Blog 6

 Semiotics/Barthes

Still video from Punch-drunk love (2002)

Sign: Unexpected Harmonium 

Signifier : A small Harmonium, used and a little bruised

Signified: A small keyboard instrument which produces sound using air pumping by below

Denotative: keyboard musical instrument in which the notes are produced by air pumped through free reeds.

Connotative meaning: Spirituality, peace and harmony.

Code: The harmonium instrument comes out of the delivery car unexpectedly; it's not something common and it's not even new.

The purpose of the extract is to highlight the Harmonium as important to the plot and imply that something will happen as a result of its delivery. In the extract, when the harmonium is unexpectedly delivered, there is an extreme close-up and it is centrally located. The main character stares at it with determination, and the sound creates the mood of it being an essential object. According to prioretic codes, since the harmonium is unexpectedly delivered and there was a car crash prior to its delivery, it is positioned as an important object for the film.