Abstract In Roland Barthes' structuralist semiotic approach to sociology, it is clear that much insight into the character of society and culture can be derived by linguistic analogy. The paper shows that Barthes develops the view that language has a dual function that is public, available for all to see in a social context on one hand and on the other a psychological, i.e., private or imaginative, function. Creative and imaginative processes are associated with the impulse to respond to and express or interpret the public or social meanings that are made in and by language in its cultural function. The paper shows that much of what the individual experiences as either social or personal begins with language--identity, features of experience, narrative, communication with others and so on.
From the Paper "Thus Barthes looks at how linguistic forms, whether advertisements, art, rhetoric, or forms of social organization that function as communication, are actually used, with a view toward showing how their function indicates or signifies meaning for the (personal and private) experience of society. In other words, Barthes is looking at what social, public expressions intend to accomplish, with a view toward exposing the truth of or agenda behind those communicative processes. Signs and symbols, including language but also images, art, sounds, and so on, are the media of communication. The signs may be psychological or physical or both, and either manifestly or by way of some kind of code meant to convey (or conceal) meaning, these signs (signifiers) refer to or stand for (signify) some thing. The semiotic sociology, then, seeks to account for, or so to speak "decode," what is seen or expressed overtly. It is necessary because all linguistic designations come from somewhere."
Abstract The paper offers a summary of Roland Barthes' account of myth. The paper explains how myth is understood in modern Western culture. The paper includes Barthes' definition and analysis of what myth means and what its components are.
From the Paper "Barthes' essay "Myth Today" shows how myth makes meaning in modern Western culture. To get to that objective, he undertakes an extended project of definition and analysis of what myth itself means and what its components are. He begins with the obvious point that myth is a type of speech although he includes in that a range of communication activities. Myth involves the communication speech artifact which comes in a certain form."
Abstract This paper discusses the criticism of Roland Barthes as applied to the photographic image and the concepts of the stadium and the punctum as they help explain the effect of an image on the viewer. The paper then applies them to two images from John Szarkowski's book "Looking at Photographs," suggesting where Barthes may not fully explain the way photographs reach the viewer and how they carry meaning.
From the Paper "The photographic image has been described as a momentary capturing of reality, based on the false dictum that the camera never lies. In truth, the camera may lie, and it may alter "reality" in the process of capturing it. Critic Roland Barthes has written extensively on the meaning of the image and on how the image achieves its effects on the viewer, and so how the image conveys meaning. Meaning can also be imposed by the viewer, and the process is not always easy to sort out by those who want to know which came first. The concepts offered by Barthes will be discussed first, followed by an application of them to two images from John Szarkowski's book Looking at Photographs."
Abstract In this article the writer addresses the current issue of cosmetic surgery and vanity as it relates to societal expectations. The writer explores the work of Roland Barthes titled "The Face of Garbo" to illustrate the long impact that vanity and facial looks have on society even today. The writer concludes that the work by Barthes, aims to exploit, explain and examine the issue of good looks and the societal reverence for good looks in the era of Garbo, but one can easily see that the issue of good looks is still present today.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
The Writing
References
From the Paper "This is underscored by Barthes in his writing when he examines the lack of expression in the eyes but raves over the beauty in the plaster like facial beauty.
This is a work that easily relates to the contemporary issue of vanity as the world watches Spain get heavily criticized on its recent mandate that models who are too thin will not be allowed to walk the fashion show runways.
It doesn't matter to current society what one is doing to one's health or what one's dreams and ambitions are as long as one looks good. Today, women in the news field have to constantly maintain their youthful looks while their male peers are allowed to age before the camera. A few years ago a woman broadcast anchor sued a major network for firing her because she began to age, however it continues to happen".
This paper discusses the conflicting views of Calvinists, Arminians and Karl Barth about the predestination of humans and then presents Millard Erickson's solution.
1,125 words (approx. 4.5 pages), 1 source, 2005, $ 44.95
Abstract The paper uses Millard Erickson's book "Christian Theology" to compare and contrast the belief structures of the Calvinists, Arminians and Karl Barth. This includes a brief summary of Erickson's perspective on how the conflicts between these theologies can be resolved. The topics discussed in this paper include predestination, the elect, human depravity and free will as pertains to these concepts.
From the Paper "The Calvinists and Arminians have some very basic conflicting views of the predestination of humans in relation to God, grace and free will. Theologian Karl Barth devised a series of arguments that attempted to walk a path between or perhaps around these conflicting arguments, while still not completely disagreeing with either position out of hand. In this paper, I will discuss the similarities and differences between these three perspectives and describe Millard Erickson's solution to the apparent discrepancies. The Calvinist beliefs on predestination are complex, and are best described, according to Erickson, as falling into one of five basic tenets. These are: "total depravity, unconditional predestination, limited atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance." Each of these concepts is important to understanding their basic belief system, although there are variations in the theology."
