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Semiotics

The study of signs and codes as they generate meaning in film.


Semiotics

Definition

Semiotics in film studies investigates how cinematic elements function as signs—signifiers conveying both denotative and connotative meanings—to construct narrative and ideological messages.

Methodological Foundations

Drawing on Saussure’s signifier/signified model and Peirce’s triadic sign system, theorists such as Roland Barthes and Christian Metz dissect filmic codes—mise-en-scène, costume, editing rhythms—to decode cultural myths and ideological subtexts embedded in cinema.

Influence and Evolution

Semiotic analysis enriched genre studies and intertextual research by revealing layered meanings. Later developments integrated Barthes’s notion of myth, Barthesian punctum, and structural narratology, extending semiotics to digital media and global film practices.


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