Seeking to understand sensuous music visuality through the acts of creating and watching.

"There is always something more-- the shimmer of the screen, the flow of the fabric, the glimmer of the eye, the mood of the stage, the tonality of the work-- that can not be captured semiotically or hermeneutically."- Williams, p. 166 Why I [Still] Want My MTV

As Williams notes, disregarding the stereotypes involving an aesthetic value in music video and television, it is important to attempt understanding the superfluity of the experience and how one's knowing of the world can around them can be interpreted in different senses of expression. One enters the journey of the enigmous encounter with these visuals and sounds as their bodies perceive and express various undertones. It is important to avoid a knowing of television as aesthetic or a fine art form because it simply is not. IN this sense, television can make the use of its elements aesthetic, but the thing itself is not an aesthetic fine art form. There is, however a dimension that is aesthetic. It is all a matter of revealing access to this dimension of television.

"Breathing life into aesthetic formations and capturing the worldly flow is an aisthetic dimension of experience that is rarely discussed, but whose explication would shed light on the superfluity, meaningfulness, and resonance that artistic production has in people's lives." Williams, p. 169 Why I [Still] Want My MTV

As Williams shows here, the potential of finding the meanings of these "things" comes from the aesthetic dimension. Thus, a rebirth for the bodily perception is in flux. One may see the body crossing through aesthesis as the their vision becomes merely a "seeing." Only through our flow of awareness do we come across senses of texture, color, shades and rhythm. As in musit video, all of these senses are brought together in the act of synthesis and the defining that is created in exeperiencing the act. Thus, aisthesis is not only created through perception, but through expression. For example, the meaning of a thing being what it is cannot serve without exploring a possibility for other meanings behind it.



"Musical-luminous unfolding" takes place as music and the act of dancing to it fluxate through birthing cycles. The song, video, or dance do not become one simplistic, solidified thing of being. "Thinking it constitutes a nonmetaphysical, nonotological thought- a bodily cosmic thinking. It reveals, in the contours of "musical visuality." This third dimension gives understanding to the importance of synesthetic experience and the accuracy of embodiment in interpreting the style of music video. Identifying the video as a representation of "something," one must penetrate the video's unfolding, take away the sensual depth reflected in visuals and sounds. Musical visuality serves as the intercourse between sound and vision, music and sights in music video. Hence, this binding of sight, sound, dance, and music evolve narrative, realism, etc. as logos. This creates a synesthetic (inter)communication between all.

Synesthesia can briefly be defined as "the crossing or overlapping of sense modalities." Williams' explanation of the word depicts an interest in the very experience. It is also defined as "the experience of an associated sensation when another sense is stimulated." So it's all just a bunch of conglomerated senses. However, the experience is much more sensual when one takes part in it. For example, the lines and shapes of green used within the movie The Matrix depict a feeling and sound. Simply seeing the design upon the dvd cover communicates the sound of the film's score in the background. We have all had sense-gasms in that sense. For example, a certain smell or a certain sound or color can remind us of someone. Good times and bad times are remembered. The smell of a perfume may remind one of an ex-lover. The particular sweet smell of oats in horse feed can take you back to the farm you once grew up on.

Synesthesia relates to sights and sounds in knowing that when one hears the song on the radio, they may be reminded of the music video they have not seen in ages. It happened to me just recently as I recently heard R.E.M's "Losing My Religion" on a local radio station. Every time I hear that song, it takes me back to the house I grew up in as I watched the strange visual collage of old man with angel wings and the tripped out man dancing by himself. The band claims this is not about religion and loss of faith, although the video is full of religious imagery. Some Catholic groups protested the video. It was the first to show lead singer Michael Stipe dancing. The director hung out with the band to get ideas, and when he saw Stipe's spastic dance style, he thought it would look great in the video. The fact that I thoroughly enjoyed this simply because the mandolin was visually and musically pleasurable. I often wondered who the man in the corner playing the small stringed instrument was. I grew up in the 90's which was a peak time for music video. Thus, it is in itself a phenomenal experience as I am reminded of times as a child. Not to mention, I've recently been on a constant 90's kick. It's wonderful to know how these music-visual effects acutal "affect" a person's reminescence of a time or place.

