MS: Deconstruction of digipack

Bloc party

Richard Dyer stars- Paradox 1

They have a metanarrative which shows them as simultaneously ordinary and extra ordinary, the reason for this is that in the booklet within the album case they are shown to be very similar  to the target audience that they are trying to appeal to. The way this is shown is through mise en scene, in other words the way that the stars are dressed. Whether this is by wearing a t-shirt or a sleeveless top with jeans it means that the consumer constructs a connection between themselves and the band members.

The band and its members can also be interrupted as being extra ordinary as in many of the photos included in the booklet are pictures of the band members in a recording studio holding and playing musical instruments which makes them unique to the average person. This can also create a connection between them and the consumer as it makes them look extraordinary and appealing to the consumer as it makes you(the consumer) want to be like them as it looks like a better way of life and more fun than working and following the normal route of a working life. It can also create a connection between the band members a large proportion of their target consumers as many people listening to their music and consuming the contents of the booklet will have played a musical instrument and/or still do. This means that the consumer feels like they have something in common that possibly they could relate to the band members with.

Paradox 2

The star image means that the pictures shown within the booklet describe and show the band members so that the consumer can construct an interpretation of how they feel that they will sound and what music they will create but it doesn’t complete the star(s) image and thus the only way for the consumer to get closer and to satisfy their need to find out more about the band is for the consumer to consume to the content on the disk.

Barthes semiotics

Semiotics provides an framework for deconstructing media texts enabling audiences to discover how texts influence them persuasively and subtly. Roland Barthes mythologies (1957) studies sign systems. Signs act to signify meaning. Meaning is said to be encoded in a media text and is revealed when the audience decodes or interprets it. 

Applying this theory to the Bloc party album means that what is not necessarily apparent straight away becomes apparent. The sign(signifier denotation) is the four red,blue,yellow and green rings on the front of the album. Each colour represents a member of the band and throughout the booklet this theme continues as it shows each different member of the band. As each member is shown there is  a red, blue, green or yellow hue over the band members picture.

The signified (connotation) of this is that due to the rings fitting together and the colours of the rings being present throughout the booklet its suggests that there is a harmony throughout and that the four stars that make Bloc party fit together and are one.