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September 28, 2005
Semiotics... I Say Social Construction!
I believe that each of our own worlds is constructed by us. We, ourselves, see what we see. What we see is what we see, what it means is what it means to us. Our culture and society greatly impacts this. One image, such as the one of the American (?) lady and the cow, means something to me, and something to someone else. One image, one "representation", does not "represent" one thing, and that's it. It means what we take it to mean. The more we look at something, the more meaning we seem to find in it. If we just saw that photo on the cover of a newspaper on the ground as we were rushing off to class, we would see it, but it wouldn't mean much to us; whereas today, we saw it, but we examined it and looked closely at it. The longer we looked at and thought about it, the more meanings we found, which let to more possibilities and questions. There is not one meaning, and that's that. It does not work that way, as simple as that might seem to make things... It would be almost impossible to imagine; it not be life as we know it.
Not only do visual images create meaning about our own world, but so does language. And once again, it does not just show the world in one way "as it is". Language, like pictures, can be analyzed in many different ways, taken seriously, lightheartedly, or can often not even be thought about. I thought the "game of love" point was interesting; I had heard that metaphor many times, but I never really, truly, thought of it. Yet as the author raised all the points of the similarities love has to a game, and all that love being a "game" could imply, it was amazing how much there was! We make what we know of the world through what our culture is, what society we live in, what we see, what we hear, what we say, and just how much thought we give it.
P.S. Am I just out of it, or are we supposed to have a painting to look at and write a blog on? If so, WHERE is it?!?! Any guidance would be most greatly appreciated... (:
Posted by lcisthur at September 28, 2005 10:17 PM
Comments
Allie,
This is such a good description of why social construction seems to represent the world more so than does mimesis. I wish I could write this clear! This definitely made me understand what I was writing about even more..
Posted by: Lauren Searls at September 29, 2005 10:49 AM
Allie--
I totally agree with Lauren. I loved your response beacause you made it so simple. I am still having a little trouble understanding all that semotics involves, but you're essay helped me alot. Great job!!
Posted by: Brenna at September 29, 2005 03:21 PM