Semiotics is the meaning we apply to things. However it is a broad subjects so can be divided into the following subcategories:
Media Semiotics: The media can reuse and recycle signs for their own ends. It asks what something is, how it exemplifies its meaning and why it has the meaning it has. For example Superman has been recycled into our society. In the past a hero would have been sent from the gods but now in a secular society this is no longer appropriate.
Types of Signs:
1. Icons - An icon is something that resembles its reference in some way directly. e.g. a map of France is an icon to France.
2. Index - Something that resembles and relates to something else without showing it. It is an inferred link, e.g. a direction showing you where a place is without showing you the place.
3. Symbols - A signifier that stands for the sign in a conventional way. e.g. the French flag.
Codes: Codes are the basic 'ingredients' or 'directions' that are needed for making a sign. e.g. Set codes create the idea of superman, he needs to be loyal and fighting evil to save good. If this were the other way around he wouldn't be superman.
Texts: Text is the actual story behind the codes. The story when remembered is remembered for the codes that stick out and provide a summary.
Myth: Myths help us make sense of our place in society, they give us aspirations and we can live out our virtues through them. e.g. We attach codes to superman such as he is good and caring and then try to live these out ourselves. He becomes an example of our ideal.
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