Ferdinand de Saussure's Theory of Semiotics Analysis

Introduction to Ferdinand de Saussure's Theory of Signs

    Ferdinand de Saussure was a swiss linguist who developed ideas that laid a foundation involving linguistics and paved the way to future developments with semiotics. Saussure came up with the theory of signs, or the semiological system, as he calls it which is used commonly in semiotics. Saussure's theory was that a sign consisted of two parts, a signifier and the signified, but he also believed the meaning of a sign depended on the context surrounding the sign. I created a PowerPoint involving three slides alongside my team mate. The PowerPoint goes into depth about Saussure's theory of signs defining vocabulary and it provides examples of his theory in play using a table. Me and my partner chose a whiteboard looking effect with a wooden border that looks like a floor to create an educational looking environment. We chose this particular font for the PowerPoint because it looks more professional and leaves space making the PowerPoint seem bigger. I contributed to this product  by defining the vocabulary and doing some examples from the table below. I also changed the theme of the PowerPoint to make it more official. In the movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, it starts off with a dark and brownish lighting which signifies the deaths and grief . It also creates a moody, ominous feeling in the film. This signifier correlates with Harry Potter who has always been surrounded by death his entire life losing his parents when he was a baby and later on losing a classmate and his last living relative. 

Reflection

    The application I used to do the work is a laptop with the PowerPoint program to create my slides and do my research.  Due to the research I've conducted on the topic of Ferdinand de Saussure's theory of sign, I believe I am an intermediate when it comes to understanding his theory. While I do understand the basics, I believe with more practice and more analyzation of films, I will be become an advanced expert at using his theory. 

(Work Cited Links)

Dewanti, D. (2023a) Semiotic analysis of Ferdinand de Saussure’s structuralism on ‘energen green bean’ advertisement, SSRN. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4487450 (Accessed: 20 September 2024).

Wikipedia (2024a) Ferdinand de Saussure, Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Saussure (Accessed: 20 September 2024).