Semiotics

Semiotics in media play as a key tool to ensure that intended meanings are unambiguously understood by the audience on the receiving end (Irvine). The television series Black Mirror uses semiotics to play on the audience’s contemporary unease about the modern world. Covering issues of privacy, mob justice, televisual spectacle, relationships in the modern age and the movement of communication, Black Mirror ties all these strands together through our use of technology (Brooker). The signs and symbols throughout each episode of the series, will give hint to the overall meaning the episode is speaking to the audience about our modern world. One episode in particular entitled, The National Anthem, uses semiotics to express concerns on the relationship between social media, reality and authority.

For those who haven’t seen the plot is something like the following: the daughter of Prime Minister is kidnapped. The kidnappers demand that Prime Minister have sex with a pig on live television to prevent her death. The news is leaked on YouTube, the public are generally sympathetic, until it is leaked that one of the Prime Minister’s aides was organizing a contingency plan involving a porn star. Public opinion turns with the Prime Minister fearful of the polls, goes through with it as the entire country watches. Afterwards, it emerges that the kidnapper was a former Turner Prize winning artist, and that the daughter had in fact been released half an hour before the deadline.

Semiotics break down into the Signifier, any material thing that signifies, and the signified, the concept that a signifier refers to (Definitions). In The National Anthem the signifier is Prime Minister, which is the sign of authority and signified is simply the main plot point, which is about undermining the Prime Minister’s authority by forcing his actions, and by publically humiliating him. The relationship between the Prime Minister and people undermining his authority is called an iconic sign, which consists of signs where the signifier resembles the signified. The iconic sign is being used to paint a picture of the Prime Ministers relationship with the public.

The episode questions our society’s ideologies, which are codes that reinforce or are congruent with structures of power (Definitions). When looking at our ideologies traditionally with authority figures, we adhere to their opinions. In this case the ideologies are the opposite, the characters in this media context have ideologies that become essentially reactive, responding to public opinion rather than generating it. The episode examines all aspects of these opposite morals through the use of codes. The codes are presented through the media text as characters respond to the Prime Minister through, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, which then suggests that the codes are the use of technology. The codes show characters liberated out society from old authorities, giving the characters the space to set the agenda themselves.

         The National Anthem connotation, which is the secondary, cultural meanings of sign leads the audience to interpretation (Definitions). The connotation consists with the meaning of the word authority, on its basic level it’s the definition of a power. The National Anthem is arguing that authority’s secondary meaning of a sign of respect has been challenged in this modern world. The audience is presented with this challenge as technology has potential to undermine old authority figures, to change how things are done. This challenge affects the audience’s interpretation, which is the main outcome of the semiotic process. What the interpretation outcomes to be actually a total solution with this media context. Instead it suggests we as society have much more content available to us, but still need someone (authority) to tell us whether content is valuable or not, and still have those authorities restricting the content we see.