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This article has been published in: Ocula 15, Commemorating Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914): Interpretive Semiotics and Mass Media

author: Jean Fisette (Université du Québec à Montréal (CA))

Photography to infinity. The contribution of Peirce’ semiotics to the study of photography in the media

language: french

abstract: The author starts by situating photography with regard to its relationships with Peirce’s semiotic thought and, in another direction, with mass media. He then draws a minimal frame of the problematics of sign within the specifically Peircean perspective. Next, five analyses of the successive modes of integration of photography within mass media are presented. Each of these readings is marked by a contextualisation and a short Peircean analysis of the movements of signification corresponding to the notion of “semiosis”. The weights and the play of relative predominance of the three components of the central triad (icon, index and symbol) are then taken into account. In conclusion, the author formulates some general considerations about a general constant: the image tends to fall back to iconicity to the detriment of the other components. The consequence is a banalising effect on the image itself, as if the media were integrating photography into their own logic, thus causing photography to lose its specificity.

citation information: Jean Fisette, La photographie à l’infini. L’apport de la sémiotique de Peirce à l’étude de la photographie dans les médias, "Ocula", vol.16, n.15, November 2015. DOI: 10.12977/ocula34

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