Running Head: Roland Barthes Rhetoric of the Image

Roland Barthes Rhetoric of the Image

Philip Paek
Wheaton College

Rhetoric of the Image

This paper advocates for the inclusion of the theory illustrated in

Roland Barthes essay the Rhetoric of the Image into Em Griffins text,
A First Look at Communication.
Key points of his essay are highlighted and thoughtfully explained and
elaborated on. Other scholars writings on Barthes are compared in
light of his essay and how his ideals and branch of Semiotics is
relevant are discussed and an argument is made as to why it would be
beneficial for the inclusion of this chapter into the book.

Rhetoric of the Image

From photography and advertisement, to words and objects, the

importance of symbols and semiotics is something that is abounding in
the world and even more so in the digital age that we live in today. Em
Griffins text, A First Look at Communication Theory highlights the
importance of semiotics at a general level, touching upon sign systems
and the general basics of paired signifier and signified. However, while
encompassing a large part of Roland Barthes theory of Semiotics
rooted in his writing in Mythologies, Barthes theory of the Rhetoric of
the Image is not included within the section. In this paper, I will argue
the importance of this section of the theory as well as why it should be
included within Em Griffins textbook.

In Mythologies, through which Griffin amounts much of the

information on the theory of Semiotics, Barthes says that, the
materials of mythical speech[] are reduced to a pure signifying
function as soon as they are caught by the myth (1972). Among those

materials of mythical speech he mentions are photography,

painting, and posters alongside language itself. In context of Barthes

Rhetoric of the Image

views of Semiotics and the mythic signs that reaffirm the status quo
comes his essay on the Rhetoric of the Image in which through his
analyzing of an advertisement image he points out how different
messages are carried out using a system of signs.

In the world that we live in today, we are surrounded by an array

of commercial advertisement. From the social media networks we
browse on a daily basis to the billboards that we see on the freeway,
we are surrounded by images and signs with advertisements and
commercial images posted just about everywhere we look. Malls are
aligned with images of textual and photographic advertisement and
television provides us with video imagery that plays a further
commercial role. In Visual Intelligence, Ann Marie Seward Barry
reminds us of the skepticism through which Barthes taught us to
approach visual content as Barry writes that because visual images
speak with an experiential, associationistic, and holistic logic, it is
important to recognize that they are particularly susceptible to
manipulation by political and commercial structures (1997). Its
inclusion within the text would therefore be relevant for practical
purposes as it not only aligns well with everything Barthes theorized,

Rhetoric of the Image

but teaches us to interpret the sign systems we see in the images we

are exposed to on a daily basis.

In Barthes Rhetoric of the Image, he asks the question of

whether images can serve their true purpose and stand for themselves
as true systems. According to Barthes, the very root of the word
image should be linked to the root imitari (1977). With its root literally
meaning imitation, he claims that advertising images
have clear intentional meanings at the root of the image, as it is in its
very essence just an accumulation of smaller signs within the image.
He draws this out while breaking down a pictured pasta advertisement
throughout his essay, claiming that there are three classes of
messages offered within images whilst illustrating them.

1.The linguistic message

Barthes first class of message is broken down to be all the
textual words within the advertisements. In Barthes example of the
pasta advertisement, this includes the label as well as all the text on
the image itself. Barthes breaks linguistic message down further to
two forms: the denoted message and the connoted message. The
denoted messaged is nothing but the text itself in its most literal

Rhetoric of the Image

sense, nothing more than in the meaning given to it by the language.

The connoted message on the other hand in this case would be taking
the text a step further, in Barthes case the word Panzani [being] not
simply the name of the firm but also, by its assonance, an additional
signified, that of Italianicity (1977).

2.

The Symbolic Message (connoted image)

Barthes second message class, also referred to as the coded

iconic message analyzes the non-linguistic part of the image and the
connoted message that comes with it. This includes the shopping bag
in the image standing for a return from the grocer as well as the color
combination of red green and yellow in the vegatables and pasta
pointing to wards Italianicity once more.

