Posts Tagged ‘synthesis’
Synthesis makes the connection between the narrative, the argument and the image structure within a particular text. In this text (Food Network Star), the synthesis involved the story that is being narrated by the competitors. It’s narrative may not be as clear upon first glance, however if you consider the story that each person gives, you will see that it’s telling the story of 19 hopefuls on the ultimate journey to be the next Food Network Star. The same can be said for television shows very similar, such as American Idol or even Dancing with the Stars. Even though they may not all be apart of the same genres, but their narratives are quite similar in some sense.
As it relates to argument, the “reality” aspect of the show is questioned. The influence of the cameras, the reaction from the judges and the competitors are all taken into account. Are the competitors acting or are they genuinely expressing who they truly are on camera? If so, we then being to question the “realism” of the show; what is real and what might not be real. The authenticity of the text being presented plays a critical role in who the audience will formulate their interpretations. We read the text as a whole for the most part, generally overlooking each specific part and it’s function in semiotics.
Visual images act as windows in which we can see beyond what the text is presenting. We take into account the structure of the images communicating a specific thing. Whether they are verbal or non-verbal, we can almost always identify the signifiers and their signifieds. The creators of Food Network Star are no longer the determinants of the meaning of this text and the other interpretations of it as well. We, being the community of viewers, make our perspectives apparent.
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Media represents narrative, argumentation and image structured cinematography within a single text. The synthesis is the connection and function of all these three components of a text combined. The synthesis allows us to look at all the components as a whole. We can look at the film in terms of what the story is, what rhetorical nature of the film based on conventions and the intratextuality and intertexuality of the film. The narrative of the film is a story of a man seeking repentance for accidentally taking the lives of seven people. He does so by donating his organs to seven strangers.
The argumentative aspect of this film is whether or not this extraordinary story can be seen in “reality”. Of course there are quite a number of organ donors who “give life” to people who they may not even know. However, is this particular story as real as it is on a movie theatre screen as it is in reality. The story, the characters, setting, diegetic conventions and film editing and experimentation influenced how the audience “reads” the film as a single text. A casual viewer may never really pay much attention to these critical aspects to formulate interpretations of what system of signifiers and signifieds at work. The film 7 Pounds and the visual metaphors, signifiers and rhetorical conventions allow the audience to look beyond just what appears on the screen. We are given free rein to analyze all aspects of the movie. Its more than just the story of a man seeking forgiveness for what he did, more over, it is a film about the same man realizing how each moment of his life is worth more than just living. But, could we also argue that this theme is very typical for the majority of Will Smith movies? I must agree that there is the recurring theme that most Will Smith films have, but are all of them conventional or even be considered “realism”. Image-constructed cinematography plays a critical role in how images evoke emotion and influence our own perspectives.
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