Therefore, the music video discovers a disregarded, currently living way of perception within its expressive dimension. The significance of the visual itself is thus a known style that permisses the music video to undergo visual perception while it is apparent to "bodily perception" that it is only a visual experience. Thus, visuals become the importance in that which we perceive through a music video. The beauty of phenomenology is that it enlightens us to learn that which our ideologies fail to teach from our day to day experiences.

The Persistence of Vision, Realism, and Hyper-reality

"The visuals of a music video cannot be reduced to a denotation or even a connotation of a song. Instead, they open another dimension-- another opportunity to express."Williams, K. p. 156, Why I [Still] Want My MTV

As Williams suggests, the performance of a music video portrays more than just a televised performance of a song, narrative, or creator's visual illustration. Although the tone and overall feel of the scenes in the song are set,the sounds and sights create a whole other dimension. Hence, the sounds themselves define the depth of the visuals. The music video itself composes the relationship between video and audio thus creating a new idea of presenting a performed piece of music.

Perhaps this new idea lies in the origins of the reality behind synesthesia-the integration of the senses. If senses themselves are mental constructions of an environment, one may find it difficult to decipher whether what they are seeing and hearing in music video is "real." In another sense, one may also argue that based on all ideologic backgrounds; their reality is not in fact another's reality. In that sense, when viewing the color in a video our environmental and ideologic background tell us that a cool color such as blue gives off a sense of mourning or relaxation. One could argue that in the same way with the warm color --red which tends to visually demonstrate a violent feeling, blood, danger, anger, etc. So how does this relate to this text? As Williams points out in his lectures, every video has its own color. With each color comes a semiotic value. For example, The Matrix's visual presentation was mostly green.

"Music video reveals itself as a form of video, as a mediated vision, and makes its technological basis the force of its appeal." Williams, K. p.150

In this case, the viewer cannot deciper whether the televised musical performance is actually live or not. The matter is that the music video is presented to us in such a way that we are not meant to question whether it is "really happening" or "pre-recorded." In this sense, the (music)video must not be mistaken for a live performance (even when it is live). Hence, music video codes specify that the video is not in a live setting. In this sense, the viewer takes on a visual bias by arguing whether something is real or not real. We live in the age of visual senses where visual bias ties "seeing" something to actually "knowing." The impact that television brought to the viewer connects to our culture's dominant favoring of the sense that is sight (our seeing). Our relation to visual imagery is indeed what defines our mindset as in the digital age.

"As clouds cover the sky above the guitarist, it begins to rain at the wedding. A glass of red wine spills on a white tableclot; a woman wearing a wedding dress lies dead in a coffin. The song "November Rain" does not musically or lyrically sing the narrative of the video."

Williams notes on the classic example of a video that transitions from narrative to concert video footage. Above, Guns n' Roses "November Rain" depicts the classic tragic love story as the musicians perform on stage. However, the narrative does not match the lyrics that Axel Rose vocalizes. The importance here is that the illustration of the song does not depict the song. Thus, the song gives off the intense feeling and rhythm that the story and band clips set forth.In this sense, a music video "performance" becomes more than just a televised medium of a song, its visual depiction, or its situation.

"The visuals of a music video cannot be reduced to a denotation or even a connotation of a song. Instead, they open another dimension-another opportunity to express. Thus, a single song may spawn several videos, esach with a different visual look, for the connection between the song and the video is neither fixed nor singular." Williams, p. 156 Why I [Still Want My MTV]

Vision is more something that reality cannot conquer itself in the five senses. What one "sees" may unintentionally mislead them to other biases. This misbelief may lead one onto what Williams defines as "the third communicative dimension." Hence, while sounds define the overall feel of one's experience viewing, the audio and visuals of the presentation give birth to this dimension.

The phenomena of music video allows us to escape from the "everyday world" that we are frequently caught up inside. Perhaps these mediums permit one's mind back to the child or teenager inside of us. The beauty behind this is one's privilege to critique what they are looking at and listening to. In that sense, we aspire to understand how music escapes the instrument it is performed upon. Although we may "see" music videos, but we strive to understand how one creates and expresses such a work through amazing visual imagery and editing techniques. While viewing, one may come across a sense to question exactly how the work's creators developed such skill. As semioticians, our minds are set to interpret these signs of communicative dimensions.

