Response to Barth Article
Roland Barth’s article dealt with the idea of how we the viewer perceive images.
The three key messages that spoke of were, the linguistic message, the coded iconic message,
and the non coded iconic message. The fist message, linguistic, dealt with text in images and
how the text informs the viewer directly on what the intention or theme of the article is about. He
spoke about anchorage and relaying, which were the two functions of the linguistic image. Barth
claimed, “the text is really the creator’s (and hence the society’s) right-of-inspection of the
image:” and that “anchoring is a means of control, it bears a responsibility, confronting the
projective power of the figures, as to the use of the message.” The second message which
Barth spoke of was that of the denoted image or non coded iconic message. The denoted
image according to Barth, “naturalizes the symbolic message, it makes “innocent” the vary
dense (especially in advertising) semantic artifice of connotation.” this was the idea that the
objects or subjects within the image were randomly placed in their position spontaneously
without any interference. The last message was the coded iconic message which dealt with the
icons with in an image. For example in the Panzani ad the coded iconic messages with in the
image where the fresh tomatoes, the cornucopia look of all the food, which suggested bounty,
and the red green and white colors, which suggested the “Italianicity” as a cultural message.
Social Image
This is a picture taken this past summer in Las Vegas for my friends Bachelor Party. The
image was taken from my friends cell phone. The fist thing that comes to mind when i see this
image an advertisement for Las Vegas, however when compared to Roland Barth’s ideals on
image analysis there inlies more connotation. When we look at what is represented with in this
image, other wise known as the denotation of an image, we can see that there are a group of
people possibly in their mid to late twenties surrounding a roulette table inside of a casino.
Although there isn’t an inherent linguistic message the numbers on the table automatically
suggest the idea of gambling. Another message which could be applied to this images is the
coded iconic message. The table itself is a coded iconic message in that it is a familiar cultural
icon, the icon of gambling seen though out the U.S. Contrary to the coded iconic message one
way in which this image could be seen as a non coded iconic message would be the
spontaneous placement of the subjects within the image. For example i know for a fact that this
image was purely for documentation of the night because i was there and know that it was not
arranged specifically. However one could argue that the connotation of the image could
suggest an underlying meaning. For example the young subjects within the image connects to
the demographic of individuals within the age group of the people in the image.
Ad Image
In this advertisement created by Vitamin Water the viewer is presented with a cup full of
vitamins almost to the point of overflowing out of the cup. The text above the cup suggests, “It
doesn’t have to be this complicated” meaning that one bottle of Vitamin Water is all one needs
to receive the daily dose of vitamins necessary for good health. The text at the bottom of the
advertisement says, “Luckily you now have an easier way to get the job done. Each
vitaminwater is specifically formulated with ingredients you need to both energise and balance
your day.” This is the typical caption used in the Linguistic message. The text directs the viewer
straight to the point of the ads intentions. This is also done by the coded iconic message with in
the picture which shows the image of the glass cup overflowing with vitamins. In the coded
message suggest that one bottle of vitamin water will give you all the nutrition you need instead
of taking a cup full of pills. The viewers eye automatically goes from the disgusting cup of dry
dull colored vitamins to the bright and thirst quenching bottle of viaminwater. This can also be
seen as the non coded message. For example the white background with the cup of pills
positioned there by itself. All of these messages were specifically created to make the viewer
want to go out and buy a vitaminwater which was done through the used of the image and the
text.