Remaking an Old Critical Tool: Notes Towards the Formation of a Post-Formal Semiotics
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Document Type
Book Chapter
Description
Book Title:
The Post-formal Reader: Cognition and Education
Chapter Description:
According to Scholes, one of the most invaluable interpretive method-ologies for studying literature as well as other texts is semiotics (Scholes, 1982). Semiotics, with its emphasis on breaking texts down into a multiplicity of interrelated signs, can be used to study a wide range of texts, from Shakespearean dramas to the latest in fashion wear. Although semiotics has immense interpretive strengths, as a methodology, it does have inherent weaknesses and limitations. One limitation is that, as a text-based methodology, it is primarily concerned with isolating and analyzing the text, and this critical practice often includes removing the text from its specific social context. For example, while a semiotic reading of Shakespeare's Hamlet will most likely investigate how this complex text communicates to its audience through a diverse, multi-layered arrangement of signs (major and minor characters, narrative, language, stage settings, etc.), this type of in-depth interpretation usually neglects to explore the intricate social contexts of Shakespeare's dramatic works, such as the assumption that they generally supported the traditional Tudor view of history and historical events. Another limitation of semiotics involves the isolated sphere of the semiotician. Because the methodology is predicated on the skills of an individual analyst to determine the deeper levels of meaning within a text, there is often little chance to establish a consistency of agreement among analysts on what is found in the text.
ISBN
9780815333999
Publication Date
1999
Publisher
Psychology Press
City
New York
Keywords
Semiotic methodology, Post-formalism, Advertising
Disciplines
Communication | Critical and Cultural Studies | Psychology
Recommended Citation
Pierson, David P., "Remaking an Old Critical Tool: Notes Towards the Formation of a Post-Formal Semiotics" (1999). Faculty, Staff, and Alumni Books. 727.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/facbooks/727