Style: More than categorizing or evaluating a work of expression.

"I suggest that there is another level of communication--style as originary relationship with the world--that music video makes concrete, or at the very least reminds us of this situation." Williams, K. p. 97 Why I [Still] Want My MTV

As Williams suggests, style not only has to do with the sense or the being (in style), but but a way of communicative interaction with one's environment. The text illustrates the idea that music video style has been driven through the processes of conceptualization, conceived in a historical context, and theorized as an aesthetic communication.

"Videos can be interpreted in terms of patriarchy and capitalism; as within the purview of contemporary myth and ideology. This is the case despite the claims that music videos deny narrative and mythos(indeed, we may be witness to a new structure of narrative and mythos)." Williams, K. p 95 Why I [Still] Want My MTV

Many critics overlook the significance of the music video's visual style. There is also, as Williams suggests, a "rear-view mirror" effect on the ways in which music is discussed. Because the music videos are understood in the context of a Hollywood narrative, there seems to be misinterpretations of the language which is understood theoretically. By looking at it visually, the music video's presentation is not at all free-floating as it is connected to the music as well as other images depicted by the media in everyday life. Not that there is anything wrong with interpreting music videos theoretically as we do learn a great deal from theory. Nonetheless, the phenomena of music video earns the videos the pre-determined right to be known as such.

"I suggest that there is another level of communication--style as originary relationship with the world-- that music video makes concrete, or at the very least reminds us of this situation."

Style and creativity are joined with the idea of pastiche as one takes a central thought and simply exaggerates it or makes it better. Thus, these binaries now become polarities in the sense that a style is combined with one's creative inspiration ("style OR creativity now becomes "style AND creativity"). The creator's artistic integrity is most important to keep in mind when viewing a music video and experiencing "musical-visuality." Although the creator's message can be immensely mis-understood by what is considered "modern," concepts of the new and old are brought about to the music video platform. Take for instance, Tool's "Schism" video above. The video was released a year after the dawn of the Millenium (2001). This video marked an excellent comeback for the band while still showing the band's creative video style from non other than guitarist Adam Jones. It was later released as a DVD single. This video depicts the musical-visuality of a band member himself. Concepts from previous singles are brought about showing the band's growth not only in music, but in music video. To many, the video is disturbing and strange, but one cannot decipher between the artist's thought process and abstract representations. In that, one can only aspire to understand another artist's perception.

Another example is Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence" music video. The video is directed by Anton Corbijn. The video references the themes and storyline of the philosophical children's book The Little Prince. Footage of Gahan dressed as a stereotypical king wandering the hillsides of the Scottish Highlands, the coast of Portugal and finally the Swiss Alps with a deck chair is intercut with black-and-white footage of the band posing. Brief flashes of a single rose (which is also on the album cover of Violator) appear throughout the scenes.

Equivocation is the premise by which the style of music video stands these days. No more does rock n' roll rule the throne for this style selection as various genre have embraced the idea of using the same model to visualize their music. Keeping the audience on the edge of their seat reigns as an audience hungers to be entertained. Music visuality evokes an audience's aspiration to interpret meanings beyond their own. If anything, style sparks a genuine communicative interaction between creator and audience. Music is risen as visual style permits it eternal life and theme. Thus, one's understanding of the style and the craving one aspires for the message behind that style's content relate in the fact that MTV essentially served as no other than a promotional advertisement of self. Therefore, a work's style is indeed a concept far beyond the strive to categorize or evaluate.

Delineating Three of Four Points: Three-Point Edits

Knowing that Final Cut Pro is a non-baleful, non-linear software assists us in a better comprehension of its three-point editing model. The significance of three-point editing lies in the fact that one is capable of allowing Final Cut Pro to function with more than a basic drag and drop Timeline. Hence, the word "Pro" is purposefully placed at the end of the software's title. Intrinsically, one has the ability to organize multiple clips into one product (movie) and link them to other media sources such as sounds, still images, etc. With its extensive amount of editing tools and techniques, FCP can assist one in creating high quality video projects that look and sound great.

