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Look at this image. 
What do you think is 
going on? Most people 
assume the man is from 
a country in the Middle 
East. His appearance 
and the background 
suggest this. But what is 
he doing?
Now what does it look 
like he's doing? 
Is he wiping his mouth 
on a large cloth, perhaps 
after having had lunch?
How has your 
understanding changed 
now? 
Physically, it's still possible 
that he was wiping his 
mouth, but most people 
don't think that; because he 
has a flag (and because of 
the position of his head and 
expression), most people 
conclude that he is kissing 
the flag.
Here's where the image 
came from: the front 
page of the weekend 
edition of USA Today, 
March 1-3, 1991 -- the 
end of the Persian Gulf 
War. Now how do you 
understand the picture 
of the man?
The important point here 
is this: Your different 
interpretations of the 
man's actions came not 
from his image, but from 
what you assumed based 
on what surrounded his 
image. The image of the 
man did not change, but 
the context of the image 
did.
So the reason you now understand 
the man to be kissing the 
American flag has little or nothing 
to do with his image itself. 
It has more to do with the 
relationship between his image 
and things that surround it, its 
place in a system of signs. 
Assumptions we make based on 
the image of the flag, and its 
placement on the front page of a 
newspaper at a particular time -- 
not his expression or the position 
of his lips or anything about the 
photo of the man himself -- 
ultimately determine how we 
understand what he is doing.
What are the 
connotations of this 
photo?
Kissing any flag, for most 
people, would connote 
respect and gratitude for 
the nation the flag signifies. 
So one connotation of this 
photo is that this particular 
man has respect for and 
gratitude toward the United 
States because of its part in 
the Gulf War.
The next question, however, is 
whether this image is just 
about this particular man? 
What do you actually know 
about this man, his life, and his 
relationship to the war? 
The caption refers to him 
simply as "a Kuwaiti." So if 
the particulars of this man's 
life are not known or 
considered newsworthy, why 
was his image selected for the 
front page of this national 
newspaper?
Is the key connotation 
of the photo that this 
particular individual 
kissed the flag out of 
gratitude to the US? 
Or, does it suggest 
something more?
In actuality, an 
immensely powerful 
myth is being invoked 
here, whether 
intentionally or 
unintentionally. The 
combination of the signs 
on the page sends a 
message about the 
situation being 
described here.
Many people 
undoubtedly glanced 
at this USA Today on 
March 2, 1991. How 
do you think it was 
interpreted?
In that moment of seeing, a 
lot happens: you make 
sense of the image and 
interpret it, by applying 
your existing knowledge of 
the connotations of kissing 
the flag, the narratives of 
victory, and the entire story 
of subjected peoples 
grateful for military 
intervention.
So the notion that the 
Kuwaitis were grateful for 
military intervention at this 
point in time is invoked in 
your mind, not because it is 
stated in so many words, but 
because it is part of the 
framework you use to make 
sense of the image, part of 
its conditions of intelligibility. 
The image promotes the 
myth, not by making an 
explicit argument for it, but 
by getting you to fill in the 
details.
Something peculiar is 
happening here. In part because 
of the image, but also because 
of its context, when you 
glanced at this picture you were 
not likely to think you were 
reading a controversial 
proposition: after all it is "just" 
a picture. So the photo seems to 
be two things at once: on the 
one hand, an elaborate 
mythology; on the other, just a 
picture of a man kissing a flag.
Ideology is the point where 
semiotic systems and codes 
intersect with the exercise of 
power in social life. It is the 
process whereby codes reinforce 
or become congruent with 
structures of power. 
What the peculiar character of 
this image illustrates is how 
ideology in this sense works, not 
by persuading people of the value 
of particular ideas (e.g., an 
editorial stating that all Kuwaiti 
people are grateful for military 
intervention), but largely by 
creating forms of "common 
sense," of the taken-for-granted in 
everyday life.
The preceding analysis of signs in the media suggests that 
people's attitudes and actions in cases of things like war may 
not be simply a matter of facts, lies, and distortions in the 
media, of truths and falsehoods. 
It suggests that structures of cultural common sense addressed 
and reinforced in the media – the "folklore" of the industrial 
world – operate less on a level of truth and falsehood than 
on a level of association and imagery. 
