Week 6:Structuralism and Semiotics Reflection. ( A Structuralist Luau)

  This week’s discussion focused on Structuralism and the theories of Saussure and Frye.  To begin with, we mentioned that Structuralism can be defined as the meaning produced through a system or relation of signs that gives structure to our lives.  For example, the theorist, Saussure, conveys how a sign represents both a signifier and something that is signified.  When we look at the image of a cat, we can say that the visual image of the cat is represented as the signifier.  The signified, represents the mental conceptions of the cat.  I was never introduced to this type of theory before until this class.  I found this week’s lecture to be quite interesting and really enjoyed learning more about Structuralism and Semiotics. 

We continued the lesson by discussing how this can be arbitrary because it depends on the moment of time or where you are in the world.  For example, there are different pronunciations for the word Cat.  In English, we refer to it as an animal; however, in the French language, it represents the number four.  Even though it can be seen as subjective, it still gives structure and meaning.  It is part of a system of signs which was influenced by linguistics. 

We then discussed the theorist Frye, and his archetypes of Literature.  I believe there are archetypes for all kinds of things so when we were asked the question if in a novel or movie an archetype did not exist, I became perplexed.  In almost every type of literature or movie, some kind of archetype is present.  One movie that finally came to my mind was Meet Joe Black.  The first time I had watched this film, I wasn’t aware of any archetypes and just believed it to be a tragic love story.  However, when I watched it again some years later, I realized that this movie contains one of the biggest archetypes out there; the struggle between life and death.  This just shows me that you can find an archetype in almost anything if you just take a closer look.