Analyse de l'image

Responsables du cours : Gaëlle FERRE et Kelly FAZILLEAU 

This course has two parts. After providing a few methodological tools for image description (contrast, focus, colour, framing, repetition, etc.), the first part will focus on the syntactic and discursive integration/status of GIFs and memes. We will then examine the link(s) between text and image, as well as the inclusion of these images in context and discursive co-text. We will conclude this first part by analysing the multimodal tropes in this type of visual document, especially the use of personification, simile, metaphor and hyperbole. 

The second part of the course will first focus on analysing political cartoons with a focus on minorities, immigration and social issues in English speaking countries by looking at techniques such as symbols, caricatures, exaggeration, sarcasm and labeling. We will then examine the representation of Western concepts such as freedom, civilization and progress in the arts since the 19th century. Finally, we will look at the representation of the Other throughout history via the study of different artistic mediums, such as paintings, photography and films. 

Selected references 

Blanchard, Pascal, Razac, Olivier, 2011. The Invention of the Savage. Actes Sud, Musée du Quai Branly. 

Diamond, Neil, 2010. Reel injun: on the Trail of the Hollywood Indian. Montréal: National Film Board of Canada. 

Kress, G., van Leeuwen, T., 1990. Reading Images. Deakin University Press, Geelong, Victoria. 

Miltner, K.M., Highfield, T., 2017. Never Gonna GIF You Up: Analyzing the Cultural Significance of the Animated GIF. Social Media + Society 3, 1-11. 

Navasky, Victor S., 2013. The Art of Controversy: Political Cartoons and Their Enduring Power. Knopf. 

Schneebeli, C., 2019. GIFs in online interaction: embodied cues and beyond. Cahiers de l’ILSL, Lausanne: 2, 1-17. 

Wagener, A., 2021. The Postdigital Emergence of Memes and GIFs: Meaning, Discourse, and Hypernarrative Creativity. Postdigital Science and Education 3, 831-850.