Shower Up, Soldier! You've Taken Enough Barthes!

Listen up, Maggots!

I've just received this week's briefing from HQ. You may be curious to see how this week's assignment from the Major plays out, and truth be told, so am I. Let's take a quick look at this briefing and see just what HQ expects from us.

...

It appears that HQ has included an image with the briefing. And here's the mission, cadets:

"Find three quotations in “Rhetoric of the Image” that you find illuminating. Discuss them and apply the them to the following ad for the last episode of The Sopranos."

Ah. Well, then, that explains the image.

Well, first things first, cadets. Let's take a quick refresher on Roland Barthes. Now, Intel's reports have told us that Roland Barthes is a man with a special kind of power. That power? Semiotics. He uses semiotics in order to analyze an image and discover all its secret meanings. He revealed his analytical strategy in an essay entitled, "Rhetoric of the Image." The example he used when revealing his strategy was a Panzini ad. Now, it just so happens that I've been briefed on "Rhetoric of the Image." As such, I found several key points that that were crucial elements of his strategy. Let's do as the Major commands and discuss these three key points. From there, we'll apply these points to the Sopranos advertisement. Any questions? No? Good.

Key Point A.) "What is the signifying structure of illustration? ...does the text add a fresh information to the image?" At this point, Barthes brings up the importance of linguistic code within an image. Namely, in addition to the image itself, Barthes looks to the textual evidence to ensure that it helps reinforce his connoted and denoted evidence. The use of linguistic code is a major factor in image analysis. Though one may simply wish to refer to the image alone, oftentimes it is the accompanying text that can help make an image intelligible.

Key Point B.) "Man's interventions in the photograph (framing, distance, lighting, focus, speed) all effectively belong to the plane of connotation..." What Barthes suggests here is that the composition of a shot itself does not add to the literal message of the photograph. Rather, the image composition is a cunning strategy that photographers use in order to give the image a newer meaning. A meaning that, through interference, ultimately changes the image from one thing to another.

Key Point C.) "...the rhetoric of the image... is specific to the extent that it is subject to the physical constraints of vision..." Barthes indicates that an image can only speak for itself to a certain degree. The manipulation of an image creates different messages, different meanings, and can adjust the different restraints of the image. It could free the image and show us a newer message or restrain the image, forcing us to analyze it deeper.

With these three points in mind, let's turn now to this advertisement from the Sopranos. Move, move, move!

From Point A, let's investigate it through linguistic code. The first linguistic information we see are the words "The Final Episodes," followed by the time. This attaches the image to a sense of urgency. After all, these will be the last several episodes of the show forever. Once these episodes finish, that's all there will ever be. Second, the striking phrase below: "Made in America." Juxtaposing this phrase along with the image, Tony Soprano standing across the water from the Statue of Liberty, this imposes a strong sense of American pride. This could be considered pride of the writers, or perhaps pride of the characters.

From Point B, let's look at the particular techniques the photographers use to connotatively alter the ad's meaning. The picture itself is in black and white, with black and red text superimposed above it. Tony Soprano is the center of the picture's focus, effectively next to the Statue of Liberty, but in some ways, he is not close to the Statue. For one thing, the Statue is across the water from him. For another, both he and the Statue have their backs turned on each other. What could this signify? The country turning its back on its citizens, or the citizens turning their backs on the country? Combined with the textual evidence mentioned just now, this makes an even more striking image. The phrase "Made in America" is suddenly given an entirely new meaning. Could it be sardonic?

Last but not least, Point C. To a degree, this works hand-in-hand with Points A and B. The image has been manipulated in order to convey a certain message about its subject. The positioning of the image's subjects indicate some sort of struggle between country and citizen, and the textual evidence further indicates the struggle. How does it all connect? The composition of the image tells us that this show is about an American struggle, with two moral extremes: black and white. Freedom is at stake, and with only several episodes left, the central conflict will be at its greatest climax.

Good work, maggots! I'll wrap up this briefing now and report to the Major at once.

DIS-MISSED.