Barthes, R. (1977) "Rhetoric of the Image." Image, Music, Text. Ed. and trans. Stephen Heath. New York: Hill and Wang. 32-51.
The concept of an image having endless interpretations without an attached caption to ground the viewer's rogue imaginations fascinates me.
Barthes believed, "... all images are polysemous; they imply, underlying their signifiers, a 'floating chain' of signifieds, the reader able to choose some and ignore others."
In a sense, he describes an image's ability to give off a great (sometimes limitless) amount of different interpretations, depending on social, ethical and stereotypical inclinations of the viewer in question, who can then choose for themselves what they believe to be the truest interpretation. What is depicted for one type of person will differ completely from what another person sees in the image; due to reasons like social status, personal upbringing, cultural reference and individual opinion. Without a caption to ground the image and describe / explain EXACTLY what is depicted, there is no way of saying for certain what the true purpose / description of the image really is.
Anchorage does this - adds a description or a caption to an image, giving the reader absolutely no doubt as to what the content actually displays. This way, the media artist can get across a specific meaning, one that will be virtually universally recognised for what it is. Without this 'anchor', the possibilities are endless.
People will believe what they want to believe until it is proven otherwise.
Take the image on the right as an example.
I could tell you that it's actually an image of my great uncle. And unless you'd seen the image before, there's absolutely no way to disprove my interpretation. (The fact that I did have a great uncle who looked rather like him is irrelevant).
Similarly, I could admit to you that it's actually a sketch-drawing of Roland Barthes, himself (if Wikipedia is to be believed...). But there's nothing to say I'm telling the truth (even though I am). Thus, demonstrating that Barthes' thesis does actually make sense: without an anchor, viewers are free to interpret the image in any way they choose.
Like I said. Fascinating.
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