In order to understand a three-point edit, it is important to know about the non-linear editing technique. The software's non-linear model allows one to venture between any two given points on a timeline without having to scrub through any material in between those points. Hence, a linear model would do the exact opposite. Take for instance University of Washington's example of comparing linear and non-linear models to that of an audio cassette and cd's. In this sense, linear editing would be more like a cassete where non-linear is more like a compact disc.

"For example, on an audio cassette, if you wanted to listen to song 3 and you were on song 1, you would need to fast forward through song 2: this is linear editing. On a compact disc however, if you are on song 1 and you wish to hear song 3, the unit simply jumps to song 3 without having to move through song 2: this is non-linear."(Basic Editing,University of Washington)

Once one grasps this concept, understanding a three-point edit becomes quite simple. It can all be understood through four points. That's right, when adding media to a timeline, one will need four points in order to conduct a three-point edit. Before getting confused, remember that there are two sets of "In" and "Out" points set up. One set is marked on the Timeline while the other set lies on the clip. The total amount of ALL of these points combined is four. The mindset here is that all you will only need to elucidate three of these four points while the fourth and last point is calculated through the program itself.

"Unlike drag-to-Timeline editing, three-point editing allows you to use both source clip and sequence In and Out points to specify the duration of a source clip and where it should be placed in a sequence. In most cases, only three edit points are necessary, and the fourth edit point is inferred automatically by Final Cut Pro." (Final Cut Pro 7 User Manual)

In FCP, one may use the "drag and drop" methods to define the "In" and "Out" points in a clip. The playhead's positioning on a Timeline may then be used to delineate that Timeline's "In" point. Thus, the clip is then placed causing the final "Out" point to be calculated. The method becomes utile particularly in instances of filling a media gap in one's Timeline or attempting to match an audio clip to a video clip.

Setting up these points can elicit a clearer, more concise flow to the exact product one desires to communicate. Videos that have undergone a Three-Point Edit appear to flow more smoothly as well as depict a more professional value to those who seek editing talent. Thus, a substantial amount of time, effort, and practice at Three-Point editing can ultimately become rewarding as one's editing proficiency rises.

Sight-Sound Relationships in Lady Gaga's "Judas"

In Goodwin's model, there are three modes used in visualizing music- illustration, amplification, and disjuncture. Among these modes are also their codes-lyrics music, and performance. Through using the taxonomy chart, one can find inspiration to look at music videos in a different sense. One may learn to find specific ways in which the video conveys literal or metaphorical meaning behind the song. Does it tell the story? Does it add a new kind of meaning? How many different ways can we read the music video as a medium?

Various opinions state that Lady Gaga's song "Judas" contradicts Christianity. But in another light,Gaga's "Judas" represents her struggle with the bad men who she had relationships with. Their betrayal inspired her to write "Judas." Love and forgiveness seem to be the theme of the song.

The video definitely illustrates the song's literal lyrics as Lady Gaga is portrayed as Mary Magdalene herself.As the catchy electro-gothic pop tune quotes "I'm just a holy fool/ Oh baby, he's so cruel, but I'm still in love with Judas, baby." This can represent being in love with someone even if they treat you wrong and are full of sin. The lyrics can be taken both literally or metaphorically. Biblically, Gaga speaks as Mary Magdalene as she sings:

"In the most Biblical sense,
I am beyond repentance
Fame hooker, prostitute wench, vomits her mind
But in the cultural sense
I just speak in future tense
Judas kiss me if offenced,
Or wear an ear condom next time"

The video definitely tells the story of the lyrics as they are nearly literally portrayed across the screen. Of course, one must understand the biblical context in order to undertand the video or song itself.

