Roland Barthes

I was asked to read ‘Rhetoric of the Image’ by Roland Barthes and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to read. The language of the text was quite hard to understand and the underlying theories and messages Barthes was trying to get across took a while to come clear due to the form of writing. However, the main principal of this text is to study images and their linguistic nature. “How does meaning get into the image? Where does it end? And if it ends, what is there beyond?”

There are three types of messages; the linguistic message, a coded iconic message and a non-coded iconic message.

One of the first things that are studied by Barthes is an advertisement because the image is without a doubt intentional, to ensure the message within the image is transmitted as clearly as possible. Advertisements are formed with optimum reading and tend to be quite frank. Here the ‘Panzani’ advertisement is thoroughly studied and broken down into all the different messages it contains. First is the linguistic message that it portrays; the caption and labels have a hidden code of the French language, this is classed as a denotational linguistic message. However, the name ‘Panzani’ itself gives a signification of ‘Italianicity’ and this is classed as a connotational linguistic message. Secondly, we are left with the pure image which straight away gives off a series of signs and symbols that have been imbedded within the image for its viewers. This allows you to understand the image quickly; as an advertisement should be understood. This linguistic message needs a cultural understanding to be decoded and presents us with multiple questions; do they duplicate certain information in reading the text? Or is there something new that occurs in the reading of the image? As a result of some of these questions Barthes has been able to break linguistic messages down further into two sub-categories, ‘Anchorage’ and ‘Relay’.

           ‘Anchorage’ helps the viewer to choose the correct level of perception and enables them to not only focus their gaze but also their understanding. It controls the reader towards advanced meanings and guides them through the signifieds of the image, allowing them to receive some and avoid others. The text allows the designer to control the reader and guide them towards a meaning they have chosen in advance.

          ‘Relay’ is a sequence of text in cartoons, comic strips and films that is complimentary in relationship to the image and provides a meaning that the viewer cannot find in the image. This type of message is usually present for quick reading and to get the point of the image across quickly; therefore making the image seem “lazier”.

A coded iconic message is a series of discontinuous signs that are relayed in the image through objects, colours, text and so on. Relating back to the ‘Panzani’ advert, Barthes shows that that colours act as cultural messages to signify “Italianicity”, the image and text portrays the contextual information and the open bag portrays freshness and domestic preparation. This combination of text and underlying information creates the perfect advertisement for magazines and its readers.

A non –coded iconic message is a literal, visual message. It is simply a literal message rather than one that contains underlying messages and symbols. Its purpose is to support the symbolic message and provide a literal meaning.

The final thing Bathes speaks about is the fact that drawings cannot be decoded because unlike a photograph they do not produce fine detail or every feature of the subject matter. The denotation of a drawing is therefore less pure than that of a photograph as there is no drawing without style. The scene captured in a photograph is ‘there’, captured mechanically and not humanly; where as a drawing is aided with various techniques and signs drawn from a cultural code. The artist will have portrayed the scene in the way in which they see it and this subsequently means that there are underlying messages within the drawing.

A photograph is never experienced as an “illusion”, is in no way a “presence” but is the reality of the “having-been there” unlike a drawing.

Barthes therefore showing us that one image is open to various interpretations and that text aids us to understand imagery.