Intro to Semiotics Part 2: Sign, Myth and

In which we explore the eminent field of theory known as semiotics, followed by a discussion of hashtags as signs, and how #AllLivesMatter is a semiotic myth of #BlackLivesMatter.
Part 2 of a 3-part series of vlogs looking into how language and meaning function.
Part 1: • Intro to Semiotics Par...
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Twitter: / electricdidact
Reddit: / electricdidact
Blog/Author Site: electricdidact.wordpress.com/
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Works Cited:
Ross Murfin and Supryia M. Ray, The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, 2nd ed., 2003, Bedford St. Martin’s
Roland Barthes, Elements of Semiology, 1968, Hill and Wang (www.marxists.org/reference/su...)
Ferdinand de Saussure (trans. Wade Baskin), Course in General Linguistics, 1916 (1959), Philosophical Library
Roland Barthes (trans. Annette Lavers), “Myth Today, Mythologies, 1972, Hill and Wang
“#Herstory,” Alicia Garza, Black Lives Matter (blacklivesmatter.com/herstory/)
Ian Olasov, “How Did “All Lives Matter” Come to Oppose “Black Lives Matter”? A Philosopher of Language Weighs In.” Slate, July 18, 2016 (www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_va...)
SEE ALSO:
Paul Fry, “Semiotics and Structuralism,” YaleCourses, 2009 ( • 8. Semiotics and Struc... )
George Yancy and Judith Butler, “What’s Wrong With ‘All Lives Matter’?” NYT (The Stone), January 12, 2015 (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/...)
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Assets:
Roland Barthes (www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06qh...)
Black Lives Matter, Gerry Lauzon, CC-BY-2.0 (www.flickr.com/photos/bikeman...)
Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, Tony Webster, CC-BY-2.0 (www.flickr.com/photos/8729683...)
Black Lives Matter protest march, Fibonacci Blue, CC-BY-2.0 (www.flickr.com/photos/4455045...)
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Music:
8 Valses poeticos - No.8. Presto (For Guitar - Edson Lopes), CC-BY-3.0 (musopen.org/music/3558/enriqu...)
Lieder ohne Worte, Op.67 - 2. Allegro leggiero, Takashi Sato, CC-BY-3.0 (musopen.org/music/3852/felix-...)

[@typicalrimo3570]

saussure is a swiss linguist not french

[@ElectricDidact]

d'oh!

[@sarahpawlak3122]

I, too, wanted to thank you for your fantastic--accessible breakdowns and relevant applications of lit theory. I'm a PhD lit (ABD) student at UNLV, and this semester I'm assigning some of your videos to my undergrads in both Freshman Comp and Mythology. Thank you for these amazing resources--they make my job SO much easier; wish they'd existed when I taught Lit Theory a few years back!!! :)

[@ElectricDidact]

Sarah Pawlak wow I am so humbled! I hope they're helpful to your students. 😁

[@astroemi]

I really feel the need to tell you your videos are great, and they have way less views than they should. Thank you for making great content, I'll spread it as much as I can.

[@ElectricDidact]

Emiliano Castillo That's so nice! Please do.

[@Sam-zw9di]

thank you so much for linking all your sources in the description box, those will surely help me with my essay on this topic!!

[@rafschuljin6352]

I've spent my whole day reading "Myth today" and I just didn't get it. The whole sign, signifier, meaning, form, concept, ... is really really abstract without the proper linguistic background (I hope I'm not dumb) or a fitting example to go along with it. Thanks a bunch

[@malcmiller9569]

Love it man. Really well put together. Keep it comin'

[@elektragaminghd2440]

Thank you so much! This really helped as I was looking into how Barthes theory of 'Myth' can be applied to current day news/stories. Is there a part 2 like you said in the video? Struggled to find it if there was :') I am intrigued for Part 2!

[@ElectricDidact]

Glad it was what you were looking for! So, this video is itself part 2 in a three-part series on semiotics. You can find them all in this playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLqDbDyQNACJ4ji8z7yPraq95w9sP_Y1K_ Alas, this is the only video I've done on BLM and Barthes' notion of Myth. I might be revisiting the basic idea in an upcoming video, but looking more at Umberto Eco's notion of ur-fascism. Stay tuned for that!

[@elektragaminghd2440]

Brilliant! Thank you so much! :) I look forward to any future videos! :D

[@ElectricDidact]

Great! Thanks for subscribing, and spread the word. :)

[@Crapshiz]

Great channel! Love your examples and explanation style.

[@ElectricDidact]

Crapshiz thanks so much! Please do spread the word 😁

[@MattStranberg]

You are a great teacher. Nice work! Subbed

[@GameLimbs]

Thumbs up for "hashtagthebeeeest". :D Jokes aside, despite going over the basics/most of this in introductory lit theory classes, we never talked about mythical signs that I can remember. I learned something today, and something that seems pretty damn useful too.

[@ElectricDidact]

Go forth and use this knowledge for the greater good.