In Lady Gaga's "Judas" music video, Gaga is Mary Magdalene on her way to "Jerusalem." The video portrays the "12 apostles" in a Kenneth Anger biker format. The bikers zoom down the highway on their way to Jerusalem as Gaga looks back to see if "Judas" is still there (which he is). This could represent whether he is or is not betraying her. Judas zooms past Gaga on his bike as she gives him a very unsure look. As she smiles and rides along holding "Jesus," this represents her faith in him. When she arrives to Jerusalem, she dances wearing a red dress next to nearly no clothing. The dance moves involve a move in which she gestures pushing Judas down. This act of pushing down illustrates the lyrics "I'll bring him down." At this point, Judas himself represents her dark side. As the lyrics state "I'll bring him down." As she repeats "down, down," Gaga holds a rosary as if she is using her faith to suppress the darkness. Jesus continues to look on as it represents Gaga (Mary Magdalene) trying to do the right thing. In the same sense, Judas is portrayed as evil and does evil things.

Gaga eventually ventures into her darkness causing a fight to break out between Jesus and Judas. This symbolizes her struggle between good and evil. Gaga then stops the fight between Jesus and Judas as she tries to keep in check with both of her sides. This represents that with lightness and darkness, both can be used for a greater good. Jesus leads Gaga safely away as she clutches onto him embracing her faith. Gaga is shown protecting Jesus as she lifts what appears to be a loaded gun to Judas' mouth. But the gun is only filled with lipstick as she smears it across Judas' face. The gun can represent the creativity that the darkness allows her to have. She therefore does not kill Judas, but uses his darkness for creativity. This makes Gaga feel guilty as she falls to Jesus' feet crying.

There is a "cultural baptism" that takes place in one scene as Gaga is shown washing the feet of both Jesus and Judas. Her realization that she can merge both "good" and "evil" for her own use, she is therefore cleansed by waves of water which surround her being. Therefore, she can be in the light, but also use the darkness for creative purposes. In the next scene, Gaga is dressed as a saint-like clown. This shows that society is only mocking her and that they do not understand. In the end, Lady Gaga is stoned to death which can represent society's misunderstanding of her art and what she is trying to do with it. Although her aim is to guide people "into the light," the video ends with her dead as it appears her realization that society will never understand her.

The song includes three hooks and a house-influenced breakdown.Popjustice states,

in the verses and pre-chorus, Gaga hurls herself into a decadent half-sung, half-rapped Jamaican Patois style." The song contains three hooks, and begins with Gaga singing the line "Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, I'm in love with Judas", accompanied by building synths. This is followed by a thumping electronic beat, as Gaga sings, "Judahhh/ Juda-a-ah/ Gaga"."

This half-rapped Jamaican style is illustrated through Gaga's fist-pumping movement as she is telling Judas "kiss me if offenced or wear ear condom next time."

Indeed, much can be seen and heard throughout this video. Using Goodwin's taxonomy helps one to value the video as a creative masterpiece. As one of my favorite artists of all time, Lady Gaga's creativity continues to inspire me throughout her self-produced music and videos themselves.

My Tori Amos "Bouncing Off Clouds" music video

I am honored to have the privilege of producing a music video of "Bouncing Off Clouds." The song is by the one and only Tori Amos--one of my absolute favorite singer/songwriters of all time. In 2007, the song and green screen Quicktime video file were released to the internet for fans to create a video for the song which would compete in a contest. These files provide a good selection of Tori's performance footage. The footage followed her 9th studio album, American Doll Posse The contest ended that October, but I still happen to have the Quicktime files saved to a back-up hard drive and I'm all set to produce. The main technology I will be working with is using chroma-key to key out the green screen behind Tori. I am currently working with Final Cut Pro and running some rough-cuts. I've actually had the privilege of seeing Tori play this song live. It's quite a breathtaking experience as I am a big fan.



The main focus I want to bring across in this video is not only the idea, but the meaning of "cloud." Using thoughts from studying media, I have found it inspiring to take the lyrics to a semiotical level. The most obvious would be to feature a cloud at it's most literal level. It seems as if everyone's thought process goes right to that image. My focus here is to play with that image. I want to get into the deeper sense of "cloud" and what a cloud can represent. As a fan, I know for a fact that Tori uses this word not only across this song, but in many other lyrics. Compositions such as "Cloud on My Tongue" from Under The Pink (1994) as well as "Your Cloud" from Scarlet's Walk lead me to believe that "cloud" has a significant meaning to Tori not only as a songwriter, but as a woman and mother. It's also intriguing to see how these cloud songs (or shall I say "song clouds?") have changed with Tori over the years.

