (Yuri) M. (1976). Semiotics of cinema (Mark E. Suino, Trans.). Ann Arbor: Michigan Slavic Contributions Propp, Vladimir. (1968). Morphology of the folktale. Austin: University of Texas Press Saussure, Ferdinand de. (1966). A course in general linguistics (W. Baskin, Trans.). Scholes, Robert. (1974). Structuralism in literature. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press