Roland
Barthes: The Rhetoric of the Image
In the lesson today we read about Roland
Barthes deconstructing a Panzani advertising image and extracted the types
of messages contained within it. He did this to find the ‘rhetoric’ of the
image. Advertisements have a deliberate meaning in order to sell a product,
Barthes’ analyses can be used to understand how messages are conveyed in other
types of images.
The
whole advert is encompassed in the main colours of red, white and green. This
symbolises the Italian flag and shows ‘Italianism’. All the items in the old
Italian style market bag seems as if they have just fallen out, showing that
someone has just come back from market and put down the bag onto a surface. The
fruit and vegetables in the bag show that the food is fresh and also comes back
to the whole idea of coming back from fresh market. The Italianism and fresh
food from market means that the dried and tinned food is also just as good as
food from a local market. This advert makes you take a bit of Italy home with
you. All the Italianicity is encoded into the advert through the red, white and
green which connotes the Italian flag and the fresh food represents an Italian
market. The tinned and dried foods borrowed interest from the fresh products,
all together suggesting that Panzani provides
quick, fresh and home-made foods for all the family.
The
whole picture is made in still life form meaning that it is conveyed in an art
form and that the whole idea of the advertisement is encompassed in an art form
which also can show a bit of Italianism. All the products shown are close
together to show that Panzani are
selling the customer everything Italian and a whole culinary package.
What
Barthes is suggesting is that all advertisement and images have a certain
‘rhetoric’ that is trying to persuade people to buy the product through
different features in each advertisement. Images have their own persuasive
language.
Useful understanding of persuasive camerawork.
ReplyDelete