Cloud on my Tongue (Under the Pink, 1994)

"Got a cloud sleeping on my tongue he goes then it goes and kiss the violets as
they’re waking up leave me with your Borneo leave me the way I was before."

Your Cloud (Scarlet's Walk, 2001)

"If the rain has to separate from itself does it say 'pick out your cloud?"

Bouncing Off Clouds (American Doll Posse, 2007)

"Bouncing off of Clouds we were. Is there a love Lost and Found?
Make it easy Make this easy. It’s not as heavy as it seems"

It's interesting to see what actual contestants from the previous contest did with the visuals. I'm not quite sure if I can compete with the winner of the contest, but it is not my aim to compete. My aim is to create something virtually amazing--something that captures the literal and metaphorical meanings behind the lyrics and audio. For example, I would love to incorporate visuals that communicate the feeling of heaviness as Tori sings "make it easy it's not as heavy as it seems." One lyric that stands out among others is "Is there a love lost and found?" Listening to the ADP album as a whole various times, I have attempted breaking these lyrics into pieces. The whole idea of love lost and then found is beyond romantic. I am breaking the song down into intro, verse, chorus, and bridge:

Intro:
Bouncing off of Clouds we were
Is there a love Lost and Found
Make it easy
Make this easy
It's not as heavy as it seems
Wrapped in metal
Wrapped in ivy
Paint it in mint ice cream

Chorus:
We could be Bouncing off the top of this Cloud
I'll put on my silver
We could be Bouncing off the top of this Cloud

Verse:
Failure to respond but
I did. but did you listen?

Chorus:
Bouncing off the top of this Cloud
I'll put on my silver
About what you said, has it come to this?
I'll put on my silver
Bouncing off the top of this Cloud

Bridge:
Well you can stare all day at the sky
But that won't bring her back
That won't bring her back
You say you're waiting on fate
But I think fate is now
I think fate is now
Waiting on us
Make it easy
Easy easy
We could make this easy
Easy love easy
We could make this easy
Make this easy
It's not as heavy as it seems
Wrapped in metal
Wrapped in ivy
Blue umbrellas now smiling

Chorus:
We could be Bouncing off the top of this Cloud
I'll put on my silver
About what you said, has it come to this?
I'll put on my silver
Bouncing off the top of this Cloud
I'll put on my silver
About what you said, has it come to this?
I'll put on my silver
Bouncing off the top of this Cloud

Outro:
Bouncing off of clouds we were...

I would like to work with the central theme of one being able to find themselves even after tough times or relationships. I feel that the emotional context of the song really speaks to us. Sometimes you just need to "make it easy" and carelessly bounce through the clouds of life. Once love is lost, we begin to find ourselves again. We find ourselves "bouncing off clouds" in search of ourselves. Love aims to be found again.

Aspiring to interpret a world full of phenomena.

Serving as an aspiration to understand meaning/meanings behind any given phenomena,hermeneutics is a seeker. Because it is only an attempt to interpret meaning, "making sense" of a phenomena may seem difficult. Let's not forget that a phenomena is something that is, but also is not. Seeking "to discover the meaning that is not immediately manifest to description," a hermeneutic object takes the meaning "that is revealed by phenomenonological analysis, intuiting, and description" to a whole other level. (Lanigan, 1991, Speaking and Semiology)

Among the above descriptions, Hermeneutics can be defined as the science and philosophy of interpretation. That being said, how can we use these philosophies of meaning while relating them to our ideologies and interpersonal experiences? When we study communication, we are not only concerned with how we communicate, but with the assumptions that underlie communication. In that sense, it is important to keep in mind that the world doesn't come to us. It is almost as if it is pre-processed and already involves meaning. One could also argue the complete opposite if they set out to. The basis of understanding lies within your effort and attempts to make sense of meaning. As Nietzsche suggested, every fact is already an interpretation.


