Analyzing Semiotic: Ways of Seeing #1
- Gabrielle Vebryzky
- Jul 20, 2021
- 2 min read
Documentary Analysis:
Main Questions:
What is the documentary's main message?
How does it relate to how we communicate today?
You can structure your analysis by asking some of the following questions:
How does this relate to how we communicate? What can you deduce from the film's background?
Give examples of how the concept presented in this documentary has been applied in our timeline (the last 5 years).
To what extent, in your opinion, does technology have anything to do with the topic discussed in the documentary?
Video
Communication forms our perspective as individuals as we depend on data that serves as information and understanding to create our reality. As technology advancement occurs, people’s perspectives began to interlace through the digital world, where different ideas and perspectives are showcased while changing our own.
In the past, one significant form of visual communication was paintings. Originally, paintings were used to keep memories of places and events. This creates a sense of exclusivity and individuality as none other would possess the same history. Today, however, these paintings are available in digital form. Consequently, the exclusivity of the physical form began to fade, causing the paintings to be measured by their authenticity that defines their market value.
Other factors that affect the formation of our personal perspective is the context provided, external factors, and usage. Communication media could often be taken out of context, manipulated using external factors, or used as information that may not be according to its original intention. This results in distortion in the information.
These practices could be seen today through TV shows or written articles. To create different ideas or convey an altered message, the original form would often be distorted or affected by external factors, such as music, to fit the manipulated information. We may even see this in business industries, where replicas are often made and sold at a cheaper price than the original, or when interviews were misinterpreted, creating misunderstandings and problems.
I believe technology does affect our mindset and perspective in communication, making everything related to market value. However, people are responsible for the alterations of meanings and messages as the original form is misused and misinterpreted. Hence, people would forget the actual history and create a manipulated information to fit their subjective mindsets, which relates to communication today.
Works Cited
tw19751. (2012). John Berger / Ways of Seeing , Episode 1 (1972). [Youtube Video]. Available
at: https://youtu.be/0pDE4VX_9Kk [Accessed at: 19 July 2021]
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