According to Ferdinand de Saussure, signs refer to things that they are not. A “sign” is defined by the interaction of the signifier (the form of the sign) and the signified (the concept the signifier represents). To better understand this concept, let’s break down a sign. Here we have the Canadian flag, which can be seen waiving in front of the tower at Brock University:
The signifiers of this sign are the physical things about it that can be seen. It is a rectangle made of cloth attached to a pole. On the cloth are two smaller red rectangles, and a red maple leaf. The signifiers of a sign can be seen as the way an alien from outer-space would interpret the sign. With no knowledge of its meaning or significance, they would strictly identify its physical characteristics (assuming these aliens can see). The signified meaning of this sign is that it serves as Canada’s national flag and represents our country. There is nothing inherent or natural about a red maple leaf and rectangles that suggest Canadian nationality, but that is the dominant meaning it carries due to human social relations and symbolic codes. The signified is subject to change at any time and possesses its meaning based on the shared agreement and understanding of society rather than its physical characteristics.
A similar way of thinking can be applied to understand communication messages. When a message producer (for our purposes Brock University) releases a messages, they “encode” the message by having it conform to already existing rules and norms (is this relevant to students/faculty? Is it appropriate for us to weigh in on this topic? Will we offend anyone with this message?). It is then up to the message receiver (students) to “decode” the message and interpret it. In doing so there are two levels of meaning that can be interpreted: the denotative meaning (the literal meaning of the sign), and the connotative meaning (the contextualized understanding of the sign.) Let’s look at a promotional video from Brock University to better understand this concept:
On a denotative level of meaning, this is a 15 second video with multiple pictures edited and placed together in a way that shows the actors involved as two different types of people. This message is reinforced at the end with the slogan “Discover both sides of your brain” and the Brock University logo. The way you understand this video at this level of meaning is very literal: Brock University wants you to discover both sides of your brain, and is showing one side of a person's face beside some sort of image. On a connotative level of meaning, one can start inferring their own “situational ideologies” to give this message a different meaning. As per this picture, scientists have identified that the right and left sides of our brains are responsible for different types of thinking.
It is common for people to say they are more “left-brained” if they excel in mathematics or science, or “right-brained” if they excel in the arts. Brock University is demonstrating their commitment to honing both the analytical and artistic abilities of their students using an abstract visual demonstration of people and images that tend to represent prestige and intellect such as finance and professional sport, summarized by the slogan “Discover both sides of your brain.” In order for the audience to achieve this interpretation of the message, they need to have some sort of background knowledge about how the brain works and why using “both sides” of it is significant or appealing.
Now to be clear, this interpretation that I have explained is very much the “dominant-hegemonic position”, and assumes the message receiver decodes the message in the exact way it was intended to be decoded by the encoder. Some viewers could interpret the message from a “negotiated position”, where they acknowledge and understand the dominant code but have their own meaning shaped by other ideologies and experiences from their lives that may oppose it. For example, a student may see this and acknowledge that honing both sides of the brain can be useful, but doesn’t feel it necessary for his own education as he doesn’t want to waste his time honing analytical skills as a music major. There is also an “oppositional position” to be taken, where the decoder actively opposes or disagrees with the connotative meaning of the message. In this case, the decoder may think that honing both sides of the brain is a waste of time and doesn’t lead to a better, more rounded education as the video suggests. All three of these positions depend on the ideologies and experiences that the decoder references when decoding the messages.
Understanding how different signs and messages can be interpreted and understood is important for University students. As critical thinkers it is crucial that we are not only aware of the different levels of meaning that these things have when decoding messages, but also of how others may interpret messages we encode and for what reasons. As audience members and content producers we almost certainly will find ourselves on both sides of the spectrum, and the more knowledge we have about how to effectively communicate and interpret messages the more successful we can be.
Sources:
Sullivan, J. (2013). Media Audiences, Effects, Users, Institutions, Power. California: SAGE Publications.
Unknown. [brockuvideo] (2011, May 11) Brock University - Discover Both Sides of Your Brain [video file] Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4LraZT5cqo
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