Semiotics and the Swastika

It seems as though much of Roland Barthe's work, in Semiotics, was a result of his obsession with analyzing cultural material, and the contradictions that are represented in terms of ideal perception and actual reality. He found that the manipulation and hidden agendas behind messages, especially in media, are part of a process by which signs (comprised of a signifier and signified) are changing to become the signifier of a secondary (connotative) meaning. In essence, the material being interpreted loses its original roots to a new connotation. Barthe's work is very much concerned with this relationship between the signifier and the signified, which every sign is made up of. Often the connotative signs that make up media messages such as advertising reflect and uphold the status quo (which may or may not be truthful, moral/ethical). Although they convey a particular message, connotative signs are mythical and have lost their historical referent because the denotative sign has now become the signifier of an entirely new sign.

While it is a fairly obvious example, of the transformation of meaning within signs, the video below depicts how the connotation behind the swastika has transformed. The women in the video explains the widespread use of the symbol and its meaning to some of those people. It is apparent that, for centuries, the swastika has represented a positive message to many different cultures around the world. Some of these messages include life, sun, power, strength and good luck. When Hitler and the Nazis of World War II adopted this symbol as their own, they took the symbol and the sign it represented, and transferred it to become the signifier of a secondary system. As the symbol became the a representation of the Nazi regime, it also represented everything the group stood for and the horrible acts they committed. Thus the symbol is now part of a sign system in which it represents the horrific agendas and ideals of Nazi Germany to which most people are still sensitive. It is extremely interesting to look at how dramatically the meaning of signs can be transformed. The fact that a symbol, which was once distinctly positive, can be so severely tainted is remarkable. More reflection on this topic, I'm sure, will lead to the realization or discovery of many other examples of this transformation of meaning and the breaking down of already developed sign systems. Are there any other examples that you can think of?




The beginning of this next video depicts the ways in which the Nazis used the swastika but If you fast forward to about 0:35 you will see its depiction from other cultural backgrounds.

Semiotics, The Golden Arches, and Baby McFry

Semiotics is the study of signs. Roland Barthes is the main theorist of semiotics.He saught to decipher the cultural meaning of visual signs, particularly those perpetuating dominant social values. Before Barthes a swiss theorist designed the components that make up any analysis of a sign, his name was Saussare. Saussare said in every analysis of a sign there is a signified and a signifier.The chapter really explores more of what Barthe called mythologies of the sign, for instance the symbol of the "yellow ribbon". I found it so interesting how it's meaning was deconstructed over time. it still begs the question how did that start? In my search for representative media for semiotics I found much of it dealing with simply the sign and the signifier, and signified, but I am really interested in Barthes idea of the mythology for signs. Something I considered comparable to the "yellow ribbon" are the world famous McDonalds "Golden Arches", because in it's simplest form it is really just a letter M, but when it became the golden arches the implications became so much more. It now has a mythology. I think in some ways just the word arches denotes it's like a "wonder of the world" the 8th, right up there with the statue of liberty and the Taj Mahal. it sounds crazy, but it is so engrained in us as actual arches that the word and image have that power. It's really a stroke of advertising genuis. Arches meaning always welcoming, and big enough to house the whole world. This may be going too far but there is also something spiritual, biblical, angelic in the figure of a golden arch, like walking under it will bring health, etc, and to think it's really just an M in the word McDonalds. i think the arches are half of the reason McDonalds is the biggest fast food chain in the world. This is a theory of my own, i guess, and I could not find anything specific linking the arches to semiotics, but just when I'd about given up hope I came across this, baby McFry. So what can we see in this image, what are the signs saying? I think a lot.