Our reading for next week is Roland Barthes’ 1977 essay, Rhetoric of the Image. Here is the PDF:
As you read, please make note of all important terms (ie. polysemy, linguistic sign, connoted, denoted, etc.), especially if their meaning is unclear. Also make note of important points that you don’t completely follow. Record a brief list of questions you have concerning the essay. When you’ve completed the reading, drop these notes and questions into a post; this will be your submission for the week.
You do not need to write lengthy paragraphs for this one. Scattered notes are perfectly fine and encouraged.
The second 2-3 page paper, due at the end of Week 10, on April 10, will be a response to this article. In this paper, you’ll critically examine a contemporary advertising image in a manner similar to Barthes’ approach. You will be expected to employ the logic and terminology that Barthes uses in this text.
You should begin to consider the advertisement that you would like to address for your essay. It should be a recent full-page print advertisement organized around a single photograph. Please bring ideas to class next week.
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