Roland Barthe's essay "Rhetoric of the Image" describes the numerous ways to interpret images. These ways of interpretation can be applied to every image; including this advertisement for the television show, "The Sopranos".
"The text directs the reader through the signifieds of the image, causing him to avoid some and receive others; by means of an often subtle dispatching, it remote-controls him towards a meaning chosen in advance."
In this advertisement, the text directs the viewer to certain images, and allows them to gather certain ideas based on the text and image, but also to not notice others. The words "Made in America" guide the viewer to the image of the statue of liberty and to make the connection between the two. We see the Statue of Liberty and immediately think of the United States and what that means and what it stands for. The text "the final episodes-April 8th, 8pm" directs us around the ad, but also to the image of the man standing in the ad. The other piece of text also directs us to him, and as Barthes said "remote-controls him towards a meaning chosen in advance". The text in this ad makes us think of the other images in a certain way. We see the United States as a good nation, in a proud sense, and we see the man in the same way. He was made in America.
"Does the image duplicate certain of the informations given in the text by a phenomenon of redundancy, or does the text add a fresh information to the page?"
In this advertisement, the image reinforces the text that is present. The whole idea of "Made in America", as the text describes is perfectly captured in the image of the statue of liberty in the background. When talking about the United States, most people immediately think of our nation's roots...particularily Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. That statue is part of our identity as a nation, and is as well known as being part of America as any other icon we have. It encapsulates what the United States is. Along with this, one of the main characters in the show is the only character on this ad, and while I have only seen one episode of the series, I understand that it is about mobsters in the New Jersey. This "Made in America" text reinforces the idea of the entire show - american mobsters.
The rest of the text adds new information to the page, but also helps by clarifying the other images. The rest of the text, "The final Episodes-April 8th, 8pm", bring in a new set of information to the entire image, but I think it also clarifies what the entire ad is stating. Although this ad is for The Sopranos, it never explicitly says that. There is no logo for the show, or even mention of the name of the show, but by including the text about the final episodes, and combining that with the news that the series was ending, it is fairly easy to draw the conclusion that this advertisement is for that television show.
"The variations in readings is not, however, anarchic; it depends on the different kinds of knowledge - practical, national, cultural, aesthetic - invested in the image and these can be classified, brought into typology."
This quote by Barthes might be one of the most important in my view, when it comes to interpreting an image. When interpreting any image, the knowledge that you have going into the interpretation will make a large difference in the ideas you come away from the image with. Especially with this image, with the Statue of Liberty and the clearly American ideals, if you come from a different country with a different culture, you will most likely interpret this ad differently than someone born and raised in America. Depending on your culture, this ad will give you different impressions. If this ad was presented to someone who doesn't follow television or popular culture (as rare as that may be), they might not be able to interpret that this is an advertisement for the last season of The Sopranos. Barthes says that the vast arrays of interpretations for images is not anarchic, it is not just random and unorganized, but is a reflection of the many different cultures, nations, and ways of thinking that are present in societies around the world. When interpreting any image, people have to understand that a certain portion of the interpretation will be based on the knowledge that a specific person has going into looking at the image. That is what makes each of us unique, and what allows us to have different ideas and interpretations of the same thing or image.
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