What is a Connotation?
A connotation is a personal interpretation of an image or of what we see. It is how you view or see something in your opinion. For example, the colour green in my opinion is seen as a happy beautiful colour as it reminds me of nature and lovely green grass in the summer. However, other people may see the colour green as a more negative colour when they imagine mould and moss growing.
Why can connotations be interpreted differently from person to person?
Connotations can be developed differently due to a persons upbringing or religious background. Meaning, if someone was brought up around a family who all hated the colour red because they believed it was the colour of danger and blood, then that person will continue to grow believing red is a negative colour. Whereas someone who was brought up around thinking red was the colour of romance and love, they will always find pleasure into looking at that colour due to their different upbringing.
The religious side of a connotation would be to follow what you believe in. For example, if you was a christian and the bible said for you to not like the colour red then you would religiously be brought up around not liking that colour because you are carrying out the strict views of the bible. This can also be seen within cultures of where people live. If you have always been told something since you was young, it is most likely that your views will not change from that as you have built forced connotations on the things around you.
What is a Denotation?
A denotation is simply what is in the picture. You are looking at what the picture is objectively rather than carrying out your views on what you see. For example, if I took a picture of a tree and gave it to someone else to look at, they would also see a tree. No opinions or forced views.
This image is showing a sunflower. The denotation of this image would simply be a bright yellow sunflower. You could say in more detail what is in the image, for example, there is a bee in the centre of the sunflower and there is a bright blue sky in the background but a denotation is only naming what you see, not commenting any further.
The connotation of this image would be your thought process of the image. In my opinion, this image provides me with happiness as the bright yellow sunflower is carrying out its most important photosynthesis process bringing life to the image. The colours are all bright and cheerful meaning its pleasing to see. The opposing opinion to this image would be if a person hays hay fever. Meaning they would just think about sneezing and having several symptoms to the weather. Another person may also just dislike the colour yellow or objects such as sunflowers and bees shown in the image. These views may have been built upon recently after bad or good experiences or they may be views down to religion, opinion or upbringing.
The denotations of this image is an Eagle. It is what it is without any views involved.
The connotations of this image in my opinion is majestic. I see this Eagle as a majestic and beautiful character symbolising freedom and living life on the edge. The Eagle lives in the most beautiful places of the world with an even more beautiful view from gliding in the sky, looking down to the world. However, I also view this image as a little scary. I think Eagles are lovely creatures from afar but if one gets a little close to myself, I will instantly become scared because of their killer eyes and sharp predator claws incase one hurts me. Others may either have the opinion of being a little scared of such creature because of the sharp predator features making them a little anxious of the image however, other people may really like the image because of how free and beautiful the creature may look up in the sky.
The denotation of this image would be a river as it is in the foreground and background, showing it is the most important feature of the image as it stitches the other objects of the image together.
My connotation of this image is very positive. I like the wide open spaces in the centre of the image where the river is. I like how crystal clear the water is and how blue the sky is with soft white clouds. I think the image looks beautiful and breathtaking due to the lovely views of the sun peering through the mountains and trees of the forest. Others may say it is too green for their liking. They may think of drowning and getting wet due to not liking water or getting lost in the forest. They may also hate bugs meaning nature does not feel very pleasant to them as they may rather stay at home. This could have been from previous experiences of creatures where nature lies or they simply just do not like the organisation of the image as they may feel lost with the huge mountains and tall trees.
To conclude, the difference between a connotation and denotation is that a denotation is what you see objectively in the image. The same as everyone else would see rather than a connotation, where you see due to opinion. Religion, upbringing or opinion may persuade your connotation but your connotation may not necessarily be the same as others due to being personal to you.
Yorumlar