Photo by: Skovsgaard

Hermeneutics can easily be compared to that of a repetitive spiral. In this sense, even the dialectical process itself resembles that of a hermeneutical circle. "From Heidegger’s point of view, the hermeneutical circle is not a method, rather, it is the existential character of human understanding, so, he describes the circle in terms of an existential grounding.The hermeneutical circle is the existential condition of human understanding and is an essential attribute of Dasein’s knowledge. Thus the circle of understanding is not a methodological circle, making it unnecessary for us at the end of the process of interpretation, but it describes an element of the ontological structure of understanding. (Ahmad Vaezi, The Hermeneutical Reflections of Heidegger) Before studying hermeneutics, it is crucial to know that there are 12 Official genres. Five of these 12 types of Hermeneutics stand out amongst the others.

The first and rawest of the types is Natural Hermeneutics. These are the spontaneous, everyday, usually nonreflexive interpretations that one does when inter-subjective understanding breaks down. People use this everyday through basic misunderstanding. It all depends on our ideologies. For example, a universal symbol such as peace could mean something completely different on another planet. To say the least, if one were to "flip the bird" or drop the "f-bomb" in another on Mars, it may not have an effect on its inhabitants. Another example would be perceiving the goth style clothing to be that of devil-worshiping. Here's where hegemony comes into play. If a person refuses attempt to understand something because of that something's preconceived bias, then they will never comprehend that culture or ideology. In the same sense, portraying all feminine men as gay could be considered a deliberate misunderstanding of that culture. In these two examples of miscommunication, it is quite clear that our ideologies can play a big role in perception (which is also based upon our ideological background).

Photo by: fluffy_steve

Normative Hermeneutics involves an understanding of texts as a "deliberate discipline" by castes such as government. Making use of the idea of the law altogether would be an example. In communication as well as other fields, we have to follow certain codes of ethics which are based on moral code. For example, our style plays a huge role in how others perceive us. If one were to walk into a corporate television station with visible piercings and tattoos, it would not be considered ethical. Again, this is based on the codes in which hegemony places people into castes. That being said, there is also sometimes no way to escape the ethics by which we are required to follow.

Scientific Hermeneutics can be used as a means of human and historical sciences. Using theories and formulas such as the Quadratic Formula while considering the importance of America's history become important in this realm. We use science and history as a basic measuring stick to create new possibilities."Though the Frankfurt school has traditionally been empiricist, Habermas criticized the rationality of mathematics . science as effectively placing judgement in the hands of specialists, an undemocratic procedure. Man is entitled to his freedoms — from material want, from social exclusion, and from perversions that alienate him from himself. Thus his interest in Marxism, not to justify Marxist prophecies, but to rationalize and update Marx's criticisms of societies that force men to act contrary to their better natures." (Holcombe, 2007, Hermeneutics, from textetc.com)

Philosophical Hermeneutics deals with a basic philosophy of existing in the world. In a sense,how we interpret meaning is mostly about what we are-- interpreters. As interpreters, we use philosophical sources such as religious inspiration in The Bible and The Republic by Plato. We question these sources by a means to think critically and ultimately seek truth.

That being said, Depth Hermeneutics is that of thinking critically and questioning. As Williams states, it is "called depth because it goes below the waking consciousness: Ideology (Marx), Unconscious (Freud), Language (Lacan), and Discourse (Foucault). It is the act of thinking critically as opposed to conforming to that of hegemonic culture. The act of questioning society and the means by which you and others live may help the world overall become a more bearable place to live in. It is important to notice the reduction of liberties that some class ideologies place. Since they can be considered perversions of language, these ideologies are those that one needs to examine to gain better understanding.

The beauty of this break from blind culture is that the change which many seek in society may result. "When Gadamer said that our experience of the world was linguistical, he also stressed, for Habermas, that it is open to self-correction, that is, that it could, to some extent, overcome its own limitations by seeking better expressions or dissolving its own rigidity and was thus open to any meaning that could be understood. Habermas and Karl-Otto Apel drew from this self-transcendence of language the important notion of a linguistic or communicative rationality, which is laden with universalistic assumptions that can form the basis of an ethical theory." (Jean Grondin, Hermeneutics-Gadamer and His Critics) Therefore, in order to seek any truth, one must become critical in their attempts. Questioning is not only the aspiration, but the liberation of one's self while studying or, shall we say, "critiquing" Communication theories and practices.