• What are the denotative signs within the song?
• What are the connotative meanings within the song?
• Does the ad use metaphor?
• Which myths are invoked by the song? How would you describe the system of myth present within the song?
• What cultural codes does the ad appeal to?
Identify the signs.
a. Representations of people?
i. Age: Who is the song for?
What is the age of those singing?
What are their voices meant to convey?
How does the music itself influence our understanding of the song’s audience?
Gender. Texts often recreate traditional, binary gender roles. Men are often portrayed as active and logical, women tend to appear passive, domestic, and frivolous. To what extent does your text do this? What are the masculine and feminine elements of the song, and how are they structured within the song?
Race: Does this song feature any racial tropes or stereotypes? How does the song’s language, vocal accents, and genre speak to this?
To what extent does it do this?
What is the impact on the overall meaning of the song?
Representations of manner?
Expression: Is the singer/song happy, melancholy, sad, and so on?
Does the mood change during the song?
“Eye contact’: Who is looking/speaking to whom? In the case of a song, to whom is the singer singing?
Representations of activity?
Touch: Who is touching what, with what effects?
Body movement: Who is active and who is passive?
d. Props and Settings:
What objects appear?
What do they signify, and how do they add meaning to the text?
Settings: Settings range from “normal” or everyday locations to the socalled “exotic.” They may also be fantasy locations. What effects does the setting have on the text?
Examine the connotative (associative) messages generated by the combination of signs.
Think about how they relate to other signs ‘in themselves,’ then explore their connections (and the connections of the connections) to wider systems of meaning.
Then, return to the signs to explore the precise articulation of ideology. What is the larger ideological meaning that is conveyed by the song?