[@JimmyKline]

Super insightful! I study semiotics in sociology and this is really making me rethink my understanding of Myth. If you wouldn't mind, would you say Baulldrillards simulacrum is a myth referencing itself just as myth references a sign?

[@ElectricDidact]

Thanks! Yeah, I guess Baudrillard's "simulacrum" is a cynical zombie version of Barthes' "myth", since Barthes himself came to reject his own theory of myth, I believe. Structurally, they're similar, but Baudrillard's conceptualization is politically more complicated and pessimistic, while Barthes is still sorta thinking in modernist terms, both politically and technologically, imo. But what Baudrillard seems to criticize through the simulacrum is the loss of the referent; whereas for Barthes, a myth colonizes a sign, without regard for a referent. A myth still requires the original sign to exist to make sense. In that way, perhaps one could say a simulacrum is a "mature" myth?

[@boredchubbypanda]

Thank you so much! This was super helpful. ❤

[@ElectricDidact]

I'm so glad! Thank you, and please do spread the word. :)

[@cillianmcgrath6697]

great video with great explanations and examples :)

[@dwayneneckles]

great video topic and application... which book would you recommend on the topic?

[@ElectricDidact]

Thanks! Barthes' book Mythologies is a pretty great little collection. For basics on semiotics/semiology, you might check out Daniel Chandler's book Semiotics for Beginners, an older version of which he hosts for free reading on his website: visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html

[@ciaraosullivan5531]

THANKYOU SO MUCH

[@merelovergaag2308]

I really love this video and example, but why do I have the feeling that the terms signifier and signified have been swapped?

[@bastianolea]

Great video!

[@ElectricDidact]

Thanks!

[@Meganchannel15]

The background music is too loud

[@richards8827]

I couldn't finish it because of the loud distracting music. You don't need music on every video. Especially when explaining a complex concept.

[@vladavram9209]

What the... #alllivesmatter in a video from 3 years ago and nothing to do whatsoever with what's happening now. I guess it's not that much of a coincidence since KZbin is showing me this because I've looked for a lot of videos on semiotics. But still

[@klimaapje3860]

the background music is really distracting me from the difficult topic....

[@ElectricDidact]

Yes, at the point I was doing this video, I was still experimenting with the levels.

[@kiiesmira]

Thanks, the language/culture is so full of f$ckery. What you have explained is the magic of powerful language.

[@ElectricDidact]

Thanks, Akiba.

[@supershortsciencesongs6483]

So semiotic myths are like language parasites!

[@ElectricDidact]

Yeah! Barthes describes myth as "speech that does not want to die."

[@supershortsciencesongs6483]

Semiotic vampires!

[@cristoferburnstein7066]

I don't agree at all with your take. First off signs doesn't have to be arbitrary, and second off, the signified doesn't necessarily have to exist before the signifier, languages are the basis of categorizing a reality that could be categorized in different ways. Also, although Barthes himself somewhat engage in biased examples of where myth appears, his use of the word myth pertains to a much more natural consequence of human behavior than what your example with #blacklivesmatters implies. In this case you present #blackIivesmatters as a descriptive statement of reality, ignoring that you're already caught up in a world of mythologies at a place which is several orders of signification removed from any descriptive, pure reality. With that in consideration and bringing this back to real examples, according to statistics and research done on the subject there is no consistent evidence that there is a bias against black people in police killings, actually more is pointing towards a bias against whites and hispanics. For example, in an arrest for a violent crime a white person is more likely to be killed compared to a black person. So why do you instantly buy the idea of racially motivated police killings without any data or research? Why did the media assume that the witness (who turned out to be lying and disproved by technical evidence) saying that Michael Brown's had his hands in the air was telling truth opposed to the other witnesses? Why is there no #hispaniclivesmatters since they according to the logics #blm uses are equally mistreated. Why do you in this video choose words with very specific connotations such "appropriating" and "colonizes" and visually emphasize those signs. Could possibly mythology explain this to some degree? So you see what's signified by #blm won't be the same for everyone, I guess this become post-structuralist. In this view the connotations of #blm aren't as noble as what you imply in the video, for example it could be seen as erasure of the experience of those who are affected by police brutality and not black, not to speak of the implications of "false" accusations. So, what you say around 6:00 is from this angle more suitable for #blm, and for those using it the hashtag #Alllivesmatters becomes a counter-hashtag to the motivated mythical sign of #blm.

[@momentoHermano]

Source on a white person being more likely to be killed compared to a black person?

[@alexw3515]

I'm not surprised that this was buried half way down in the comment section. Even now, a year+ removed from the BLM "mostly peaceful" marches, many people are still blind to the overt racism propagated by the #BLM movement. Anyone who doubts what this original commenter posted need only google "fbi police arrest statistics" and you can see for yourself who is most likely to be killed by police. People lie. Numbers don't.

[@12sliptallica]

the thing is, all this stuff about blm/alm could've literally been explained without all the semiotics :/ literally the same conclusion can be drawn without this over-complicated academic talk