Semiotics assignment for Final Exam

Name : Lia Anggreani Purba
Student Number : 120110101054
Subject : Semiotics

The semiotic analysis of cultural myths involves an attempt to deconstruct the ways in which codes operate within particular popular texts or genres, with the goal of revealing how certain values, attitudes and beliefs are supported whilst others are suppressed.
As Roland Barthes had mentioned that 'denotation is not the first meaning, but pretends to be so; under this illusion, it is ultimately no more than the last of the connotations (the one which seems both to establish and close the reading), the superior myth by which the text pretends to return to the nature of language, to language as nature' (Barthes 1974, 9). Related to connotation is what Roland Barthes refers to as myth. We usually associate myths with classical fables about the exploits of gods and heroes. But for Barthes myths were the dominant ideologies of our time.











Every other bank ad usually starts with (and focused on) the bank. They were all about who they are and when they were founded. They talked about their mission and goals, their philosophy, what services they offer and how committed they are.
Indonesian people are well-known for their consumptive behaviour, especially for the ladies. It is such a natural law that maybe every single women loves to shop. In the picture of BJB Bank advertisement above, there are a beautiful grown up lady who puts a big smile on her face that indicates that she is in her good mood and she feels happy with her left arm opened holding and showing a quite big size shopping bag whilst holding a savings book. Both of her dress and shopping bag are in orange colours, such a symbolized colour that represented the main colour of BJB Bank. Behind that lady, there are many clothes which are hung and displayed just like what we can see in the common stores.
From the way she holds her BJB Bank saving book in her right hand and "shows off" her shopping bag in her left hand we can say that she tries to say that she can get her big smile –by shopping—thanks to BJB Bank since BJB Bank has given her voucher that then she can be used to shop.
There are also sales up to 50% in the behind of that model, again, with orange colour. Just looking at the sale board paper printed in orange colour we can consider that with the voucher from BJB Bank we can the product with half price offer. And as we know, ladies are the creature who will easily fall for the word "sale" at least if we look at the vast majority, and just hold on that facts, BJB Bank wish they can get more and more customer.
Here then comes a question why doesn't BJB Bank use a man as its model? The answer is because people believe that almost every man hates the word "shopping" and even some of them consider "shopping" word as a terror. They want to offer something related to shopping and it's definitely the best choice to not choose man as the model. And if we want to analyze why the model does use a shopping bag instead of shopping cart? The answer perhaps because shopping bag gives likeable and familiar experience to the shoppers, because clothing and fashion are inclined to shopping bag while shopping cart is usually related to food and household appliances. BJB Bank wants to give a relax feeling to its potential customers in this case is women in majority, because if talking about a relaxed feeling, women will choose to shop clothing and all the things related to women instead of household appliances without a second thought.



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Here we have an advertisement of Mandiri Bank. Related to connotation is what Roland Barthes refers to as myth. We usually associate myths with classical fables about the exploits of gods and heroes. But for Barthes myths were the dominant ideologies of our time.
In the picture above we can see bright white clouds on a clear blue sky as the background which indicates freedom and open-space and an infinite dream. Furthermore, there are four adults in that picture, three young men and a young lady with their own dreams. The first man is holding a paper with an aeroplane picture in it with tour package line below that picture, as we know that man love to travel to many new places, because they love something new and challenging, and plane itself usually used to travel to distant places. The second is a young lady with a picture of graduation caps with "Tabungan Pendidikan" or educational savings line below that toga picture, which has meaning that she wishes she has savings for her education plans. As we know, women nowadays tend to focus on their school because they believe that higher level of education they get more qualified their lives are. And they consider that they can easier to achieve their dream with education. The third person is a young man who is holding a picture with a single house picture drawn on it, we can take hypothesis that he wants to have his own house just like the other grown man in this era, because as a soon to be a patriarch, he has to be able to build and to provide a house at least for his own little family. And then the last man in the picture with a picture of shop building drawn in the paper which is held by him. Men always have a dream to have their own business because they tend to hate something bound and also hate being regulated and that's why they need to run their own business.
In that advertisement picture we also can see that all of the four people look to the left side while smiling. If eyes are pointing towards the top left side that means that they are imagining something. The smile on their face whilst looking at the left side shows that they are imagining on building a picture in their mind.
If we want to analyze from their custom, they all dressed in such a formal custom, men with their suits complete with pants and tie, while the woman with her office dress. People with suits and formal dress like in the picture are often categorized as an educated person who means that Mandiri Bank tries to