Preliminary Exercise 2: Roland Barthes' Theory of Semiotics Analysis

 Introduction

   Ronald Barthes was also a an who created a theory and added on to Saussure's theory. He analyzed significations and studied the concepts of myths, denotations and connotations. Denotations are the literal meanings of a sign and connotations adds on to those literal meanings by linking multiple other meanings. This theory benefits signs by creating an open mind on what the film is trying to portray and take consideration of all the other meanings that could be linked to that one sign.

    I've watched a video clip of the hunger games, Mockingjay part 2 and that clip portrayed multiple meanings and signs to it. Just by looking at the audience and characters and listening to the dialogue and the sounds, it showed the suspenseful and the chaotic side of that movie and you could tell that clip was probably the climax of the whole movie. During watching this clip, me and my partner had to select 4 codes. Three visual codes( the theater, the dress, and an emotion) and one audio code (the loud crowd). Down below I've created a table with each of these code denotation and connotation.

Reflection

As a class, we had to partner up with someone and create a PowerPoint presentation table that describe Barthes theory. We then watch a Mockingjay part 2 clip from YouTube and decode the characters actions, their costumes and their personality to determine the theme and their denotations and connotations. I was already an expert with using a computer and PowerPoint with this assignment since I already had experience from Preliminary Exercise 1. So, the assignment was easy and fun. I've learned that one thing could have way more than just one meaning to it, depending on experience and surroundings and the Mockingjay connected multiple meanings to the clip. This assignment really helped my understandings.

Word-Cited

    Roland Barthes (no date) Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roland-Gerard-Barthes (Accessed: 29 September 2023).