Barthes writes in his essay Rhetoric of the Image that in “advertising the signification of the image is undoubtedly intentional” and because it is intentional it ““straightaway provides a series of discontinuous signs.” The signs all come together by the viewer making meaning of it through denotative and connotative messages, which involve both the image and text. Therefore everything we see in the ad was not placed there because it looked nice or added flavor to the image but rather everything was chosen to be in a specific spot, be a certain height and color, because it has a larger meaning which develops through all of the signs being put together. For example, here we see the ad for the last episode of the Sopranos television show and by looking at this image through the lens of Barthes we can see how we can make meaning of the image therefore recognizing its “intentional” messages.
“Today at the level of mass communications, it appears that the linguistic message is indeed present in every image as title, caption, accompanying press article, film dialogue, comic strip balloon. Which shows that it is not very accurate to talk of the civilization of the image - we are still, and more than ever, a civilization of writing, writing and speech continuing to be the full terms of the informational structure.” Here Barthes notes that we should not separate the text from the image because they play off one another. Each tells us something that the other doesn’t. In the Sopranos image it says “The Final Episodes – APRIL 8th, 9PM” where as the image does not give a time and date in fact the image is a picture that is taken in daylight not night and the text let’s the viewers know it is the last episode. Barthes says “there is a further information pointer, that which tells us that this is an advertisement… from the emphasis of the labels)”. Having APRIL and PM in capital letters suggests how important that part of the image is and it is the only part that does not appear through a symbolic image within the ad, it is just shown in the text. Under that line of text is another line of text saying “Made in America” in red letters. This clearly connects with the image since the viewers can see Ellis Island in the background which is New York City (America). With this viewers make a mental note that the television show is most likely not only made in America but is for Americans. The text is in English which adds more to this notion. Because of this textual information viewers can bring in their own experiences of what it means to be from America along with the background they know about Ellis Island and other cultural things. Foreign viewers may need to take into consideration this cultural impact or else they will not come up with anything near the same meaning. However since it is an ad the intentions for the meaning remain the same, the advertisers just want people to tune in to watch the show.
Before going into the cultural impact of viewing an image lets take a look at what everyone no matter where they are located on a map, what the time period may be, or how old they are can all recognize the image to be the same. This Barthes describes is the denotative meaning where it has been “cleared utopianically of its connotations, the image would become radically objective, or, in the last analysis, innocent.” The image is only seen as the image with no meaning behind it. The first noticeable thing is the color, or lack of color. The ad is mostly in black and white. There are two lines of text on the top left corner. The text is bold and block like, the first line being in black and the second in red. In this ad we see a middle aged man with a suit more towards the right of the ad. He is balding and looking over his right shoulder. In the background on the man’s left there is some kind of island with a large statue, this image is relatively far away from the man. On the right of the man there are birds flying in the air in the direction away from him off the page but also more in the distant background. In this description of the ad, there is no meaning made of the images and text just what is literally there, the denotative message. Clearly this means that viewers make meaning of the signs bys relying heavily on the cultural impact that the viewer takes in with them while examining the ad.
“We may say immediately that the literal image is denoted and the symbolic image connoted.” The culture this ad was intended for is clearly Americans. Since the text is at the top left corner of the image we read this first. Shown through the text is “Made in America” and the image of it taking place in New York City. By placing who it was intended for the viewer can place that cultural influence in the ad and get the connoted message or symbolic message. The ad being in black and white suggests that it is something surreal and dreamlike since photographs and television today in the 21st century are normally seen in color. The lack of color gives of a strange vibe that something is not right and by looking closer at the picture this vibe grows stronger. The look on the man’s face is one of interrogation, suspicion, or just simply thinking. Since he is wearing a suit the viewer can assume that this is a sign to let us know his occupation- a detective. By showing him without a full head of hair implies that he is older and therefore in our culture along with many others means wiser. Following his glare the viewer can see Ellis Island in New York City. This is a place where foreigners first came to America, the start of a new beginning with the Statue of Liberty showing this new beginning as something great- liberty and freedom. But there is clearly something wrong it is far off in the distance- not tangible to this man for some reason. The birds are in a group and look for the majority of them that they are flying away from this island that stands for something great. In America when there is some kintype of surreal picture being presented and the person is thinking, a classic show of an angel on one shoulder and the other shoulder holds the devil. This is suppose to represent someone’s conscious and the angel is on the right shoulder. In this surreal image the man is glaring at/ over his right shoulder and we see the Statue or Liberty and all these signs that in America represent great things. However with all of these signs and images coming together the viewer can imagine that something is distorted or corrupt in New York City. The water is choppy and what pops out the most is the second line of text in red “Made in America”. The people that came to Ellis Island were not originally from America that is why they came. All of these signs point out that something is wrong and this Final Episode we can assume will reveal not only what is wrong but how it is resolved since the “final” of something in America usually gives a solid conclusion.
Just like Barthes we have now “successively, then, we looked at the linguistic message, the denoted image,and the connoted image.”
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