Stucturalism and Analysis

THEORY IN RELATION TO CONCEPTS - Language

STRUCTURALISM
Stucturalism is recognising that "meaning" is not something that is isolated and comes from inside of a text, rather it comes from outside influences that contribute to how that text is produced. It can be found in the works of Roland Barthes, Claude Levi-Strauss and its roots can be found in the work of Ferdinand de Saussure. Furthermore, another key idea of Strucuralism is that "meaning" is linked to things (texts) by the human mind based on what we have been taught since birth, and how we have been socialised.

E.G. a stop sign is basically a red circle with a white bar on, but we know it as meaning 'stop' or 'do not enter'. This could be because the colour red is associated with danger (blood, violence etc) which is what we have been taught and what we have learnt from the adults and environment around us.

"Meaning" can also be relational, which means that we can recognise things that we see by comparing them with other things, again saying how meanings aren't isolated. This relates to Binary Opposition which are basically just paired opposites with significant contrasts which are used in texts to create difference and conflict.

E.G. Superman and Lex Luther are portrayed as good and evil, attractive and ugly, powerful and weak, the winner and the loser. This poses them as enemies and gives the narrative a conflict for the audience to follow.