Tag Archives: writing

Vigilante Semiotics January 11

Vigilantism and Justice in modern society: a popular culture analysis

posted by

The last few years have not been good ones for law enforcement and the Justice system. There is a growing perception that Justice is not what it once was: there is corruption, the law has been abused, inequality is rising and crime appears to go unpunished. A hypothesis expanded here, is that popular culture is framing the way that many in western cultures perceive the law, the legal profession and our law enforcers. If this is correct, is this inviting some to start to think of acting for justice outside of the law?

»»
Scales of Lady Justice December 13

Is Popular Culture influencing our perception of Justice?

posted by

Much of 2014 has been dominated by stories of Justice, Law and Injustice. If popular culture is a reflection of society and culture, what do the changing storylines of law-and-crime suggest about how we feel about Justice? Do these stories influence the way that we see our own societies? This can be illustrated by looking at the structures of some of the more successful film and TV shows.

»»
culture decanted September 21

Why are we taking the super out of the supernatural stories: another postmodern symptom?

posted by

Why are we taking the super out of the supernatural stories: just another postmodern symptom? There is a tendency of modern films and TV shows to recycle supernatural stories by finding secular or mundane explanations for their supernatural themes. This trend is driven by the continuing postmodern agenda to find rational explanations for everything and challenge existing meta-narratives in culture. To illustrate this, ten examples of dominant supernatural themes are explored as having secular explanations for their plots.

»»
birdcage August 27

Semiotics of the Birdcage

posted by

A semiotic analysis of the birdcage as a cultural status symbol. Why is this symbol used so consistently by luxury and fashion brands? What is the history of the birdcage through to today? What are the psychological drivers that influence the engagement with the birdcage in society today? Since the birdcage is linked with fashion, what does this suggest about women and how they are framed in societal discourse?

»»
Personification of the City August 15

Why are we no longer in love with our Cities?

posted by

Why are we no longer in love with our cities? We personify cities, give them human characteristics.

We create our identity from where we live. Are we projecting something, of how we see ourselves, onto our cities?

»»
Semiotics of the Doppelganger July 14

The Semiotics of the Doppelgänger: the Double in Popular Culture

posted by

The Semiotics of the Doppelgänger: the Double in Popular Culture   One of the themes from the last blog I wrote on ‘evil’, was the nature of how this is depicted in popular culture from a semiotic perspective. This started out with a Kantian perspective, that evil is something that all of us have the […]

»»
July 06

The Semiotics of Evil

posted by

What is evil? In the postmodern Western world, evil is something that has become almost robbed of its ability to horrify us. Increased global communication and knowledge inure our responsiveness with a daily news diet of ‘evils’. In entertainment, with many of the anti-heroes of TV being serial killers or sociopaths, we’re becoming increasingly desensitised […]

»»
May 27

The Signature Resigned [Names: part 2]

posted by

Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable. W. H. Auden It is easier than ever to have multiple identities online; allowing us to be the virtual persona we might wish we could be. At a time when individualism is a driving force in western society, it’s ironic that so […]

»»