Icon: An image that refers to something outside of its individual components, something (or someone) that has great symbolic meaning for many people.
Mr. Foxman loves icons.
“Image icons are experienced as if universal, but their meanings are always historically and contextually produced” (39).
“The production of meaning involves at least three elements besides the image itself and its producer. 1. the codes and conventions that structure the image and that cannot be separated from the content of the image; 2. the viewers and how they interpret or experience the image; and 3. the contexts in which an image is exhibited and viewed” (49).
How can I use this to determine meaning?
Viewer: An individual who looks.
Audience: A collective of lookers.
“All viewer interpretations involve two fundamental concepts of value— aesthetics and taste ” (57).
“Taste is informed by experiences relating to one’s class, cultural background, education, and other aspects of identity” (57).
Hegemony: emphasizes that power is not wielded by one class over another; rather, power is negotiated among all classes of people.
