Making and Managing Meaning Through Stories Told

Well, in this chapter I decided to think about the concept the hierarchy of meaning.

It's kind of funny to me that the author decided to stress the event of the prom. It's funny in the way that it's a typical American tradition. But the image of it , and what it represents is still meaningful in France. We don't have such a thing as a prom but I do understand the symbolic of this celebration. Although what I'd like to stress here is that most of the time, it's not about the event itself but more about what it represents. To my opinion, this whole pa&rt of the text is about expectations. Expectations are what create or not an event. Sometimes expectations are so high that's the result can't match what your mind created. And on the other hands, non event can become real events in a life. A day like any other one and you finally have a promotion, or you meet the person you had expecting all your life.

My point is that everyday life creates a hierarchy of meaning. A song listened in the car , or seeing an old movie won't have the same impact to one person or another.

Chapter 5 Symbolic Interactionism

In chapter 5, questions are arisen around the theme of symbolic interactionism.

Although this word seemed a bit scary to me the first time, I understood the meaning of the concept through the example of Jodie Foster's movie. And this movie, actually reminded me another one called Sam with Sean Penn playing a mental deficient father with a young daughter aged 6.

Anyway, what appealed to me in this chapter is the notion of the self, and moreover how other people do perceive your inner self. In numerous countries, communities, and environments, the perception of the self means a lot to people. Where I live in France, appearances do matters. Somehow people want you to belong to a cast or another. But the funny thing is that, here in America, I live in an International House, and thus all the concepts and codes that you used to have in your home country are questioned. Your interpretation of an act or a word is going to be different depending on the country you're from. Furthermore your perception of yourself is being pured. In other words, codes and habits that you used to associated to yourself back home are vanishing here.

Being in an international environment gives you a whole new definitions of codes and traditions.

The self that used to be yours is completely transformed.

Chapter 2 Talk about the Theory

First, let me say , I have no idea who's Peyton Manning!!
And somehow, this means that according to the country the commercial is made for, the audience won't be the same. In other words, The impact of a celebrity won't be the same from one country to another. In France, George Clooney did the Nespresso's commercial. And believe it or not but, he really did become the ambassador of coffee back in France. And actually I read in an interview, that he did the same kind of commercial for Italy for a brand of liquor. So now, in Italy his image is linked to this brand. What I mean is that, we can tell about the impact of a celebrity on a brand. And I think it tells a lot about interpretive communication.

Think the problem in the reverse order. Remember the Chanel 5th parfum commercial with Nicole Kidman. Baz Lhurman, director of videoclip was explaining that the the symbol of the parfum is so well known around the world, that they didn't even have to show the parfum at any moment in the commercial. The number 5 was enough.

Therefore, I think it's pretty ironic to see how every country is similar in a way. From the Usa to Europe, interpretive communication reacts the same way on people...

First Try

Hi everyone !

I'm really glad to be part of this 101 class, introduction to communication studies !
I'm an exchange student from France who will be an SJSU student for a whole year.

Now, why did I choose to study communication ? Well somehow, I've always been attracted by communication . I'm a born organizer, I love to interact with people, and moreover I want to make a difference with Art. Let me explain, my true passion goes to Arts, any kind of Arts : painting, sculpture, music, cinema... And I do believe that Art can make the difference. I want people to be able to discover a world that might be new to them.

Now, I just need to learn the theories to make that happened ;)

That was my first post ever, hope you enjoyed it

MBparisSJ