Objective Images do not Exist

Images are worth a thousand words. We have all heard this throughout our lives, but it may just be an understatement. In the Rhetoric of the image, Roland Barthes argues that images polysemous. In other words, images are not spontaneously important. There is no pure, naïve image; there is no objective image. Barthes agrees that there nothing is not constructed. All images are always cultural implying that culture distinguishes what images mean. Images, Barthes states, get their meaning from three different levels.

The first level is that of linguistic or literal message of the image (i.e. the text that goes along with an image). In order to decode this linguistic message, we must know the language. Within the linguistic message there are two parts: anchorage and relay. Anchorage is making sure the meaning is anchored down. An image is over-saturated with meaning; however, when text is attached, the meaning is understood. In addition, relay directs the reader to the correct meaning; it makes sure the reader does not misread the image.

Simultaneously with the linguistic message, we are attaching meaning by the coded iconic which is the second level. This is what the image displays without the text in terms of the cultural connotations or associations. We are decoding the coded iconic by essentially decide what the image signals to us.

The third level which Barthes argues does not actually exist is the denotation of the image. Barthes states, “We have seen that in the image properly speaking, the distinction between the literal message and the symbolic message is operational; we never encounter a literal image in a pure state” (p. 38). Even photographs which are a recording of reality, they are still coded with meaning. Readers understand that photographers have styles in terms of where they were standing, what they cut out of the image, etc.

Therefore, even if we stripped away the linguistic and coded iconic meanings, the image is still not pure. No image can speak for itself. Culture determines an association with the image. For example, even if we create a perfectly naïve and pure image, culture would immediately code the image as pure and naïve. When selecting an image, we have to be careful. Choose an image that will be understood by all readers. Keep in mind that images convey many meanings; we are never going to get an objective image.