From Language to Multimodality - New Developments in the Study of Ideational Meaning - Carys Jones
16 Decoding meaning in political cartoons
From Language to Multimodality - New Developments in the Study of Ideational Meaning - Carys Jones
Maria J. Pinar Sanz
Castilla-La Mancha University
Description
This chapter focuses on decoding the meanings transmitted in the cartoons. It aims to show how representational meanings can be encoded in various semiotic modes, in this case the verbal and the visual, and how the representational meanings in the cartoons are interrelated with the representational meanings encoded in the billboards that appeared during the campaign. It will be argued that the decoding of the cartoons relies, among other aspects, on knowledge of the meaning encoded in the corresponding billboard.