Word+Image, essay by Tamara Urzua Alfaro

Word & Image Werner Herzog

Tamara Urzúa Alfaro CP3010- Critical & Contextual Studies: Foundation 17.03.2021

Aguirre, wrath of God, (1972).

The denotation of this image are two men. A soldier leaning against a tree and a native man playing the panpipe, a typical wind instrument among the native tribes of Latin America. It connotes that the native is playing music for the soldier who, from the expression on his face, seems to be tired but at the same time meditating on something, unlike the native, who seems to be enjoying the sound of music. Both expressions are symbolic signs, according to Charles Sanders Peirce’s Sign Theory ‘if we generate an interpretant by virtue of some general or conventional connection observed between sign and object, then the sign is a symbol’. 1 An iconic sign is something that we can see and relate to something in real life, C. S. Peirce’s definition says, ‘iconic signs resemble their object in some way.’ 2 That is what we can observe in this image, a man with an armour that refers to a soldier, probably Spanish during the colonization of America, and the other man, wearing colourful clothes that refer to the native clothing from the same continent. But also, they are indexical signs according to

1

‘Peirce’s Theory of Signs’, Oct 13, 2006; subs. Revision Mon Nov 15,2010. Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. [accessed 15 February 2021].

2

Marita Sturken & Lisa Cartwright, Practices of looking; an introduction to visual culture (How we negotiate the meaning of images) (Oxford University Press) p.31.

C. S. Peirce, affirms that ‘‘involve an ‘existential’ relationship between the signs and the interpretant. This means that they have coexisted in the same place at some time.’’ 3 ‘The studium is the application to a thing, liking for someone, a kind of general commitment, enthusiastic, but without special acuity… and the second element that will disturb the studium, I will call it punctum. A photograph punctum is that accident which pricks me (but also bruises me, is poignant to me)’4. Considering this definition of studium and punctum from Roland Barthes, we can say that the studium here shows a man playing an instrument for another person, but we can interpret, as a punctum, a slave-master relationship, since the native seems to play music for the soldier.

Fitzcarraldo, 1982.

The context is a German man trying to build an Opera House in the middle of the Amazon. He wants to build a great place and bring in the most famous opera singers.

‘The denotation is the specific meaning of a word or expression 5, while connotation is the secondary meaning of the word or expression that comes to mind or is suggested in addition to its primary meaning’.6 Under these two definitions we can say that the denotation of this image is an exhausted man in a dirty white linen suit in the middle of a forest by the river, and it connotes that he was trying to get the boat out of the river because his clothes are dirty and the boat’s position is facing the mountain at an angle.

3

Marita Sturken & Lisa Cartwright, Practices of looking; an introduction to visual culture (How we negotiate the meaning of images) (Oxford University Press) p.32.

4 Roland Barthes, ‘Camera lucida; reflections on photography (Selections), (Flamingo) p. 26-27.

5 Word reference dictionaries. https://www.wordreference.com/definition/denotation. [accessed 15 February 2021].

6 Word reference dictionaries. https://www.wordreference.com/definition/connotation. [accessed 15 February 2021].

We can see in the expression and colour of his face an iconic sign of fatigue and/or heat. His clothes also give us a lot of information, such as, the fabrics and the colour symbolize freshness by not absorbing the sun’s rays in the same amount as other colours, he wears a hat, which uses to cover himself from the sun, all this is an indexical sign that it is hot. As in the previous image, his clothing informs us, through a symbolic sign, that it is the era of colonialism, it was the type of clothing they used to wear. And the punctum of this image is that this man is trying to move the boat out of the river. If we look closely, we can see ropes on the sides of the boat, they probably connect with the same ropes that he has behind him, that means that he was pulling them and explains why his tired face, his muddy trousers and why the boat is at an upward angle on the mountain coming out of the river.

The studium that we can make of both images is that, although at two different times and for different reasons, two European men travelled through the Amazon facing the unknown and, in both cases, the protagonists were related to the natives of the area.

Grizzly Man, 2005.

