Semiotics

Roland Barthes is the main theorist.

This is theory known for calling attention to the formal structures of significance, of meaning-making in culture. It can be used to reveal the arbitrary or constructed nature of the meanings we use in our everyday lives, semiotics is also a form of social criticism.

This is a famous painting by Rene Magritte called "The Treachery of Images." 

Magritte's caption says, (in French) "This is not a pipe.". Actually, it's not a famous painting by Magritte; it's a digital image of the painting. Or, to be even more precise, a digital image of a photograph of the painting.

This illustrates Magritte's point, which is simply that an image or sign of a thing is not the thing itself. The same point could be made for any number of images, signs, and symbols. We forget that the signs and symbols all around us are just that and not things themselves.

Denotation - Literal 

Connotation - Metaphorical

Barthes – Mythologies 

Traditionally, a myth has been defined as a story or idea that explains the culture or customs of a people. Often myths describe heroes or explain why a people revere the sun, or why elders should be respected. Myths are the motivating stories or ideas behind common cultural practices.

Myths are the ideas and stories that motivate daily behaviour.

According to Barthes, the special trick of myth is to present an ethos, ideology or set of values as if it were a natural condition of the world, when in fact its no more than another limited, man-made perspective. A myth doesn’t describe the natural state of the world, but expresses the intentions of its teller, be that a storyteller, priest, artist, journalist, filmmaker, designer or politician.

Ideology

The set of shared beliefs of a social group or individual.

Ideology is best understood as something embedded in a culture's "common sense," in the everyday habits of thought that shape how we think and act as we go about our day-to-day, routine activities.The analysis of ideology then becomes a continuous process of asking questions about the common sense assumptions, the taken-for-granted background, of both others and our own everyday thought.

The Myth of Britishness

There are a wide range of stereotypes placed upon Britain, some true, some not, but together they place the whole of British culture in one small box and label it with a myriad of misconceptions. Most of these ideologies are constructed from minor happenings.

Ideologies such as the British having bad teeth, always wearing tweed, or speaking in received pronunciation all the time, are just myths and aren't close to the truth as there are wide range of accents and dialects within Britain and we most definitely brush our teeth.

Despite this, ideologies such as us loving tea, being overly polite and a very sarcastic sense of humour, are slightly true. There is wide range range of Brits who love tea, are pretty sarcastic and, even during there worst days, will be polite. But this still doesn't apply to everyone within Britain.

Just like all stereotypes, they create a judgment and categorise the entirety of Britain as a whole. This causes people's perceptions and opinions to be forced into accepting these ideologies before they can decide their own views. There is loss of diversity within the presentation of Britain as we are all grouped together.

The myth of Britishness is connected to the theory of semiotics as it shows how an ideology of meanings and stereotypes are used in our everyday lives and can be taken as a social criticism.

Key terms for this theory:

• Sign
• Signifier
• Signified
• Icon
• Index
• Symbol
• Denotation
• Connotation
• Myth
• Ideology