Roland Deschain

Ever since I was a little girl, clothes and shoes have been important to me. I loved picking out my own outfits for school, and finding just the right color Keds or sandals to match. It truly was a passion. Even now, many years later, here I am, the same shopaholic and fashion maniac I have always been. After researching semiotics, which in short, is the method of interpreting signs and finding a deeper meaning in everyday activities, I realize, that my reasoning for choosing the clothes and shoes

The Song of Roland, written by a nonspecific poet around 1100, is a historical satire recollection of a duke’s final battle around 778 that is loosely based on the events of Charlemagne’s rear-guard that was ambushed. A specific aspect concerning this document deals with the religious history and influence during the Crusades, and furthermore how religious figures influenced society at that time. Ultimately, the document served as a tool for soldier recruitment implemented by the Church; serving

After Reading Camera Lucida written by Roland Barthes, I was both confused and interested by his ideas. Though I did not understand much of the book, I was able to take a couple of his ideas and really think about how I see photos. In the future, I intend to use these ideas when I look at photos. One of his ideas that I was able to understand is the way he looks at pictures. The other one is his second definition of punctum. The first of the two ideas that interested me the most was the way Barthes

Throughout the years there have been many Occupy Movements; Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Central in Hong Kong and Occupy Nigeria are just a few that were inspired by the Arab Spring. Looking at the Arab Spring in terms of ideas of power is a useful framework because it enables us to gain information which could be useful for future occupy movements as well as giving us a different interpretation to that of the social norm. We will then be able to connect that newly analysed idea of power with obedience

The Double-Edged Sword: Myth and Reality The chapter titled “Myth Today” found in Roland Barthes progressive book, Mythologies attempts to analyze the notion of a myth within material culture while reinforcing the idea of semiotics and unveiling the system behind it. Myth, for most people, is considered a kind of story or tale of history that might have some truth to it. When thinking of myth, we may recall tales of Hercules and Oedipus as well as cultural or religious phenomena such as the rebirth

Poststructuralism mainly criticizes the dependence of structuralism on tradition and opposes traditional structuralism to focus research on objectivity and rationality. It attempts to restore irrational tendencies, pursue from the logic, but produce non-logical results. There is seldom a coherent theory in the field of poststructuralism, but each theory begins with a critique of Structuralism. Take the documentary as an example, in the view of the poststructuralist theorists, there is nothing else

Structuralism originated in the works of Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss linguist in the 20th century. An attempt to study a specific whole as a complex system of interrelated parts, it soon came to be applied to many other fields. Structuralism is closely related to Semiotics and Saussure focused on the underlying system of language, ‘langue’ instead of the use of language. Yet, the discovery of ‘langue’ is possible only with an examination of parole, speech. Apart from favouring the synchronic development

Throughout his life’s work, Roland Barthes has expressed a wide range of diverse views on various aspects of literary theory and formulating important analysis techniques; initially exploring and redefining structuralism, and eventually defining post-structuralism. In the 1960’s, when “An Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative” was first published, traditional structuralist thinking and method was already starting to shift towards post-structuralism. Still, Barthes brings up Saussure’s

“Critical theory”, in terms of literature, can be defined as a form of criticism through the close reading of a text and the application of knowledge acquired from the study of the humanities. The “multiple readings” mentioned in the question refers to the different schools of literary criticism – for example, structuralism, feminist theory, new historicism/cultural materialism, ecocriticism and postcolonial criticism. It is true to say that Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” can be read

“Critical theory”, in terms of literature, can be defined as a form of criticism through the close reading of a text and the application of knowledge acquired from the study of the humanities. The “multiple readings” mentioned in the question refers to the different schools of literary criticism – for example, structuralism, feminist theory, new historicism/cultural materialism, ecocriticism and postcolonial criticism. It is true to say that Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” can be read