The author uses theorist Roland Barthes and his claims about culture to argue that the article by Terry and the song by Dylan are both representations of the culture of that decade.
2,395 words (approx. 9.6 pages), 3 sources, 2001, $ 73.95
Abstract This paper looks at the article by Wallace Terry, "Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans," Wallace Terry, which gives the reader a different perspective of what the war was like in the eyes of a black veteran in the Vietnam War, and Bob Dylan's famous anti-war song "Master of War." To many people, the war against Communism seems natural, that the "myth" or ideology of Democracy is correct, however, theorist Roland Barthes claims that this myth was socially and historically constructed to make people believe this. The author uses theorist Roland Barthes and his claims about culture to argue that the article by Terry and the song by Dylan are both representations of the culture of that decade.
From the Paper "Wallace Terry's article and Bob Dylan's song were not what people just read and listen to in that decade, it was the expression of how the people felt about the Vietnam War. Terry's article reveals to the public the ongoing slaughter of innocent people in Vietnam, and the traumatic experiences these soldiers were going through. Dylan's song, too, reveals how tired the people are of the military authority training men to fight a war they do not want to be involved in. Terry's article and Dylan's song exemplify the ideological tensions of the Vietnam War between two groups, those for the war and those against the war. Those who were against the war were mostly the young generation who didn't want to fight in the war because they felt that they should not be drafted to war at the age of eighteen when they were not even allowed to vote until the age of twenty-one. Many young minorities such as the blacks did not want to fight in the war because they did not want to give their lives for a country that did not even give them their freedom and respect. With implications of anti-war themes, the article and song also illustrate the tensions of the larger society, the people who were for the war. Those who favored war counter-argued that this war would bring economic prosperity to the US, and also reasoned that it was for a good cause, to stop Communism from spreading like wildfire in the world."
Tags: anti-authority, generation, military, racial, tension, war
Abstract The following paper examines the five codes and ideas that appear in Roland Barthes' 'S/Z' and applies it to Jane Austen's novel 'Mansfield Park'. Barthes' codes apply both on the small scale, to the language and on the larger scale, to the whole novel. This paper demonstrates the application of the codes, specifically the cultural and symbolic code, to both the novel as a whole and to certain selected texts.
From the Paper "Roland Barthes writes about different characters in Sarrasine fitting into different roles, such as passive/active or mother/father. In Mansfield Park, many of the characters fit into these roles or actant. Fanny can definitely be classified as "passive". She is not a radical, she stands for silence, tradition, tranquillity, manners and for acting upon what one knows, not what one feels. Mary Crawford is "active" and an advocate of change. She acts on her emotions and stands for movement, modern ideas, progressiveness and speaking one's mind instead of remaining silent."
Abstract Thispaper examines the stories "Lost in the Funhouse" and "Echo" by John Barth. The purpose of the paper is to explore how identity and meaning of life are portrayed in both. It takes the particular position that Barth's understanding of our self-perception is one which is built upon lies created to protect our selves from being discovered.
Abstract The paper presents a comparative analysis of two images from Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida photographic images; Andre Kertesz' "The Violinist's Tune" and Nicephore Niepce's "The Dinner Table". The paper shows how an artist such as Victor Burgin would disagree with Barthes' view that photographs lack codes and would contend that even innocuous images can contain complex ranges of political and ideological codes.
From the Paper "Barthes' reading of The Violinist's Tune is particularly interesting for it allows us to understand how Barthes conceives of the reading of images as often a highly personalized affair. While he situates his reading in terms of his theoretical apparatus of studium and punctum, it is important to note that his response to this image cannot be precisely determined by this theoretical frame. Barthes defines the concept of studium as a taste or interest in a thing: "a kind of general, enthusiastic commitment" (Barthes 26)."
Abstract This essay applies the thoughts of critical theorists such as Barthes and Eagleton to the concept of music and it's cultural roots and present day entity.
Abstract The paper shows that both novels, "Notes from Underground" by Dostoevsky and "Lost in the Funhouse" by John Barth relate to the central theme of realism. The paper analyzes other similar central themes of both books as well as analyzes the main characters.
From the Paper "Consider what each character truly desires. Both fundamentally want to fit in and be normal, and it is the impossibility to achieve this that alienates them so completely. Underground Man goes to dinner to impress the other men. He wants to be respected and admired and, basically, accepted the way in which other people are. At dinner, however, he can only be rude and embarrassing, thus further ensuring that every attempt he makes actually worsens his position. Ambrose ?imagined himself years hence, successful, married, at ease in the world, the trials of adolescence far behind him.? He, too, does not romanticize his seat of alienation or his marginal status. He wants what he understands to be regular; he wants to enjoy the Funhouse, but he cannot."
