Our reading for next week is Roland Barthes’ 1977 essay, Rhetoric of the Image. Here is the PDF: Barthes-Rhetoric-of-the-image
The second 2-3 page paper will be a response to this article, and will be due on November 18.
The goal of this paper will be to critically examine a contemporary advertising image in a manner similar to Barthes’ approach in this article. You will be expected to employ the logic and terminology that Barthes uses in this text.
As you read, please make note of all important terms (ie. polysemy, linguistic sign, connoted, denoted, etc.), especially if their meaning is unclear. Attempt to define important terms. Make note of important points that you don’t completely follow. Write these terms as a list, by hand, in your research journal, then take a snapshot and upload. This will be your post for the week.
Please also select the advertisement that you would like to address for your essay. It should be an advertisement built around a single photograph. A full page print ad is preferable. We’ll talk about ideas in class on the 11th.
