Assignment 6: Photo analysis

"If you really want to touch someone, send them a letter"

Semiotic Analysis:
Iconic representation:
The 'touch' is being represented directly in the picture as the figure in hugging the lady. Direct contact of 'touch' is being protrayed.

Indexical representation:
The wordings in the background closely resembles the styles of a hand-written letter. On closer observation, the words inside also fits to the styles of letter-writing with some narrative sentences.

Symbolic representation:
The non-physical meaning of 'touched' is being represented by the figure giving a warm hug to the lady. Its like the lady is being touched having a warm hug.

Connotative and Annotative Meanings:
Connotative:

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Sense of warmth when the figure is hugging her. This gives a feeling like when an overseas family or close friend that you did not see for a long times meet up and hug each other. Thus the letter here (represented by the letter) claims to be able to touch and give the feeling of warmth.

Dennotative:
The word 'touch' can be interpreted directly from the image that you could literally touch the person in the physical sense.

Syntactic Analysis:
Elements present in the image:
1) Words in the background
2) The figure representing the letter as a whole
3) Figure and the lady hugging

These elements combined to give a meaning that rather than using email to send messages which nowadays many people does, it would be more heartwarming and touching to send a hand-written letter instead.

Rating: I feel that overall our analysis was quite straightforward and the image is quite direct. Nat and I could rate ourselves for 9/10.

Rating of fellow classmates: I feel that chew yue and jie ying analysis on the environmental issues on pollution is rather good. I like the way they interpreted on aliens and witches which does not exist at all. I would rate them 9/10.