Page 218 - Communication Cultural and Media Studies The Key Concepts

SEMANTICS

Analysis of representations of race in the cinema suggested an implicit
racism could be found (see Bogle, 1989). In the case of gender,
innumerable studies have found demeaning images of women, and
some have argued that it is possible to overturn these by substituting
such negative representations with ‘positive images’ (see Artel and
Wengraf, 1990). Clearly representations articulate with cultural power,
but the demand for ‘positive images’ did not get far because of course
not everyone would agree on what counted as a ‘negative’ or ‘positive’
representation. As Lumby (1997: 4) rightly asks: ‘Is a sexist or
demeaning image something universal which anyone with the right
feminist consciousness can spot?’ Are ‘bad girls’ positive or negative
images? Seeking to redress the imbalance by producing more positive
representations of women was also futile if the underlying material
conditions went unreformed – negative images may be accurate,in
other words.
When considering media representations, rather than looking for
accuracy, it is perhaps more useful to understand the discourses that
support the image in question. Furthermore, one cannot assume that
all people read all representations in the same way. Any analysis should
be careful not to accuse an image of being patronising or demeaning,
because such a judgement speaks on behalf of a group who may not
feel the same way.

See also: Gender, Identity, Race
Further reading: Lumby (1997)

SEMANTICS

The study of meaning from a linguistic perspective. Semantics aims to
analyse and explain howmeanings are expressed in language. Current
inquiry seems to be organised around three important distinctions.
Sense versus reference. The meaning of a linguistic expression – a
word, for instance – can be treated in terms of its connection with
extra-linguistic reality. Thus, the meaning of the word ‘chair’ lies in its
capacity to refer outwards from the language to objects such as the one
on which you may be sitting as you read this entry. From a different
perspective, however, the meaning of a word can be considered in
terms of its relationship to other words in the language. Thus, the
meaning of the word ‘chair’ lies in its relationship with other words
such as ‘furniture’, ‘table’, ‘seat’, ‘bench’, etc. A famous example of the
distinction between sense and reference is the way in which,

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