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  1. University of Western MacedoniaSchool of Education Postgraduate Studies ProgramCultural Studies: Semiotic Structures & PracticesVisual Analysis of Teen Drama Promo Posters: Gossip Girl vs. Skinsby KonstantiaLiouzapostgraduate student15th Early Fall School in Semiotics “Sociosemiotics III”, 5-15 September 2009, Sozopol, Bulgaria.

  2. Intro • Aim of this work is the visual analysis of teen drama promotion posters; in particular posters of the advertising campaigns of two teen drama TV series, Gossip Girl (american)& Skins (british). • Within the framework of cultural studies and social semiotic approach. • What’s the role of these promo posters in culture, how teens and youth are represented and why?

  3. Cultural Studies & Social Semiotics • Images are cultural artifacts of representation as a ‘textual practice’ of culture (Lister & Wells, 2001: 61); it’s necessary to understand how are they produced, enacted and consumed. • Images are presumed as constructs of reality (van Leeuwen & Jewitt, 2001: 5). • The analysis of advertising images can reveal the nature of such constructs.

  4. The analytical framework • Visual social semiotic analysis - as it is developed by Kress and van Leeuwen: three ‘metafunctions’ of images: representational, interactive and compositional. • Barthian visual semiotics - layering of meaning denotation(what/who is depicted) connotation(ideas and values that are represented).

  5. Description of the sample • Promotional posters of Gossip Girl and Skins. • Teen drama focuses on teenage characters. • Both: • are very recent (began in 2007 - broadcasted until now), • high ratings, • the context is a realistic frame. • Why? sharp criticism received, especially because of the ad campaigns which implied an inappropriate context to be shown to underage teenagers (considered as minors).

  6. Gossip Girl: OMFG • Two teens are depicted in a sexual scene(Serenaand Nate). • Intense pleasure: position of female face (lips, closed eyes, head leans back…), • Vivid motion (hair) • Serena accepts eagerly the action of kissing.

  7. Gossip Girl: OMFG • Salient visual element is ‘OMFG’: Oh My F--king God. • Young people are familiar to this kind of textual expression. • Ideal consumers of this ‘encrypted’ message. • Anchors the meaning of what is represented.

  8. Gossip Girl: “EVERY PARENT’S NIGHTMARE” • Serena ‘suggestively’ being kissed at her neck by a faceless young man. • The ‘hidden’ face –insignificant. Semantic weight is centred on his action.

  9. Gossip Girl: “EVERY PARENT’S NIGHTMARE” • Enjoyment and sexual pleasure is the potential meaning inferred from characteristics of Serena’s face (leaned head , closed eyes, half opened mouth, hand entangled in hair…)

  10. Gossip Girl: “EVERY PARENT’S NIGHTMARE” • Quote from Boston Herald is used for advertising. • Re-framing changes potential meaning. • Construct of teenage girl (“daughter”) in contrast with the implied adult (“parent”).

  11. Skins: In the edge of death • Tony is depicted lying submerged in a bath with his eyes open. • Neglect and depression (dirty tiles, bathtub, water, darkness…) • In the edge of death/ threshold of consciousness.

  12. Skins: In the edge of death • The ‘point of view’ - a position of symbolic power. • Frontality - maximum involvement. • Viewer is directly confronted with the depicted face and the directly gaze.

  13. Skins: Banned ‘orgy’ poster • This promo poster was banned from the Advertising Standards Authority in UK. • It features Michelle and Sid surrounded by couples apparently taking part in an ‘orgy’.

  14. Skins: Banned ‘orgy’ poster • Salient visual element is Michelle (placed on the foreground, lighted with exiguous dim light). • Despondency and neglect (smudged makeup, only underwear, looking disheveled).

  15. Skins: Banned ‘orgy’ poster • Representational meaning: Sid looks at Michelle (‘transactive reaction’), while Michelle looks out of the frame (‘non-transactive reaction’). • Interactive meaning: Michelle is closer to the viewer (‘medium shot’) than Sid (‘long shot’).

  16. References • Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen (1996). Reading Images: The Grammar of the Visual Design. London: Routledge. • Lister, Martin & Liz Wells (2001). “Seeing beyond belief: Cultural Studies as an approach to analysing the visual”, in van Leeuwen, Theo & Carey Jewitt (eds.) (2001) Handbook of Visual Analysis. London: Sage Publications, 61-91. • van Leeuwen, Theo & Carey Jewitt (eds.) (2001). Handbook of Visual Analysis. London: Sage Publications, 5.

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