The details of the image – that is, an image – are a means of expressing thought, a message of communication with reality, and a semiotic repository laden with the signs of the perceptible (signifier), the understood (signified), the explicit (significance) of the apparent, the implicit (meaning) of the intended, and ( ideology) that bears the tendencies to settle concepts and values in advanced positions of change and influence on the public, and all those semiotic processes; A translation of successive approaches to reading the image as a perceptual phenomenon, and as an object that the viewer sees, or a mediator in the framework of relationships and understanding variables, or multiple use of highlighting and selection, and this means that the image is no longer automatic, or about a thousand words, but it is also a very advanced industry than the image of society.
Semiotics, which is the sign (the mark on their faces), gives us today with its five components (the signifier, the signified, the signifier, the meaning, the ideology) a deep reading of the image, and the interpretation of this speech in short as someone standing at a traffic light; The red color is a perceptible signifier, and the signified is understood by stopping, and the indication is adherence to traffic instructions, and the implied meaning is a self-commitment to the system for fear of punishment, for example, and the ideology is to highlight the image of a civilized society in discipline and commitment.
Applying this in our world today, when we are exposed to a huge amount of still and moving images, leads us to a deeper concept, which is that the image that we make to define, monitor, or document a situation, condition, or communicative scene no longer expresses ourselves, our opinion, or our criticism. But it also expresses our society, and therefore many of these images that we are exposed to also give us other signs of society’s awareness, the level of maturity of its individuals and institutions, and its ability to perceive reality, absorb it, and coexist with its variables.
The images that many celebrities document and publish today on social networks; Outside, there are those who read it semiotically, with its connotations and meanings, about the reality of our society, and not about the reality of the famous person who published it only. On this basis, we are not surprised that the counter-media cites the negative images that some publish to undermine our homeland, and the video clips that hostile accounts exploit for abuse, skepticism, and misinformation in a recurring scene. And the most dangerous thing is when the picture is a documentation of shortcomings or transgression that does not represent the whole, and does not reflect the reality and progress of society.
It is very important to understand the challenges of the image today, and to deal with them with a sense of patriotism and responsibility. Fame at the expense of the country’s reputation, status, and development is nothing but a frightening, disturbing, and confusing overshoot in assessing possible reactions, especially those who are waiting for us to provide them with offensive content to feed on!
Ahmed Al-Jumaia
