Imagologies : the new discourse : the hypnotic carnival of images

Abstract

The proliferation of the image in everyday life is something that can be manifestly noted. Whence it began, for what reasons, and to what causes and effects is thus a brimming well begging one to dive into it. This work attempts to take the plunge into a universe which is vast and diverse, creative and imaginative, ubiquitous and full of untapped schemata. The power of the image, in a world ever more challenged by rapidly developing media technology, can no longer go by unheeded. The need to discover the machinations of this mutating system becomes pressing. The image as an entity forms the nexus of the world of advertising as we know it today. This realm is the point of focus of this work. The explicit objective here is that of attempting to uncover (as opposed to solving) the many riddles that inhabit the image and which it, in turn, constructs. The image nowadays is not simply a matter of status symbol or belonging, but is also a way of communicating in itself. This work questions how the image has developed into a form so strong that it sustains itself on its own two feet. In the first instance it turns to Semiotics for an understanding of the implications behind the concept of sign/symbol, signifier/signified. Semiotics thus grounds the nebulosity of the image within a structure and framework, giving it a linguistically cohesive method of expression, and thus, understanding. The work then turns to Postmodernism. Postmodernism is encountered in both its academic and practical guise. Within it, this work locates the style of existence which, through its own forms and ways of being, brings the image to life as an entity separate, individual and distinct from all others. The two disciplines of Semiotics and Postmodernism are then joined together in a practical assimilation. By taking examples one may encounter in mundane every day life, this work sets out to illustrate the extensive infiltration of the image in many of our daily experiences.