3.

Literal message (denoted image)

Barthes third class refers to the non-coded, non-linguistic parts

of the image as it is also referred to as the non-coded iconic message.

Barthes states that, If [the prior two messages] are removed from the
image, we are still left with a certain informational matter (1977).
This is his illustration of the real objects in the image as we still
continue to read and analyze the advertisement in front of us.

Rhetoric of the Image

After drawing out the three classes, Barthes then ties the
elements together as he analyzes the relationships between the three
messages within an image. He ties this in with two key functions
through which the linguistic message interacts with the two types of
iconic message. The first of these functions is anchorage. Barthes
writes that in this function, the text directs the reader through the
signifieds of the image, causing him to avoid some and receive others
(1977). In this instance, the function of text is to lead the reader to the
answer, which was intended well in advance. The second function is
relay, through which the text and the image are more interconnected.
The Rhetoric of the Image claims that the text and image stand in a
complementary relationship; [] are fragments of a more general
syntagm and the unity of the message is realized at a higher level.
(1977).

In Susan Sontags A Barthes Reader, she sums up Barthes

association of this relationship in her description of photographic
messages. She writes that, the structure o the photograph is not an
isolated structure; it is in communication with at least one other
structure, namely the text (1982). The basic relationship between the

Rhetoric of the Image

text and the image is illustrated further here, as she claims that even
within photography this relationship is shared in more of a relay like
relationship.

In closing the Rhetoric of the Image, Barthes claimed that, it is

precisely the syntagm of the denoted message which naturalizes the
system of the connoted message. By this we see the effect of these
advertisements on our daily life as the denoted messages, or simply
the objects appearing within the advertisements then become more
and more naturalized by their connoted message and the signs
through which they are defined. Barthes continues that the world of
meaning is torn internally as these symbols grouped together contain
powerful messages. In such, this naturalization can and is manipulative
as an image is not just an image, but indeed an accumulation of many
symbols which can commercial influence and carry meanings other
than what it stands for.

In a world filled with advertisements of all shapes and sizes, each

filled with its own message, subliminal or blatant, it is increasingly
important to therefore be aware of a concept such as this especially
within the larger context of a theory such as Semiotics. In the words of

Rhetoric of the Image

the media ecologist Marshall McLuhan, the medium is the message

and we can therefore see that each image is not defined necessarily by
the content through which we see it, but even more through the
distorting medium through which an image becomes a symbol for so
much more than just itself or what is pictured.

Tying back into the book, this theory extends on both the hidden
messages that the public sphere is unaware to as well as the basis to
which a signifier and a signified make up a sign and are combined into
images with its own rhetoric. Simply put, the Rhetoric of the Image can
be known as the persuasive nature of images simply by definition and
should be an important part of Griffins text as it is a more specific take
than the general nature through which the textbook covers the theory.

With its inclusion in Em Griffins chapter on Semiotics, students

learning about Semiotics would gain a much more aware
understanding of the nature of images within the country and the
world that we live in as well as of advertisements which probably have
more signs within than the example Barthes gave us. An awareness
can be carried out into many occupations in the digital world that we
live in today and ultimately would tie in as well as enhance the ideas
already presented within the text.

Rhetoric of the Image

10

Barry, A. M. (1997). Visual intelligence: Perception, image, and

manipulation in visual communication. Albany: State University of New
York Press.

Rhetoric of the Image

11

Barthes, R. (1977) [1964]. S. Health (trans.). ed. Rhetoric of the Image,

in Image,Music, Text,. New York: Noonday Press.. pp. 32-51.
Barthes, R., & Lavers, A. (1972). Mythologies. New York: Hill and Wang.
Barthes, R., & Sontag, S. (1982). A Barthes reader. New York: Hill and
Wang.
Griffin, E (2012). A First Look of Communication Theory, Eighth Edition.
New York, NY: McGraw Hill.