We should aim to become more aware of, and thus less 
susceptible to, the forms of common sense these images 
promote.
This slide show is a combination of slides taken 
from 
www.understandingnewmedia.com/slides/se 
miotics.ppt and from the Powerpoint 
presentation of Tom Streeter, University of 
Vermont.

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Context - media text analysis

  • 1. Look at this image. What do you think is going on? Most people assume the man is from a country in the Middle East. His appearance and the background suggest this. But what is he doing?
  • 2. Now what does it look like he's doing? Is he wiping his mouth on a large cloth, perhaps after having had lunch?
  • 3. How has your understanding changed now? Physically, it's still possible that he was wiping his mouth, but most people don't think that; because he has a flag (and because of the position of his head and expression), most people conclude that he is kissing the flag.
  • 4. Here's where the image came from: the front page of the weekend edition of USA Today, March 1-3, 1991 -- the end of the Persian Gulf War. Now how do you understand the picture of the man?
  • 5. The important point here is this: Your different interpretations of the man's actions came not from his image, but from what you assumed based on what surrounded his image. The image of the man did not change, but the context of the image did.
  • 6. So the reason you now understand the man to be kissing the American flag has little or nothing to do with his image itself. It has more to do with the relationship between his image and things that surround it, its place in a system of signs. Assumptions we make based on the image of the flag, and its placement on the front page of a newspaper at a particular time -- not his expression or the position of his lips or anything about the photo of the man himself -- ultimately determine how we understand what he is doing.
  • 7. What are the connotations of this photo?
  • 8. Kissing any flag, for most people, would connote respect and gratitude for the nation the flag signifies. So one connotation of this photo is that this particular man has respect for and gratitude toward the United States because of its part in the Gulf War.
  • 9. The next question, however, is whether this image is just about this particular man? What do you actually know about this man, his life, and his relationship to the war? The caption refers to him simply as "a Kuwaiti." So if the particulars of this man's life are not known or considered newsworthy, why was his image selected for the front page of this national newspaper?
  • 10. Is the key connotation of the photo that this particular individual kissed the flag out of gratitude to the US? Or, does it suggest something more?
  • 11. In actuality, an immensely powerful myth is being invoked here, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The combination of the signs on the page sends a message about the situation being described here.
  • 12. Many people undoubtedly glanced at this USA Today on March 2, 1991. How do you think it was interpreted?
  • 13. In that moment of seeing, a lot happens: you make sense of the image and interpret it, by applying your existing knowledge of the connotations of kissing the flag, the narratives of victory, and the entire story of subjected peoples grateful for military intervention.
  • 14. So the notion that the Kuwaitis were grateful for military intervention at this point in time is invoked in your mind, not because it is stated in so many words, but because it is part of the framework you use to make sense of the image, part of its conditions of intelligibility. The image promotes the myth, not by making an explicit argument for it, but by getting you to fill in the details.
  • 15. Something peculiar is happening here. In part because of the image, but also because of its context, when you glanced at this picture you were not likely to think you were reading a controversial proposition: after all it is "just" a picture. So the photo seems to be two things at once: on the one hand, an elaborate mythology; on the other, just a picture of a man kissing a flag.
  • 16. Ideology is the point where semiotic systems and codes intersect with the exercise of power in social life. It is the process whereby codes reinforce or become congruent with structures of power. What the peculiar character of this image illustrates is how ideology in this sense works, not by persuading people of the value of particular ideas (e.g., an editorial stating that all Kuwaiti people are grateful for military intervention), but largely by creating forms of "common sense," of the taken-for-granted in everyday life.
  • 17. The preceding analysis of signs in the media suggests that people's attitudes and actions in cases of things like war may not be simply a matter of facts, lies, and distortions in the media, of truths and falsehoods. It suggests that structures of cultural common sense addressed and reinforced in the media – the "folklore" of the industrial world – operate less on a level of truth and falsehood than on a level of association and imagery. We should aim to become more aware of, and thus less susceptible to, the forms of common sense these images promote.
  • 18. This slide show is a combination of slides taken from www.understandingnewmedia.com/slides/se miotics.ppt and from the Powerpoint presentation of Tom Streeter, University of Vermont.