Visual Rhetoric

“Rhetoric is the ‘technique of using the means of expression to persuade’. The hallmark of all rhetoric is that it involves at least two levels of language, the proper or denoted and the figurative or connoted.” – Aesthetics of Photography

In this section, we build on our understanding of early semiotics from Saussure (sign, signifier, signified) and Peirce (symbol, icon, index). We will explore the terms derived from Roland Barthes’ essay “The Rhetoric of the Image.” These terms include connoted, denoted, iconic messages, and linguistic messages and explore additional terms such as encoding, decoding, polysemic, myth, and naturalization.

Roland Barthes & The Rhetoric of the Image

Roland Barthes was a prominent French thinker associated with the field of semiotics and the Structuralist movement. Building on Saussure and Peirce, Barthes argued that when we construct a sign (encoding), its reception (decoding) does not take place in a vacuum. Our individual experience, society, and culture impact its meaning and how it is interpreted.

“The Rhetoric of the Image” was written in response to a series of articles that Barthes had been following in a well-regarded linguistics journal. In his essay, Barthes demonstrates a close-reading of a Panzani pasta advertisement and attempts to illustrate that images contain most of the same semiological elements, ie, signs, signifiers, signifieds, as a spoken or written language.

Semiological elements are present in an image, yet they differ from language in that they imitate nature, and are non-linear.
Every image, especially photographs in advertisements, consist of 3 messages: (1) a linguistic message, (2) a non-coded iconic message, and (3) a coded iconic message
The linguistic message of an image is the textual component that works alongside representational aspects of an image (most advertisements combine text and image)
A linguistic message can direct the viewer toward a clear interpretation, or invite unexpected interpretations
The non-coded iconic message of an image is the objective, denotational, literal, perceptual, innocent meanings that can be understood from the image.
The coded iconic message of an image is the subjective, connotational, cultural, symbolic, ideological meanings that can be understood from the image.
Images are rhetorical in the sense that coded elements perform functions similar to those of persuasive linguistic devices.

Terms to look out for

In the readings and media below keep on the lookout for the following terms to help you understand how to deconstruct an image using visual rhetoric.

Encoding: creating a message for transmission (i.e., creation and distribution of an advertisement)
Decoding: the process of interpreting a message (i.e., watching and interpreting an advertisement)
Connotation: symbolic or cultural meaning (a coded message)
Denotation: Literal meaning (a message without code)
Linguistic message: words used to convey meaning
Non-coded iconic message: an image with literal meaning
Coded iconic message: an image with a coded message
Polysemic: a sign that has multiple meanings
Myth: a widely accepted meaning of a sign
Naturalization: in a society, the repeated use of signs shapes its meaning