As I begin a semiotic analysis of this image, I must be able to first describe the image in very basic terms. Sean is on the left of the woman, and Christian is on the right. The woman is half naked, holding her breasts. Christian has a marker in his hand that is aimed towards the woman, while looking at Sean. Sean and Christian both have their doctor coats on. The difference in their clothes is Sean has a collared shirt buttoned up with a straight tie, while Christian has his collared shirt unbuttoned with no tie. Sean is holding a notepad and pen. The woman has markings all over her body. The most obvious markings on her body is around her belly button and around her breasts. This is definately the signified. The signifier would be in more simple terms, such as three humans, one facing left, the other facing right, some wearing clothes, others not. I'm still having a problem with pin pointing the signifier because it's really hard to see it in even more simple terms than the signified. The sign of the entire image is basically what the television series is about. There are two doctors, one of them being more uptight than the other. The women are striving for perfection. The marks all over her body shows unnecessary surgery. It shows these surgeries are done because of the value put on physical attraction. The woman in the picture is already beautiful and has a fantastic body. However, she still feels the need to do more and more surgery. It almost becomes an addiction. Christian has the marker in his hand ready to start the process because he thinks perfection is necessary for women to be beautiful. However, Sean is still in the process of answering questions, trying to realize if the woman has a psychological problem, or anything in order to stop the surgery.
Within a myth, the sign of the image is basically the signifier. The signified would be the idea that beauty is a very important value for women. The sign would definitely be the idea of nature vs. science, the idea that plastic surgery is just as good as natural beauty, or that plastic surgery can make you look like you have natural beauty. Or is it that plastic surgery is wrong, and becomes an obsession for women? Barthes writes in the article, Myth Today, "...myth is a system of communication, that it is a message" (1). It's really hard to figure out what the message exactly is.
I think this picture sells Nip/Tuck, not only because of the very attractive characters in Nip/Tuck, but also because it shows what the public is most interested in today, perfection of physical appearance. It's become a major theme in popular culture. I think this picture shows the obsession the public has today about beauty, and also creates a sense of scandal, which the public loves and eats up! I think it's a brilliant photograph and a perfect resemblance of the entire television series.
2 comments:
Good job analyzing the poses of the doctors in regards to their approaches both to work and to the female form. You noted the difference in the way the two men are dressed; you could combine that with their approach to observing their patient- Sean, appropriately dressed, is interested in the woman as a patient while Christian, more casually dressed, is looking at her as both a sex object and as a platform to create a "perfect woman" out of (something you already mentioned). Also, the woman's pose brings to mind the painting of Venus de Milo on the clamshell- the classic archetype of female beauty. I think the pose is a very important part of her appearance within the picture as she symbolizes more than just a beautiful woman, she represents ALL beautiful women and Sean and Christian still nitpick over this female ideal.
I think that you found good meaning in this. It is definatly an interesting point about the two mens attire. Christian who seems to be "all over the patient" is more "loose" in both his clothing and his behavior. Something else i found interesting to add is the dotted lines drawn. There is a lot of meaning attached to a dotted line. I wonder how it ever came to mean "cut here?"
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