Before I begin my semiotic textual analysis, I will first establish the basis of my analysis with the use of semiotic practices and semiology. As we have learned from Saussure, semiotics is the study of signs and the systems governing them, for example, hand gestures, facial expressions, colours, typology, camera angles etc.
In order to aid my analysis, I will use semiology ( an investigation of the nature of signs and the laws governing them ( Saussure 1974 16)) to understand the signs and codes within it. I chose to analyse two texts from the same genre of teenage magazines. I chose to analyse the cover of an American magazine ‘Seventeen’ and two different magazines based on a teenage boy audience in order to portray how the media constructs the ideology of what it is to be a teenage girl and in opposition the ideology of what it is to be a teenage boy. I will compare and contrast the two in order to fully understand the different ideologies created by the media and in society.
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A semiotic analysis focuses on the system of rules governing the ‘discourse’ involved in the texts, stressing the importance of the role of the semiotic context in shaping the meaning. ( Chandler 1994). In my analysis of the two texts, I will focus on the signs within the magazine cover and explore how they might affect the reader.
Seventeen Magazine September 2011 Issue
I chose to analyse the front cover of the magazines as it is what immediately draws us in and is the determiner in whether we purchase the magazine or not. The title of this magazine is ‘seventeen’ which we can denote as the literal number 17 or the age seventeen. The connotation (implied meaning) of this title can be of what it is to be a seventeen-year-old girl and the world they live in at that age. This title allows us to immediately know that this magazine is directed at a teenage audience and falls under the genre of teenage magazines. The central image on this magazine cover is that of a girl. According to Saussure’s concept of the sign, the sign is the human, the signifier is the girl and the signified is youthfulness and innocence. The denotation is what we recognise the image as depicting (Panofsky 1970). In this magazine cover, we recognise the girl smiling. The connotation is the associations we make and this may change according to interpreters age, class or ethnicity. In the context of this text, a teen girl ( the target audience) reading this text would associate this image with the actress Ashley Benson and may also associate her with some of her best known acting roles such as Pretty Little Liars. A reader of this magazine is presumed to have a knowledge of this association because it is a popular tv show among teenage girls which makes it implicit intertextuality. The image of Ashley Benson is placed at eye level with the reader which creates a level of intimacy and makes her seems approachable because of her body language which is relaxed and happy. The magazine uses this to create a sense of connection and familiarity between the reader and this actress. The use of the text ‘Pretty Little Liars Exclusive’ adds to the image making it seems as if the actress will be sharing her secrets directly with the reader creating a further relationship between the reader and the actress. This technique allows the reader to believe they are on the same level as her and even ‘friends’ with her. Another way that this text seeks to establish a relationship with the reader is through the modes of address used. Modes of address are the ways relations between the addresser and the addressee are constructed in the text. In order to communicate the producer of the text must make some assumptions about the extended audience and these reflections may be discerned in the text (Chandler 2002). In Text 1 we see how the use of slang and simplistic language is applied in order to appeal to the teenage audience.
Boy’s Life Magazine September 2016 Issue
This text displays a vast amount of signs which we can semiotically analyse. The title boy’s life at a literal level may denote a young boy and his life but at a connotative level, one might associate it with societies ideas of what a young boy should be and how he should behave. There are various signs which we can analyse using denotation and connotation. We can use the three orders of signification in relation to the signs in this text, for example, the police badge. At the denotative level, this is a photograph of a police badge, at a connotative level we associate this photograph with ideas of protection, bad versus good and safety. Finally, at a mythic level in relation to the context of teenage boys, we can associate this with the common ideologies that boys should grow up to become protectors, people of authority and take on the societal norms of masculinity. The use of anchorage in this text allows the reader to associate the images in the text with the caption ‘Explore your future’ thus implying that these images of a fireman’s hat and an FBI hat are jobs which teenage boys should aspire to. Linguistic elements in a text such as a caption can be used to ‘anchor’ the preferred reading of a text (Roland Barthes 1979).
We can use semiotics not only to analyse these two texts separately but also to compare them to see if they have any reoccurring semiotic frameworks within them. Both texts use direct modes of address we see that in Text 1 the addresser employs the use of ‘you’ll and your’ in order to directly communicate with the teenage girl ( the addressee) and to explain to them that reading the magazine will help them ‘look leaner and taller’. However, in comparison in Text 2, the direct mode of address used to tell the teenage boy to ‘explore your future’. From this we can deduct different ideologies and stereotypes placed on teenage girls and teenage boys, boys reading Text 2 are told they should explore their future and expand their knowledge while girl readers of Text 1 are told to focus on their appearance. In Text 1 the image of Ashley Benson is used which is seemingly realistic however from what I have learned from semiotics is that the camera always lies and this image has been produced in a way to create the image of this celebrity as a normal person and that her looks are obtainable to readers if they read the articles within the magazine itself.
In conclusion, using semiotic analyse has allowed me to examine the signs, connotations and denotations which make up the two texts and understand the implications and significance they can have on the reader of these texts. By applying semiotic analyse I was able to identify ideologies that are prevalent in the texts and understand the world view these ideologies evoke in their readership. Text 1 portrayed ideologies of femininity in teenage girls and the text conveys how they should behave and look through the use of modes of address and the signs employed. A teenage girl reading this magazine will be lead to believe that society expects her to look similar to the girl on the cover. In contrast, the worldview presented to the reader of Text 2 is the ideology of masculinity and the stereotypes which accompany this ideology. A teenage boy reading this magazine will be lead to believe that he should seek out a career in the stereotypical fields of work employed in the use of signs associated with them in the text such as a policeman or fireman. After analysing these two texts I strongly agree with Valentin Voloshinov who declared: 'Whenever a sign is present, ideology is present too’. Through the employment of semiotics, we can analyse these texts and their accompanying ideologies but we must realise that these ideologies can be challenged and that we can ‘denaturalize’ them.
Bibliography
- Chandler, D. (2019). Semiotics for Beginners. [online] Visual-memory.co.uk. Available at: http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem13.html?LMCL=uBwekO [Accessed 5 Dec. 2019].
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