For my semiotic analysis I used a picture from the official That 70's Show web sight. This picture can be found at http://www.that70sshow.com/index.htm. This web sight is very interesting and has a good bit of information about the show. Some of the information the web sight has is an episode guide, a gallery, a news section, plus a music and about the show tab. The web sight along with the picture is very colorful to catch one's attention. The color and flashiness help sell the show.
This one simple picture describes a good bit about the show. The first major detail in the picture is the purple shadow around the characters; this shadow could very much resemble a shadow of a black light. Black lights are not actually black; they have a purple bulb that glows purple. Black lights were very popular during the 70's. Another major part of the picture is orange that outlines the characters actually changes color on the web sight. The orange changes from orange to teal to yellow and back to orange again. Although these colors do not describe the show the change of color is used to attract one's attention and keep their interest.
In this picture, the characters position and style of dress is used to describe the show and the individual's personality. The characters stance of a knee bend and different arm positions is used to make the characters look like they are dancing. The dancing describes the nineteen seventies because during this time the disco dancing style was very popular.
The position of the characters is used to show the level of importance, style and personality. First Eric Forman in the green shirt is placed in the center of the crew because he is the main character and the most important. He is the most important because the group of friends usually all get together as a meeting place in his basement . The next character to Eric's right is Steve Hyde; Steve is the cool guy in the group who loves his rock music, his sunglasses help describe him as having a slick personality. To the right of Steve is Jackie; during the show she is always talking about guys and who she has a crush on at that particular time. Her position shows her facing Steve, like she is checking him out. On the end is Fez, Fez is a crazy Spanish character who is usually confused, his dress and disposition helps describe him as out of the ordinary. The last to characters to the left is Donna Pinciotti and Kelso. Donna and Kelso are both the crazy and out going, the picture helps describe them because they have the craziest dance position.
This picture did a very well job describing the characters of the show and the show it self. The pictures colors and back ground help show the time period of the nineteen seventies and the characters position and style of dress help describe the characters personalities.
2 comments:
Hi,
I like the picture you've chosen. It shows a group of careless young people that express their youth in a happy worry-free way.
They seemed a little younger than they appeared on the latest episodes, so I assume this was one of their first pictures.
You are right to point out the predominance of colors. Purple and orange bring the psychedelic kind of aura to it. If I am not mistaken, orange was a predominant color of that era. I think most of the decorations on the show had a lot of orange and green.
I am glad you included the official web-site to get some more info on that great show.
The picture you chose to analyze is a great example of what the show is all about. I like your attention to the fact that the colors used are important in this picture. The 70's are often associated with psychedelic images. The orange and purples shown here are common in such psychedelic images.
You did a good job of analyzing the character order in the picture, by noting that Eric Foreman is centered in the picture, which symbolizes his central role in the show and the group of friends.
It would have been interesting to see some more detail about the individual poses of each character, and how their body language in the photo reflects their personality and character traits in the show. Likewise, the clothing of each character could be analyzed to reflect the personalities of each character. Overall though, great job picking up on the details of this particular photo.
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