Polysemic Texts Presentation
• Polysemic texts are texts that have various interpretations/meanings.
– Polysemy is not specific to texts, but occurs within all types of media
– These different interpretations or meanings are influenced by social context à Who we are surrounded by helps to shape the way we interpret media (how we view things, what we perceive to be our interests and concerns).
– Meanings/interpretations are not endless: interpretive constraint
• Aspects such as race, gender, class, and sexuality can help determine the way media is interpreted
– Gates reading à prior knowledge can impact interpretation
• People in a higher class may have more exposure to this knowledge
– Bible, Emojis, songs/music videos (class), gifs (class), text messages
– BLM: some view it as bringing light to Black lives and saying they matter too, while others view it as saying only Black lives matter
– Different cultures may view certain things as offensive while it is “normal” for other cultures: Redskins team name
– Women might look farther into the meanings of things, men typically take things for what they are
– Although it is not always the case, sex for men may mean pleasure whereas for women it may mean love
– On the other hand, men might see “revealing” outfits to mean that the girl wants to have sex when the girl may just be wearing it because she likes it