Final Essay
Words, images and meanings are hugely powerful in today’s communication and have much impact on us as viewers. All three are dependent on each other and are needed to understand what each other means. In order to comprehend the correct meaning of something we must have the image and word to correlate. It is possible to create meaning from just an image, much like viewing paintings or other works of art, but when individuals are looking at art there are many meanings stemming from it because there are no actual words telling the viewer the true meaning. Likewise, we can create meanings from words because the words tell us what the meanings are. The key in both situations are that new meanings can arise from combining the two powerful sources of communication. We can see the effectiveness of the combination of words and images though print and digital media and in our own personal lives.
One great example of how new meanings are derived from words and images are through print media as shown in the “Hope” signs during President Obama’s 2008 campaign. During his campaign, artist Shepard Fairey created the now infamous postings by combining a unique image of President Obama’s face along with the word HOPE sprawled along the bottom. These images spread throughout the internet like wildfire and it is fair to say that every American and/or people across the world saw these images sometime during the campaign. We have seen many images of President Obama and are familiar with the word hope, but when we look at the poster and see the words combined our brains create a new meaning: President Obama equals hope. One author that I have learned about in the Communication Department is J.L Austin who created the terminology “performative utterances” which is defined as when particular words are uttered they change reality. Some of these utterances are: “it’s a girl” or “I now pronounce you man and wife” because both statements change reality-one pronounces the sex of a child and one give marital rights to two people. The HOPE posters are a performative utterance because the combination of words and images created the new reality that President Obama is the hope for a better America. Since President Obama won the elections, it is clear how powerful images and words can be and what great effect they can have in our futures.
Even in our Comm 146 class, we have created a new meaning by designing a poster with words and images. The 30th Anniversary Event poster is an image of one of our classmates, plus the words “30 Anniversary Celebration”. The image plus the words have produced a new meaning: our event. It is fascinating that two simple forms of communication can evolve into something much bigger than itself.
Further, digital media can be used to create new meanings with images and words. We watched the movie The Graduate in the beginning of the quarter to help illustrate montage and the power of words and images. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is the montage sequence of the “Sounds of Silence”. During this scene, the audience sees different images of the main character, Ben, doing the same actions of his mundane life: lying around in the pool and sleeping with Mrs. Robinson. The song that plays during these images is “Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel. One line in the song that stood out to me was “But my words, like silent raindrops fell/and echoed/ in the wells of silence” because it perfectly fits with the images of Ben’s wafting life. Although we do not see the lyrics written (as in print media) we can hear what Simon and Garfunkel are saying and from the montage sequence plus hearing their lyrics the audience understands that Ben is screaming for help and guidance in his life, yet his voice is being absorbed by the silence. The director could have made the decision to have no music or to have an underlying instrumental piece playing, but the song choice with words makes the images more powerful. Between the auditory words and visible images shown, the meaning of the film is proven through the audiences’ ability to feel Ben’s helplessness and struggle to control his life.
Clearly, words and images create new meanings in people’s lives. It is crucial in communication because it is an extremely effective way to transfer ideas and thoughts that can literally change the world, much like the HOPE posters. Images and words are even showcased in movies and through The Graduate when the two are combined the audience is perplexed with emotions. Similarly, in our own personal lives words and images create new meanings and events. It is even more important to utilize words and images together because through these few small examples we have elected a new President, been touched by digital media and have created the Communication Department’s 30th Anniversary.