Semiotic Theory
In addition to an examination of historical exigence and cultural values, semiotic theory provides the larger communication framework for analyzing and explaining Japanese manner posters. Cultural sociologist Ian Woodward (2001) defines material culture as objects that we surround ourselves with that have greater value than strict functional utility. This definition comes from a conceptualization of everyday objects as signifiers in a socially constructed and intentional space. Woodward’s concept of an object existing with a greater value than consumption or commodity supports the analysis of Japanese manner posters as material culture. That is, posters are multi-layered objects with structured functions that promote smooth social behavior and relations in public.
When myths circulate in a society, they are able to resurface in other cultures or countries. The aftermath of World War II resulted in dissemination of visually appropriated images and texts to Japan from a larger global network. Appropriation, as described by American anthropologist Judith Benson (2010), occurs when objects that are valued in a community as non-excludable become non competitive to outsiders and are, therefore, given access. When people often hear the word appropriation, they might think that it refers to a negative process. However, the appropriation processes in manner posters do not exploit worldly material culture in an offensive or competitive way. Since appropriation tests an audience’s prior knowledge with the intended signified meanings of the object or text, we move closer to how objects become intertextual. British semiotician Daniel Chandler (2007) further contends that intertextuality is understood as an interaction or interplay between codes and warns that codes should be studied in relation to other codes.
A recovering Japanese economy as well as heightened interest in tourism in Japan in the 1970s enabled the access of manner posters by both Japanese audiences and non-Japanese audiences. Such multicultural readership is partially understood through polysemy (Hebdige, 1979), when each text/poster is seen to generate a potentially infinite range of meanings. While it might be assumed that only a Japanese audience encountered Japanese vintage manner posters, different nationalities of audiences also rode trains and buses during the time of poster manufacture, which was from the 1970s to 1980s. This internationally traveling audience of tourists and businesspeople could have developed multiple, different meanings about the posters. French semiotician Roland Barthes (1988) also theorizes the concept of polysemy, warning readers that an object may develop a chain of signifiers that multiply in many ways, rather than developing one, static meaning. The presence of iconic characters in public posters that achieve multiple emotional meanings for different audiences is indicative of its polysemous nature.
Iconicity is central to the analysis of manner posters as part of a continuous code of four chosen artworks. This paper adopts the Peircean conceptualization of iconicity, described as a mere resemblance, or something represented by its similarity or likeness (Peirce, 1931). Similarly, Leeds-Hurwitz (1993) supports the concept of an icon as any sign displaying a similarity between the present and the absent components.
The implementation of global icons in everyday, public texts reminds audiences in Japan to mind their manners during their commutes to work. In observing Figures 1.1 through 1.8 (see Appendix), characters on trains communicate various annoying behaviors as metaphors for what real society members should come to realize not to do. The protagonist versus antagonist relationship found in the posters communicates a clear message of how not to behave when in close proximity with fellow train or bus riders. However, one might ask: Why does a Japanese artist choose to incorporate the global icons in commissioned texts to promote a system of manners?
Barthes’ (1974) concept of readerly and writerly texts expands the interpretation of manner posters. A readerly text is regarded as a static, prescribed message. A writerly text, on the other hand, is a more fluid process of making meaning that is produced by the reader (Barthes, 1974). The concept of readerly texts applies to Japanese manner posters as forms of social advice or even friendly versions of social control. Moreover, readerly texts help us understand how posters that suggest mundane, taken for granted public actions actually function to preserve safety and overall happiness of a culture’s speech community.
The preceding literature review leads to a purpose for this synchronic analysis of four selected Japanese manner posters. The pervasive, everyday messages in Japanese manner posters need attention because they are important cultural artifacts that are under-studied. The following research questions guide this paper:
RQ1: What semiotic code can be determined from a textual analysis of Japanese manner posters from 1976-1982?
RQ2: What communication function do the Japanese manner posters serve?