Visual Text Analysis
This part of the paper will introduce the objective of the paper as well as how it will be organised. In this paper, the visual texts that will be analysed, includes the pictures of an advertisement. The analysis will attempt to determine the genre, styles forms and signifiers and signs demonstrated in the visual ad chosen. In this essay, I will analyse the visual text in a semiotic manner and this relates to the ideology of masculinity. Accordingly, masculinity is an ideology or theory which comprises or consists of a number of cultural, political and social movements and activities and moral philosophies which are concerned with the inequalities of gender as well as the equal rights for men. For this essay, in-text quotation will also be used as an evidence or proof to support the analysis provided or given. The paper will attempt to discuss the image through its ideological content through the use of one or more key concepts of masculinity. Through the analysis of the symbols, codes and signage, this paper is assured that the main goal or objective will be achieved. For this image, it can be said that the genre used is visual or photography.
Exhibit 1
The visual text that will be used is contained in the figure above and is an advertisement appearing in the August issue of PC Gamer. The main aim of advertisements is to manipulate the viewer to pursue a specific course of action (Belch and Belch, 1999). In the visual text, it can be said that the image is encouraging online PC gamers or internet users to try in playing the “Lord of the Rings: Online.”. In this figure, the presentation are composed of the images of different male individuals who are congested into the space and the image of the ring and boxes which shows the different chapters of the journey of the “Lord of the Rings”. As can be seen, the male individuals are congested in the area inside the ring and other pictures and images at background (mountains, clouds) sets the image to be in a specific dimension. The main goal of this advertisement is to get the viewer to join the communist, assumes their identity and escape through reality. Culturally PC online gaming communities provide the opportunity to assume another life. The advertisement also depicts the acceptability of blood and gore and violence, as each of the player has to do their best to survive in the online competition.
This ad also conveys information to the youth of today that uses the PC and Internet as their source of relaxation and entertainment. This ad can be said to be visually stimulating environment creates a platform for individuals to interact with each other and because of this imagery, this ad appeals to males and females aged 25 years or younger – teenagers. The interpretation of the target audience of the advertisement is also dependents on its paradigmatic analysis which includes the comparison as well as alteration of the sign’s signifiers, with alternative signifiers as well as its syntagmatic analysis, which shows how the elements and aspects of the sign as structured in a series and in comparison with each other.
In the picture, there can be seen difference signifier and signs as well as myth. For instance the faces of the crowds composing of male individuals can be considered as a signifier which signifies variety of demographics and create a meaning of being in one community or society, in the case of online games, virtual community or society. This indicates that gaming online can create a virtual community which projects to physical reality. It can also be stated that part of the semiotic analysis is the texts and each belong to a class of paradigms the medium being the website, the genre is multimedia, and its theme being technology associated with virtual community. The medium of this is the image and graphics.
Another signifier of this visual image is the text “Millions of Players, One Game to Rule them all”. This text signifies the context of online game and indicates that this game dominates other games in the genre. In this regard, this image encourages the gamers to part of the largest gaming community as indicated by the Millions of Players.
Another signifier of this is the screen shots which signified a sense of the fantasy world. The sign includes the chance of the gamer to play in an environment with other characters which enables the gamers to escape into a fantasy world. Another signifier of this ad is the golden color used which signifies premium and success and which is most likely link to the film and cult. The color used can be said to be attractive since it depicts the color of this generation which is more on technical.
The visual text can be considered to convey different ideologies. Accordingly, ideology is a set of social values, ideas, beliefs, feelings, representations, and institutions by which people collectively make sense of the world they live in (O’Shaunghessy & Stadler, 2003). In this ad, it can be said that the image reflects the ideologies of the time. Herein, the ideology of the gaming fraternity is to create an imagined world that includes non-gamers and allows the participants to interact in a virtual world through assuming personas. The success is dependent upon the nature of the universe created, the degree of interaction and the size of the gaming community that populates the world. In this ad, there are some obvious binary opposition.
Table 1
Binary Oppositions
Privileged term(dominant)
Non-privileged term(subordinate)
fantasy
Community
Violence
Real, truth
alone
peace
The privilege term includes the players who belong to lord of the rings online and the Non-privileged are those who do not belong to the online community. As can be seen in the table, the privilege which is the dominant opposition includes the context of fantasy, community and violence. Fantasy because online games allow individuals to belong into different world in the virtual environment and belong into a community which projects violence, since the individuals have to fight to survive in such virtual world. On one hand the subordinate oppositions which are the non-privilege include the realm, truth, peace and loneliness It can be said that advertisements create illusions of the reality (Fiske, 1982, p. 145).
In the visual text being analysed, positive and negative images are being promoted: one being of classy and sense of belongingness and the other of strong black maleness and violence. When considering a semiotic analysis it is important to look at representation toot. Such is defined as the manner the image actively constructs definitions in accordance to sets of conventions shared by and common to makers as well the target audience or market (Swanson, 1991, p. 123). Such meanings are being constructed from such contexts like general knowledge, culture and experience. This representation can be considered to both integrated with what the audience see, the meanings they get, from their commonality with the way standard are utilised in the genre of advertisements, and the cultural context. The latter enables to generate the accepted meanings and the construction of individuals. This construction of definitions can alter over a period so it is interesting to see in the figure above- as a generated idea of masculinity.
In the ad, the caption of the “Millions of Players, One Game to Rule them all” and the crowd faces of male individuals, the audience, knowing the sorts of codes applied in advertisements, would initially think that such ad is about gaming and the text Games for Windows would initially think that this advertisement is about online gamine. The use of images and text underlines the positive connotation and equates the online game with sophistication. It also focuses one of the principal properties of this specific game is the chapters of the game. Again the inter-textuality of these signs which is everything is a part of something is seen. The faces of the crowd also connote individualism while their position within the ring denotes that they belong in one community.
This recommends the connotation that the crowds belongs to a society, and have the capacity to be considered as one. Having just attempted to carry out semiotic analysis of this ad, it can be felt that this have been made far more aware of what is included in the structuring of advertisements and how nearly that structuring, if the ad is to successful enormously depends on cultural values. Such analysis has been worthwhile since it has shown the power of visual imager and the wealth of meaning recommended by even the smallest detail, for instance, the font in the letters of the lord of the rings and other texts, a paradigm which added to the image of the syntagm.
Based on the given text analysis or visual text analysis, it can be said that the analysis of the text can be helpful and significant for learning English as the second language, the symbols and signifiers in the English language are said to be seen directly and understood directly which can help students. In addition, it can be said that the analysis can be a helpful tool for effective learning of English as a secondary language. One essential finding with regards to the analysis sis that language learning approaches can be enhanced through the consideration of text analysis to use and apply the lessons learned in the real life situation.
All in all, it can be said that the image above are able to convey information because of the colours, texts and other images used. In addition, the image shown also depicts the generation today with the technological advancements and how information and communication technology can create virtual community and society.
Reference
Belch, GE and Belch, MA 1999, Advertising and Promotion, 4th edn, McGraw Hill, Boston.
Fiske, J 1982, Introduction to communication studies, Methuen and Co., London.
O’Shaughnessy, M and Stadler, J 2003, Media and Society: an introduction, Oxford University Press.
PC Gamer 2007, Lord of Rings Online, p. 61.
Taylor, A and Woolard, A 2005, Gamers in the UK, Digital Play, Digital Lifestyles, BBC Audience Research, London.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment