ITAP Design Canons - week eight

This week's lecture was about Roland Barthes (12th November 1915 – 25th March 1980). Barthes was a French philosopher and semiotician known for his influences in developing theories. The two theories we looked at were semiotics and analysing photography. What I found interesting was how he de-constructed meaning behind everyday objects such as soap. I was intrigued by the amount of mythology we are confronted with everyday without even realising. manipulations of reality.


'Barthes purpose is to tear away masks and demystify the signs, signals and symbols of the language of mass culture' - Quote: Dennis Potter. The Times. 


I was inspired by the amount of myths that were hidden in everyday objects such as the myth of cleanliness, purity and magical properties. I de-constructed the meaning of an image of shampoo in a similar way that Barthes did with soap to see what hidden myths I could find. 

From this image of five products I can be lead to believe that yoghurt, green tea, avocado, lemongrass and guava all supposedly have amazing properties that can improve my hair. Most of these are foods that we eat so what is it that makes us suddenly want to put them in our hair rather than our mouth. De-constructing myth shows how much subconscious trust we put in people who we don't personally know but know are supposed to know where their doing so we just go along with it as if it all has to be legitimate. The myths in this image would be the myths of magical properties and purity.



I then went on to de-construct some photography. I looked at the work of famous documentary photographer Henn Cartier Bressan.  

This photo caught my eye for a few reasons. Upon first glance it looks like a photo of harmless kids playing in the street. Then I noticed that they are playing with toy guns. This seems legit for the older boy but the boy on the far left looks very young to be playing with guns. My attention then turned to the boy in the background in the middle. It looks as if he is smoking and he is definitely way too young to be smoking. There is also a young boy in the back wearing a suit for some reason, and all the boys seem to be reasonably dressed up and the building they are playing in front of looks like it could be a church or place of importance. I think these kids have been let out to 'play' after an important family event but their choice of toys is slightly disturbing.

This photo caught my eye because of the interesting body language. Both the people appear to be holding back as if they were unsure whether to kiss or not. The guy has his hand on his leg instead of touching her and the woman still has her legs crossed as if she hasn't tried to move any further forwards towards him. This makes me think that it may be their first kiss. I think the must be in their twenties age wise and pretty well off judging by how they are dressed and the fact that she possibly owns a dog. I would say that they are on a lunch date. What I think makes this photo is the fact that the dog is looking at them. The dog appears to have an expression on its face which could be interpreted in different ways, therefore giving this picture different meanings. Overall I would say that the dog is happy that this kiss has happened, which gives the photo a positive look.