Semoitics

The producers of television programmes use a set of codes and conventions to communicate with their audience. These codes and conventions help to reinforce the ‘myths’ about British society.

Semiotics or the study of signs, demonstrates that when anything is represented, it acquires additional meanings. Whether these additional meanings are deliberately used to signify others or not is irrespective, the fact that these meanings can be contributed to a sign holds the importance. Using an episode of the British soap-opera, “Eastenders” as an example, this reading will identify these additional meanings and show credence to their existence. The main area that will be concentrated upon will be power and the stereotype of the British villain and the myths that are associated with it.

Throughout the years, film and television have often used the stereotype of the British villain to add credence to a dubious character. Fifties and sixties fashions often reinforce this, the use of dark-coloured suits, slick hair styles and loyalty to family members can all be interpreted by the audience as attributes of the British villain. Although the characters portrayed in the programme are often a far cry away from the images of The Kray Twins and other legends from the history of British crime, the similarities visible when the tokens are identified are more obvious.

Steve Owen, the businessman who owns the local nightclub in Albert Square, is portrayed as a typical British villain; he is an icon to this image. His clothes are a connotative signifier to this belief. The sharp, dark suits which he wears evoke a mental image of power. He is male, strong and tall, the suit that he wears accentuates this, giving him the aura of all things powerful and masculine. Not only do his clothes signify power but also wealth. He is a businessman, and will only portray himself as a successful one. As Marx suggested, “what makes them representative of the petit-bourgeois class, is that their minds, their consciousnesses do not extend beyond the limits which this class has set to its activities” (1852). If the producers were to make him walk the streets, for just one scene, in ordinary jeans and t-shirt, the reaction from the audience would be considerable. This example would only serve to show Steve’s decline into an ordinary life, far from the shady, intriguing life that the audience has become accustomed to.

His hair also serves as a connotative signifier.