Innuendos - Why?

Let's face it. When no ones around for us to feel embarrassed by, we like to sit down and watch crappy kids cartoons for the simple reason that they are cheesy, silly and just something to generally be slightly entertained by.

However, those who have children may not find these cartoons as entertaining, and may be more tempted to tell their children that 'Mummy would like to watch Coronation Street now'.


Innuendos are a great way preventing this as these off-side intertextuality keeps adults laughing to themselves quietly whilst their child wonders 'I don't get it?.

When I was kid I remember my mum and dad laughing their heads off at this next scene. I NEVER understood it until I looked it up recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyNa_NsMR_4

Believe it or not, but these innuendos are in almost every children's show. And the best reason why is to keep ratings high. Did you know: While Animaniacs was popular among younger viewers (the target demographic for Warner Bros.' TV cartoons), adults also responded positively to the show; in 1995, more than one-fifth of the weekday (4 p.m., Monday through Friday) and Saturday morning (8 a.m.) audience viewers were 25 years or older.^[20] The large adult fanbase even led to one of the first Internet-based fandom cultures.^[34] During the show's prime, the Internet newsgroup alt.tv.animaniacs was an active gathering place for fans of the show (most of whom were adults) to post reference guides, fan fiction, and fan-made artwork about Animaniacs

That's a lot of grown ups choosing a kids cartoon show over  'The price is right' or 'Catchphrase'.

 Why? Well here's a clue:

Not only is 'Prince' a well known artist in the 80's, but the term 'Fingerprints' or 'Finger Prince' is also a fairly black humoured joke which may or may not leave those old enough how the writer got away with that...

The next video is full the brim with innuendos and was made as a parody especially for adults who used to watch the show as a kid. 'Rainbow' proved to be insanely popular and this video is just a fun way of showing that the cartoon has 'grown up' with their audience, much like Andy from Toy Story, only with slightly more humour. Again, children COULD watch this have no idea about any of the sexual references whilst still being able to fully enjoy the show.

Toy Story - Director References towards his favourite film.

Lee Unkrich, Director of Toy Story 3 makes references towards his favourite films 'The Shining' in all 3 films. Although these are very small references, those who are typically old enough to have seen the show may find themselves feeling 'special mentioned' for understanding the references. It's almost a way of the director telling the non-children audience that adults too can watch Toy Story and they have their own personal side references, not to mention a few sexual innuendos embedded throughout the films. These are just ways of keeping the 'grown ups' entertained as they watch the film with their children. It immediately attracts attention as they feel 'included' to also watch the film.

The numbers 237 are famously the numbers of the hotel room in the film 'The shining' and can be seen on Andys Laptop

Another nod to The Shining, Sid's garbage truck features a license plate that references Room 237. 

Both are references to room 237, the room Danny is told never to enter.

Both images show a very similar carpet. The left being the Shining and the right being Toy Story. Obviously.

Intertextuality and Easter Eggs in Toy Story

ixar loves to hide Easter eggs in their films, little references to movies and characters from the animation studio’s past and future

the street on which Pixar’s original headquarters were based. The pins on the map in Andy’s room correspond to the hometowns of “Toy Story 3” production staff.

P.U. stands for Pixar University, a professional-development program for Pixar employees.

The Pizza Planet Truck from the first every feature length CGI film 'Toy Story' has appeared in every Pixar film since. This is intertextual and shows a visual timeline of the content improvement of CGI animation whilst using the pizza truck as a symbolic reference to the first film which produced every one of these other fantastic films. Pretty cool, right? 

A113: What started as an inside joke of CalArts alumni (a reference to the classroom number that was used by Animation students, including John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Brad Bird, Pete Docter) has been present in not only every Pixar film, but Disney movies, Iron Giant, The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, Powerpuffgirls and Tinytoon Adventures. It's almost a way of each post graduate student signalling to each other that them too studied in that room and look at the work they are producing now. I'll admit if I ever get the opportunity i'd do the same writing 'FMM' or 'UoH' for the sake of subliminal references.

The version of Ken used in “Toy Story 3” is modeled after “Animal Lovin’ Ken” from 1988.

The version of Barbie used in “Toy Story 3” is modeled after “Great Shape Barbie” from 1983.

Intertextuality - Easter Eggs.

Intertextuality is recognising the connections of one story to the other. In terms of media a best way of describing intertexuality is simply one film/cartoon/etc. making a reference to something that their target audience may understand.

The simpsons is a great source and is full of intertextuality and references. 

Why? Because it is a family show, and they use many different references for all kinds of people to laugh at.

However

Intertextuality must not be used if it destroys the general point as a whole. The plot must still make sense to those that don't understand the reference and it is simply a little 'easter egg' for those that do.

Easter Eggs in video games:

Easter Eggs are part of a video game which are added bonus's to the player. These are not a fundamental part of the game and can reference anything from prequels of the game to the producers to even things completely unrelated to the game as a whole.

For example, in World of Warcraft, If you get the achievment "Shop Smart Shop Pet...Smart." you will recive a in-game companion skunk named Stinker. If you come across any cats while Stinker is out, he will chase after them with a heart above his head. This is a reference to a Looney Tunes character which many people born before the 90's will understand!

