Signs and Symbols

The Hall article is a particularly eye-opening read about the way signs and symbols relate to our culture, and as is stated, language shapes culture because representation changes the way we think about the world. This has some interesting implications for today's media, because there is a lot of connotative meaning present in popular culture, which also connects us to other class concepts, globalization and Westernization.  Certain symbols and images have connotative meanings for Americans consuming American pop culture - we think of the Real World and TRL when we see the MTV logo, we think of the show Jersey Shore when see the letters GTL, and so on. But those symbols only have those meanings because as a society, we've agreed their connotative meanings mean something to us. We collectively care that GTL means gym, tan, laundry and that's what Snooki does. The symbols of our culture are something we agree upon and have given meaning to. Without this giving of meaning, the letters GTL would simply be letters without any deeper meaning than to spell something. And when our culture expands, like in globalization, the meanings we've given to these symbols have to carry across successfully to other cultures in order for the media text being "globalized" to take hold.