This image is from a documentary, based on a true story. Timothy Treadwell was a man with a passion for bears, to the point of wanting to be one of them. He usually went on these expeditions alone, taking selfies and filming himself as a documentary.

The denotation here is: Treadwell is happy and calm taking a selfie with a bear, with his back to him and that connotes danger and insecurity. The studium is similar because, we see a man in bear lands who, as a punctum,

is not considering how dangerous this bear can be to him. It is not a teddy bear but a wild animal. He said ‘I will not die by their claws and paws’ 7; It shows us how comfortable and safe it felt to be there.

As an iconic sign we can see the happiness of Treadwell, trying to show that they are not wild as they really are, he tries to avoid that indexical sign of danger. On the other hand, he interprets bears as symbolic signs when comparing them with teddy bears, as if they were cute, small and defenceless animals. We can also observe that the two protagonists of this image are of a similar size, as a symbolic sign of equality, the man trying to be part of bear’s life. Another punctum that we can see is how comfortable he feels to be surrounded by nature, deep in the immensity of the area. As if the human being could belong to those places without being exposed to danger.

It is overwhelming for anyone.

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog.

By Caspar David Friedrich, 1818.

This painting was done in the era of romanticism where they focused a lot on nature and described it as something sublime.

‘The sublime broke the harmony between imagination and reason. It causes restlessness, embarrassment, even terror.’ 8 It denotes a man who does not show his face and who observes the landscape and connotes that he is in a position of rest after the possible ascent to the mountain or simply observing the immense beauty of the landscape.

Nature,

mountains

and

dense

fog

predominate as he watches a morning sunrise (indexical sign). The horizon lines start from a central part of the painting, the man’s chest. As a symbolic sign, he tries to show the immensity of his heart, interpreting the emotions or feelings that the author has. In the loneliness of this man, we can also see how his

7

W. Herzog. ‘Grizzly Man’ (2005).

Bruno Ruiz-Nicoli, 26 Marzo 2020, Viaje a un Cuadro: ‘El caminante sobre el mar de nubes’, de Casper David Friedrich, Conde Nast Traveler. https://www.traveler.es/experiencias/articulos/historia-cuadro-el-caminante-sobre-el-mar-de-nubes-caspar-david-friedrich/17664 [accessed 02 March 2021] 8

body language, as an iconic sign, conveys melancholy with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slightly slumped.

If we compare both images, the studium is a man wrapped in nature, but in the punctum, we can see Treadwell comfortable, enjoying the moment, the immensity surrounded by wild animals, while in the painting he shows us the opposite, a little of melancholy, sadness or even longing.

Bibliography: -

Bruno Ruiz-Nicoli, 26 marzo 2020, Viaje a un Cuadro: ‘El caminante sobre el mar de nubes’, de Casper David Friedrich, Conde Nast Traveler. https://www.traveler.es/experiencias/articulos/historia-cuadro-el-caminante-sobreel-mar-de-nubes-caspar-david-friedrich/17664 [accessed 02 March 2021].

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Herzog, W. Aguirre, the Wrath of God, (1972)

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Herzog, W. Fitzcarraldo, (1982).

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Herzog, W. Grizzly Man, (2005).

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Julián González Gómez, Caspar David Friedrich, Caminante sobre un mar de nubes. Óleo sobre lienzo, 1818. Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Departamento de Educación. https://educacion.ufm.edu/caspar-david-friedrich-caminante-sobre-unmar-de-nubes-oleo-sobre-lienzo-1818/. [accessed 3 March 2021].

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Marita Sturken, Lisa Cartwright & Sturken, Marita & Cartwright, Lisa, Practices of looking; an introduction to visual culture (How we negotiate the meaning of images) (Oxford University Press)

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Roland Barthes, Camera lucida; reflections on photography (Selections), Flamingo.

-

Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, Peirce’s Theory of Signs’, Oct 13, 2006; subs.

Revision Mon Nov 15,2010. Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/peirce-semiotics/ [accessed 15 February 2021].

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Word reference dictionaries. https://www.wordreference.com/definition/denotation [accessed 15 February 2021].

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Word reference dictionaries https://www.wordreference.com/definition/connotation [accessed 15 February 2021].