Another is in a  game called 'Runescape', Use any herring with any tree on RuneScape. You will get the message "This is not the mightiest tree in the forest." This is a reference to 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail', where the Knights' Who No Longer Say Ni demand "Find the mightiest tree in the forest and cut it down withA Herring!" 

As you may know, the two are completely unrelated to their references but the joke still stands without destroying the general plot. 

A brief introduction to ...

Denotation refers to the actual/literal meaning of a word, the "dictionary definiton". For example, if one looks up the word 'Dog' in a dictionary, you will discover that one
of its denotative meanings is a literal definition of what a Dog actually is.

Connotation, on the other hand, refers to the associations that are connected to
a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word. The
connotative meanings of a word exist together with the denotative meanings.
The connotations for the word snake could include evil or danger.

Myth is the idea that could accumilate from the image that is being pursued, and is the essential criteria that is needed in order to advertise to its target audience.

'You may live in a house, but we live in a home.'

So grab a cup of coffee, turn down Eastenders and listen up.

Semiotics - What does it mean?

It's the study of meaning. It's how we make it. How we read it.  How we interpritate meaning.

How does Semiotics relate to the media industry?  Well infact it has everything to do with the industry. It operates in every field of communication: every time we understand something to be something, that’s semiotics at work. 

Here I have drawn something. What do you think it is?

Well done, it's a circle. Already you are witnessing the use of semiotics, even as you read this sentence you are being semiotic.

Now i'm going to add to it, what do you think it is now?

What you have just witnessed is again, a form of semiotic.

The two dots, a curve and a circle have appeared to you as a typical 'smiley face', and this is a form of semiotic communication. Ofcourse a face doesn't ACTUALLY look like the picture above, but because we are so used to seeing this and relating it to one another the two dots and curve have become a (pardon the cheesy pun) familiar face to us. 

We notice these 'faces' in many inanimate objects and our brain can simply not help it. Even such things as simple as ':-)' represents a face. 

 A very happy microwave?

Smile!

A sneaky sneaky roof

A happy but somewhat creepy faced bag. 

Shocking!

 Looking very grateful!

This looks like me when i've had one too many Jagerbombs...

In terms of Media. Semiotics is important as the author or director may be wanting to purposely input semiotic communication in order to target part of the audience. 

Language is a key point in this, for example, you and I can understand this sentence because we understand the English language and the letter formats, where as someone who lives in Japan may not. 

おそらくあなたは、このためのトランスレータをしなかったために使

We can not understand the above sentence because our brain has not been trained to 'uncode' it. 

Signification.

Now here I am going to show you three images about Me. 

All three images are about me, but in different ways.

One is iconic, one is symbolic, and one is indexical - all of these are integral parts of semiotics and signification.

Iconic.  A sign that represents it's object. In this case, this picture of me is Iconic because it represents me on a visual scale. If one was to see this they would think 'Oh look it's Gemini' Even though it is not physically me. The image can not move, think or talk yet it can still communicate to the viewer as to who it is. From this the viewer can tell that I am blonde, Caucasian, I wear makeup and I am female (I hope!)

: This is Indexical, it is a sign that physically connects to me because it is my name, although it does not give any more information. Unlike the iconic image, this indexical image does not tell anything more about it, however it does suggest other uses such as my name. However, not everyone would be able to understand this image because not everyone is familiar with English and so foreign people may not understand the typography yet it still represents me as a person because those who know me will know that this image is of my name.

: Symbolic. These series of numbers are symbolically representative towards me and only a very limited amount of people would know that this represents me because it is of my phone number. Any body who has not yet known my number will have no idea how this is at all else linked to me and therefore symbolic-wise it is sign whose relationship to its object is arbitrary

Signification in Advertising

The advertisement uses signs and objects to pursue its message and meaning. This is portrayed through iconic, indexical and symbolic signs. The iconic signs in this advert are the phone as this is what is being advertised. The background image is indexical as the city represents a busy lifestyle which is backed up with the word ‘chaos’ at the top which may reflect on the source of problems for the viewer and that the advert is assuming that one is unorganized. The image of the hand is also indexical as the writing on the hand reads ‘buy palm’ which connects to the message of the advert. The symbolic signs within the advert are the colour scheme of the strip along the bottom and the palm logo. The logo represents the phone company. The fact that the word ‘organize’ and the logo ‘palm’ are both orange gives a relationship between the two eg. palm phones will organize your life and thus the 'busy' lifestyle will clear up like the ink written notes on your hand

Denotation, Connotation, and Myths;

The advert denotes that the phone is good and orderly and that the city is chaotic. The connotations suggest that without the phone your life will be chaotic and busy and with it your life will be simple and orderly. In addition to this, the advert creates the myth that if everyone has this particular phone their lives will be orderly and organised.

Welcome to My Blog

Hello! My name is Megan Adams but I am usually referred to as Gemini! I am an aspiring Animator and would love to be able to develop amazing skills and maybe even a bit of talent when it comes to animation, cartoons, drawings and general entertainment... But in order to do that I have to go to a place called a University and listen to some amazing talented and experienced people called Tutors. These people are going to help me try become a member of the animation industry and maybe even earn some cash at some point in my life. So this blog is going to a series of information I have been asked to gather and present to you guys!