Photography's False Impression of Objectivity

Panzani Advertisement from Barthes’s Rhetoric of the Image.

Stuff to think about via Barthes’s Rhetoric of the Image:

  Linguistic message within image;

    Denoted; What text is there?
    Connoted; What symbolism is there?

  Accompanied linguistic messages;

    Anchor; What am I looking at?
    Relay; What should I think when I see this?

  Literal messages;

    Representations of specific things.

  Symbolic messages;

    Cultural implications of specific objects represented.
    Cultural implications of juxtapositions. (symbolic color, cuisine, actions)
    Cultural implications of image classifications. (still life)

 Denoted message;

    Does the photograph exist as a trace of, or an equivalent of truth?
    Is the photograph always a lie?
    Can both of these ideas co-exist?

Connoted message;

    (We want to eat this)


Disclaimer; This is a mash-up of my notes from this essay and may not reflect the author's intent.