Compares the novels "Robinson Crusoe" and "Moll Flanders" (Daniel Defoe), "Tom Jones" (Henry Fielding), "Emma" (Jane Austen), "The Sound and the Fury" (William Faulkner) and "The Sot-Weed Factor" (J. Barth), demonstrating how the concept of novels evolved
Abstract This paper studies how the novel went from an early state of what is now referred to as pre-novel, such as the work of Daniel Defoe, all the way to post modern work, such as "The Sot-Weed Factor" by John Barth. The novel changed, evolved, grew and reflected the society reading it from its birth. This paper looks in depth at the causes for its rise, its moment of perfection and its change into alternative form such as modernism and post-modernism.
Table of Contents:
"Robinson Crusoe" and the Beginning of the Novel
The Capitalism and Secular Values of "Robinson Crusoe"
Changing Times as Seen in "Moll Flanders"
Form and Function of the Novel in "Moll Flanders"
The Reader's Identification with Moll
The Characterization of "Moll Flanders"
Criticism of Defoe as a Novelist
"Tom Jones" and the Progression of the Novel
The Prefaces of "Tom Jones"
"Emma" and the Height of the Novel
The World Surrounding "Emma"
Female Authority and Readership in "Emma"
Character in "Emma"
"The Sound and the Fury": the Modern Novel
Character in "The Sound and the Fury"
Form of the Novel Altered in "The Sound and the Fury"
"The Sot-Weed Factor" and the Introduction of Postmodernism
Character in "The Sot-Weed Factor"
Conclusion: The Novel's Trajectory
From the Paper "The novel as we know it today began perhaps three centuries ago, when works began to surface that were not easily categorized into previously known literary forms. There had been true life accounts, political treatises and poetry, but nothing quite like a fictional story told from either first or third person, which defied the unities of time and place and was something to be read in more than one or even two sittings. In fact, in the early pre-novel period, works such as Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders were actually presented as true life accounts to the readers, perhaps as a means to ease them into this new and undefined form of literature. As the novel grew in popularity, authors such as Henry Fielding were beginning to not only structure the novel into chapters and books, but were also defining the form of the narrative and dictating its conventions right in the context of his novel, as we will see later in this paper. By the time Jane Austen was writing, novels had reached a place of comfort and understanding in the eyes of the readers, if not always in the eyes of scholars. She helped introduce this growing and flourishing genre to women, as well as helped refine the form of the novel. Later authors such as Willliam Faulkner took what was known as the novel and changed it forever, adding multiple viewpoints and jumps in time and space that defied not only the unities but conventional timelines as well. Then, in what we now call the postmodern era, authors like John Barth wrote texts that took a look at the constructs that novels previously worked with and exploded them. The intent of this paper is to look at the rise of the novel: its growth into the form we commonly refer to today as "the novel", its stabilization, and its change into alternative forms of novel such as modernism and postmodernism. I will look closely at each of the above authors, showing how each contributed to this now widely read form of literature."
This paper compares the telescreen from George Orwell's book "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and the camera lucida, a primitive camera, from Roland Barthes? book "Camera Lucida".
Abstract This paper explains that the true nature of observation, whether through the lens of a camera or the "All Seeing Eye" of a telescreen, depends on the viewpoint of the voyeur, a situation that clearly plays a major role in both "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and "Camera Lucida". The paper points out that Barthes' camera lucida as a mechanical device also projects an image onto a flat surface, much like Orwell's electrical telescreens that project images through a monitor. The author feels that the telescreen and photography eliminate time and distance through its immediacy and "in-your-face" projections, just as, today, a video camera or internet "webcam" perform the same function.
From the Paper "For Barthes, photographs were triggers that brought out the inner light of thinking and interpretation. In his book, he discusses the intense debate about images, particularly those related to photography, and their role in the development of cultural theory and history. This is quite similar to Orwell's use of images on his telescreens which projected
not only the images associated with "Big Brother" but also those of the culture of Oceania and the government's efforts to supervise all the activities of its citizens. In Camera Lucida, Barthes offers the suggestion that photographs contain an "aura" which reflects lost memories. He mentions that while studying a photo of his mother as a young child, "standing a little back (and) facing the camera," he accidentally discovered the true essence of his long-dead mother. This photograph, as he put it, was a telescope that brought distance and time into reality while also doing the same for his mother."
Tags: observation, voyeur, projection, webcam, video
Abstract This paper will discuss the book "Building Schools from Within" by Roland S. Barth and tell why it was written and what it stands for in today's new age of schooling. The book covers theories on the method of school improvement and sets up a critique of how this done.
