Rhetoric of the Image

In Roland Barthes’ essay Rhetoric of the Image, the way in which we see and interpret images are broken down into three parts: linguistic, coded iconic, and non-coded iconic. Barthes breaks images down in this way, defining linguistic as the text attached to the image, the coded iconic as the cultural interpretation of the image, and the non-coded iconic as the image itself with no meanings attached. However, Barthes argues that people recognize the coded and non-coded iconic forms of images at the same time, making the latter of the two impossible.
According to Barthes, “…we never encounter (at least in advertising) a literal image in a pure state. Even if a totally ‘naïve’ image were to be achieved, it would immediately join the sign of naivety and be completed by a third—symbolic—message. Thus the characteristics of all literal messages cannot be substantial but only relational” (pg 38). I agree with Barthes and would go so far as to say that we never see an image in a pure state, no matter if it’s in advertising or in daily life. Everything that we see has some sort of meaning attached to it. Just walking down the street, people are reading each other in a connotative manner. Being tall, short, fat, skinny, a male, or a female all has some sort of connotative meaning that people immediately think of. Rather than seeing a physically fit man standing on the sidewalk wearing a suit, someone is more likely to see a successful business man who is probably smart, wealthy, and works out. It is human nature to want to know about a person and be able to fit that person into a certain category, and society gives us the tools to do just that.
Even if a person were on a secluded beach watching the sun set, she wouldn’t only see the sun setting for what it is, but she would attach other meanings to it. Beauty, serenity, the end of a day, relaxation—all of these words and feelings would overtake her. But even though these words are all attached to a sunset, they really have nothing to do with the sunset itself. Literally, a sunset results from the earth’s rotation. It has nothing to do with beauty or serenity; it’s just a natural event that happens every day. But humans have a tendency to give everything meaning or something to be associated with, and these associations stick and become second nature. It is for this reason that Barthes is correct—we can never encounter a literal image in a pure state. By instinct, people will always add a connotative meaning.