CULTURAL STUDIES

Dr. Anhiti Patnaik

anhitipatnaik@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in
Chamber hour: Wednesdays 3:00-4:00
Office: K Block 109
Critical Tools
Key words

SIGN
SAUSSURE

PLEASURE RULE
FREUD MARX

OTHER IMPLICIT SUBALTERN DISCOURSE DIFFERANCE IDEOLOGY

DE BEAUVOIR MACHERAY RAJAN FOUCAULT DERRIDA ALTHUSSER

SCOPOPHILIA MYTH
MULVEY BARTHES

HYPERREAL
BAUDRILLARD
Structuralism

“ A science that studies the life of signs within

society is conceivable; it would be a part of social
psychology and consequently of general
psychology; I shall call it semiology (from the
Greek semeion, ‘sign’). Semiology would show
what constitutes signs, what laws govern them ”

- Ferdinand de Saussure
The Linguistic Fact

a) The bond between the sound and the idea is

radically arbitrary.

b) The values remain entirely relative.

c) The concepts are purely differential and

defined not by their positive content but
negatively by their relations with the other
terms of the system.
‘Meaning’ Circuit

Language is a shared social contract or system of relations that organizes the vague uncharted
nebula of thought into meaning through an arbitrarily allocated differential sign – which is a
complex psycho-physiological unit in an individual brain that gets replenished or validated only
through an individual’s interaction with other. The linguistic fact moves in this circuit.
‘Meaning’ Axes

A Linguistic fact hasContext

no form,andno contrast
substance,
create
no presence,
synchronicnovalue
positive qualities
to give it form. It consists of the differences that separate it from other forms.
This = “Not” That

Diexis Negation
RAT = MAN =
NOT CAT NOT WOMAN
NOT RAG NOT BOY
NOT ROT NOT BLACK
NOT TAR NOT GAY
NOT चूहा NOT DISABLED
NOT POOR

Structuralism creates structure by setting up hierarchical oppositional binaries

“ Signifier/Signified
Syntagmatic/Paradigmatic
Speech/Writing
Langue/Parole
Synchronic/Diachronic
Arbitrary
”
Keywords
Study topics

• Is human language a natural fact or cultural invention?

• If there is no pre-existing reality that words represent, then how
do neologisms work?
• Why do some languages have terms for concepts others don’t?
• Why are some languages more powerful than others?
• What is the difference between referentiality and relationality?
Saussure’s Influence

The mythic
Masks the
Jean Baudrillard repetition
absence of Levi Strauss
of cultural
the referent
norms

Sign Mystification
= Arbitrary of meaning
+ through Roland Barthes
Convention signs

Who is the
Sign depends
signature
entirely on
Jacques Derrida or force
context and J. L. Austin
behind the
speaker
speech act
Signs/Myths

“The starting point of these reflections was usually a feeling of

impatience at the sight of the 'naturalness' with which
newspapers, art and common sense constantly dress up a
reality which, even though it is the one we live in, is
undoubtedly determined by history. In short, in the account
given of our contemporary circumstances, I resented seeing
Nature and History confused at every turn, and I wanted to
track down, in the decorative display of what-goes-without-
saying, the ideological abuse which, in my
view, is hidden there.”

- Roland Barthes, Mythologies (1972)

Demystification

“ I am at the barber's, and a copy of Paris-Match is offered

to me. On the cover, a young Negro in a French uniform is
saluting, with his eyes uplifted, probably fixed on a fold of
the tricolour. All this is the meaning of the picture.
But, whether naively or not, I see very well what it signifies
to me:
that France is a great Empire, that all her sons, without
any colour discrimination, faithfully serve under her flag,
and that there is no better answer to the detractors of an
alleged colonialism than the zeal shown by this Negro in
serving his so-called oppressors. ”
Demystification

