pihfr@d!naicemediastudy: Preliminary Exercise 2: Roland Barthes' Theory of Semiotics

Introduction:

Roland Gerard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, and semiotician who said anything in culture can be a sign and send a specific message. His theory revolves around the idea of myths. It states that a message is conveyed when an object, image, or phrase becomes associated with a concept or value and thus takes on a symbolic meaning as well as all narratives share structural features that each narrative weaves together in different ways. His theory is beneficial to media studies because his ideas explored a diverse range of fields and influenced the development of many schools of theory, including structuralism, anthropology, literary theory, and post-structuralism. His theory is greatly represented in Mockingjay part two, in the clip it shows kat (the main character) on stage talking after the games and being questioned on her experience and her dress (which is quite unquie and custom made) and shares some shocking news with the world. The way Barthes theory goes along with this scene is with her dress, everyone facial expressions, and lighting which if you decode it is the clothes, acting, and lighting which Barthes talks about.

Reflection:

By watching the clip it helps show how theory's like Barthes and Ferdinand work in film. Its like watching them work first hand that helps deepen your connection of them. I learned how to look for signs of the theories, who created them, how important they are, and mostly how often they show up in our day to day life's. I created a small presentation to help others better understand his theory and how it correlates to the Mockingjay clip i mentioned earlier, this way other people can use these theories in their own work. I used my computer to access the app PowerPoint from my office 365 where i made the presentation. I used different colors, graphs, and fonts provided by the app so i didn't have to open many tabs. I consider myself a pro at PowerPoint because i been using it since i was in middle school. I love making beautiful presentations whenever I can. I worked on this by myself and did everything with no help.