Codes

In my post on categories of signs, I briefly mentioned a code as something which is often needed before signs can be interpreted. Signs depend on a code within which they are situated, codes provide a framework within which signs make sense. Basically signs can only be understood if you have a familiarity with what they are signifying. For instance to the western world a laptop is instantly recognisable but to less developed countries a laptop might appear alien and strange. In theatre this is called a cultural cliche and it refers to anything that is not instantly recognisable worldwide, anything that requires a code to decipher.

A perfect example of signs needing codes to operate is in the introduction of photography into the modern world. David Chandler quotes, "Even an indexical and iconic sign such as a photograph involves a translation from three dimensions into two, and anthropologists have often reported the initial difficulties experienced by people in primal tribes in making sense of photographs and films."