“ I am therefore again faced with a greater semiological

system:
there is a signifier, itself already formed with a previous
system (a black soldier is giving the French salute);
there is a signified (it is here a purposeful mixture of
Frenchness and militariness);
finally, there is a presence of the signified through the
signifier. ”
Lexis = Semiology + Ideology

SIGNIFIER + SIGNIFIED + SIGN

Myth is a type of speech or a mode of signification – not an object, concept, idea, truth. The mythical
signification is never arbitrary; it is always in part motivated and always contains some analogy.
Mythification

• Inoculation from history

• Neither-norism
• Tautology or statement of fact
• Identification and Universality
• Quantification of quality
Myth= Semiology + Ideology

Myth is a type of speech or a mode of signification – not an object, concept,

idea, truth. Pictures become a kind of writing as soon as they are meaningful.
Case Study: Selfies
The selfie is a unique moment where the subject and object of the photograph are the same. This may be true
of genres like the autobiography or self-portrait, but the selfie has a spontaneity that makes it seem like a real
image. The first known selfie was taken in 1839 by Robert Cornelius who sat motionless for 15 minutes to
capture his own image on film. Traditional photographs had a purpose and were reserved for formal occasions
due to their cost. Now with wifi and mobile technology, photographs can be taken of trivial and meaningless
moments that appear more ‘natural,’ ‘candid’ and ‘real’ than the posed portraits of the past. The selfie is
exemplary of this culture of digital portraiture. It has no intention except to communicate, to “share”, to
“post”. It needs no other applause except the momentary attention, the one-second “like”. The selfie presents
itself insistently as a pure sign. It claims: This is me, I am here in front of you. It forces you to like me, to
understand me. It fuses the signifier and signified so that the photograph becomes the signifier of a mythic
version of the self. Or at least, it hopes it does. The signifier can never fully encompass the self which is a
diachronic subject changing on a moment-moment basis. In trying to capture this moment-moment change
through a synchronic medium, it is rendered impotent. The selfie is thus only given meaning by its context
(hashtags, check-in, tagged friends, comments). This meaning is endlessly deferred or interrupted by the casual
scrolling down of the news feed. The selfie is differential and arbitrary. There are thus different types of
selfies: the bed selfie, drunk selfie, gym selfie, or ironic ‘I hate selfies’-selfie. But each selfie is united by the
fact that it is uploaded only after a few attempts to make it appear ‘real.’ Even as it pretends to be natural or
real, it actually operates as a myth or a second order signification. The proliferation of selfie- sticks and
Instagram filters in order to capture the most natural or real version of oneself proves that it is nothing but a
myth.
Every sign is
“ideological”
Study topics

• How are myths generated by popular culture? Eg. Disney,

Bollywood, Fashion, Technology
• Is it possible to create counter-myths that are radical or avant-
garde?
• What is the difference between reality and representation?
• What is the connection between ideology and democracy?
Further Reading

• Barthes, Roland (1967). Elements of Semiology. trans. Annette Lavers & Colin Smith. London: Jonathan
Cap
• Eco, Umberto (1984): Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language. Bloomington: Indiana University Press
• Morris, Charles W (1946): Signs, Language and Behavior. New York: Prentice-Hall
• Danesi, Marcel (1998): Of Cigarettes, High Heels, and Other Interesting Things: An Introduction to
Semiotics (Semaphores and Signs). London: St. Martin's Press
• Lotman, Yuri (1990): Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture (trans. Ann Shukman).
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press
• Solomon, Jack (1988): The Signs of Our Time: The Secret Meanings of Everyday Life. New York: Harper &
Row
• Langholz Leymore, Varda (1975): Hidden Myth: Structure and Symbolism in Advertising. New York: Basic
Books
• Williamson, Judith (1978): Decoding Advertisements. London: Marion Boyars
• Nichols, Bill (1981): Ideology and the Image: Social Representation in the Cinema and Other Media.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press
• Andersen, Peter Bogh (1997): A Theory of Computer Semiotics: Semiotic Approaches to Construction and
Assessment of Computer Systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press