Meaning in Society

The chapter in our textbook opens by discussing how songs have particular meanings, but the meaning is not always as obvious in some songs as others. When an artist puts lyrics in a song, they do so with a specific message and meaning in mind. It's up to the listeners to decode the lyrics into a message with meaning. The book also infers that the time period, the culture which the listener comes from, and the listener's intelligence also plays a role in deciphering the message. The time period because words can change meaning over time. The culture because some things included in the song may be taboo in the listener's society and then they may think of it negatively when the artist didn't intend negativity. And the listener's intelligence is a factor because, obviously, if they aren't smart enough to interpret a message or interpret it correctly, they're going to be wrong.

The book also mentions visual messages. If you walk into a classroom, you'll know it because of the visual clues. The desks, chairs, blackboard and arrangement all lead you to make the correct interpretation. If the room was filled with beds and ovens and other random objects, you'd be confused and wouldn't think it was a classroom at all. This made me think that if I were a teacher, I'd intentionally put random objects in the room so the students were confused. Then I'd explain to them how we are constantly given visual clues that let us recognize things correctly.

This chapter then describes polysemy - the ability of some words or phrases to have several meanings. This is why many times we are misunderstood. I think it has a lot to do with context. If you don't understand the context in which a word or phrase is used, you won't interpret the message right.

If you apply this concept to poetry, it's easy to understand why it's so difficult for people to figure out poetry. Not to mention, poets intentionally put a play on words and make it cryptic. This is also the case in many books. If you know anything about the Robert Langdon series of books by Dan Brown, you'll know where I'm going with this. Robert Langdon is a symbologist and uses his knowledge to figure out symbols left behind by secret societies. This is another example of the use of meaning to convey messages. I enjoy these books because it makes you realize how some of the most "ordinary" things are actually messages that are a trail to figuring out a bigger message.

Well, that's all for now. I'll post more of my thoughts on my communication class some other time.