The documentary "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" is a relative Rosetta Stone for budding cultural critics. It allows us to practice identifying the myriad signs of a particular subculture (butt-rock metalheads of the mid-80s) with relative ease, since everyone featured in the film look almost exactly alike ("individuality" seemingly not their concern . . . indeed, they just want to rock).
"Signs" were introduced by the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. His goal was to establish a "synchronic" (ahistorical) theory of language. That is to say, a theory of language that could be applied to ALL languages, regardless of the historical period they were used, or any unique socio-cultural situation. While he identified "signs" as words & phrases, more recent theorists (french critic Roland Barthes especially) recognized that signs are all around us: they are in the way we dress, what we eat, the music we listen to, the books we read, etc.
Within each sign, there is a denotation (loosely akin to the "signifier") & a connotation (loosely akin to the "signified"). Take, for example, the mullet. The denotative meaning of the mullet is simple: short on top & on the sides, long in the back. And of course, there are variations to that theme. The connotative meaning to the mullet is a bit deaper: when one sees it, they think "white trash," "butt rocker," "1980s" & what not.
Let me emphasize that this is just an example, and a harmless one at that. Things get more charged when we look at OTHER signs, however. Think, for example, of the AFRO (to keep with the "hair" theme). Again, the denotative meaning is simple and logistical ("poofy," "symmetrical"). The connotations of the afro, especially in the African-American context, is perhaps more important. Its connotations ("black power," "black liberation," "staying true to one's roots") say a lot about the culture in which we live. And the afro becomes part of a rebellious stance (perhaps, & not always).
Still, the point of view of those evaluating signs is significant. In other words, one person's "white trash" is another person's "high fashion" & and one person's sign of "black power" is an extreme threat to another person. So, the point of view of the critic is important to keep in mind and interrogate acutely.
To properly understand the denotative and connotative aspects of signs, then, is to begin to understand both the nature of subcultures, and their importance and significance to the culture at large. And if we look at an entire system of signs within an entire subculture, we recognize how truly complex sign systems can be. We'll talk more about this in class.
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2 comments:
I remember clearly the scene at the second Lollapalooza. (Man, that was, like, 1992 in St. Paul.) It was where different looking people all looked the same. A guy in a basball hat and a t-shirt (well, eventually I had no shirt or hat, as my t- was stripped and Gossard made off with my hat) stood out. Context is everything, I guess. The effort made to be unique can so easily be exposed for what it is, a put-on, indeed. I suppose we're all guilty of that, the desire to be accepted yet singular, to be separate but equal.
This sounds like a cool class....
Have you listened to Bob Dylan's "Signs" yet or, better, Tesla's version? They might actually be talking about street signs....:)
why is the font so enormous, Jeff? Is that really necessary? I can't read it...
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