Other theorists besides Ferdinand de Saussure, such as the Algerian Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser (1918–1990) and the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901–1981), argued that the way cinema conveys meaning is, in essence, linguistic (57/31). In the same way as in linguistics, the relation between the signified and the signifier depends on social and cultural context. Similarly, the Russian film director…

The signs within the shot, according to Metz, carry a more complex meaning in themselves. However, this complexity is not meaningful unless the shot is arranged within a structure (55/28). For Metz, the shot, rather than being compared to the minimal unit of language, can instead be compared to a “sentence” or a “statement.” These…

Ferdinand de Saussure suggested that the linguistic word belongs to society as a whole rather than to the individual (50/2). Consequently, the associations drawn between the communicational structures of cinema and those of language shift toward the domain of social research and observation. The question of whether the signs within cinema’s communicational structure are derived from…

The first counterarguments concerning the comparison between cinema and a systematic linguistic structure were articulated by Christian Metz in his 1964 article Cinema: langue or langage? (42/2). One of the primary motivations for investigating the structure of cinematic language was the remarkable sophistication of this predominantly visual medium and its distinctive mechanism for storytelling. In his article, Metz questioned…

In both linguistics and cinema, the signifier and the signified operate within a form of double discourse. In cinema, this double discourse of the sign is at times more direct than in verbal language (66/22). A shot or image of a chair, for example, maintains a closer perceptual connection to what the word “chair” signifies—that…

Cinema and its sequential structure constitute a communicational system of comparisons (70/38). Communication emerges through the interrelation between immediate and dispersed elements—those that have already been shown within the sequence and those that will be presented later. Meaning is therefore constructed across temporal progression. This system of comparison is also present at the level of…

Another two concepts drawn from linguistic research are also relevant to the communicational structure of a sequence of images: denotation and connotation of the sign (structuralism and post / 6). Denotation refers to the direct relationship between a word and the physical object it represents. By contrast, connotation designates the secondary or suggestive meanings that…

Linguistics, particularly the research carried out by Ferdinand de Saussure, centers on the structures of communication. Saussure defines the communicative process in language by identifying two elements within its minimal unit: the signified and the signifier (web / structuralism). Another principal characteristic of Saussure’s investigation is his demonstration that even the minimal unit of language…

In laying out the fundamental relationship between a language system and its structure, we encounter the investigations of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (55/27). Saussure’s structuralist theory defines language as a “system of signs.” (web / The New School Visual and Cultural Studies) Within this system, the minimal unit of language is the sign. This unit…