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Alex Crook
Prof. Sachs
Communication Inquiry
22 September 2014
Interpretation project
This billboard is interesting because it draws my attention to various details. They include
the use of “deer” instead of “deer”, the color blue, the shade of that blue, and the positioning
of everything (phone, tagline, brand name). I would guess that it’s currently Christmas time
and many people are buying phones as gifts. The main message, obviously, is “buy our
phone.” Since Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is a widely popular cultural figure, the
reference leads me to believe that this billboard is for people of all ages; ergo, anyone can
buy this phone. The “deer leader” part makes me think that Rudolph is the leader of this
marketing technique. I find it interesting that they use the phrase “deer leader”, because the
first thing that comes to mind is North Korea and Kim Jong Il. I thought this was supposed to
be a cheery advertisement? Is there something that Windows does not want to tell us? To me,
Rudolph is the image that Windows is using to spread the awareness of this product. Rudolph
is a great example, because he is so widely known, that seemingly everyone can understand
the reference in this particular ad. The light blue is an interesting choice. My guess is they
went for a cheery theme, since Rudolph is a cheery figure. The blue blends in with the sky
though, so it would be difficult for me to notice the billboard. The main point of this
billboard is obviously the selling of the phone, but they’ve used Rudolph’s image to help
spark the growth of the phone’s awareness.
When presenting this particular text to three other people, three very different responses
were given, but some of those opinions intertwined with each other to generate similarities
between each interpretation.
For example, my dad and I thought of North Korea when reading “deer leader.” I’m
surprised no one else noticed this, since North Korea is notorious to many people.
All three of my interviewees, because of their cultural knowledge and awareness,
generated some thought about it possibly being Christmas time, so that may have been a
main objective in Microsoft’s marketing strategy for this particular product.
Because of our knowledge about Christmas, all four of us immediately recognized
Rudolph and deduced, from again, prior knowledge of Christmas, that it must have been
Christmas time. All three interviewees saw the main message as “buy our product.” Using
their media literacy, and knowing that billboards are used to advertise products, my
interviewees could conclude that this must have been a campaign to sell a product. All of my
interviewees saw the shade of blue as pertaining to Christmas.
Asking three different people about a particular text, I expected to get three different
answers. Some interpretations, as shown, were agreed upon, but because of each person’s
media literacy and background knowledge, some aspects of their interpretations varied
greatly. In other words, their respective background knowledge about the world framed their
interpretations of the billboard.
My dad is a big technology person, and a very serious man; he knows a lot about
computers. It’s safe to say that when interpreting this text, my dad’s knowledge of computers
and technology in general reflected his views about this billboard. For instance, he did not
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take the ad seriously at first, but seeing the Microsoft logo led him to believe that this is a
serious marketing campaign. Here, the Microsoft logo acted as an intermediary between my
dad and the text; this logo triggered a thought saying “this is a serious campaign because of
the Microsoft logo.” To my dad, the logo gave the ad merit. Again, due to his knowledge of
computers and technology, he saw “Rudolph” as possibly being the name of a new interface
for this phone.
My mom’s coworker, Jeff, did not associate this ad with technology, but saw values
instilled in this ad instead. Because he knew the story of Rudolph, Jeff saw that Rudolph
represented guidance and trust, and thus used those values to frame his interpretation of this
text. He associated Rudolph with “friendliness”, whereas my dad associated it with a
children’s Christmas special. Jeff brought up the idea of joy and playfulness, whereas my dad
saw this through a more serious, technical lens.
My grandparents are older, which led me to think that they could not see the meaning of
different parts of the ad. For instance, they saw the blue color as the traditional AT&T color,
whereas dad and Jeff associated the color with feelings. My grandparents saw the message as
“buy this phone” but they noted the details of the phone. Their takeaway message was not
just “buy this phone”, but “buy a Nokia 920 phone with Microsoft OS from AT&T.” My
guess is they saw this as not just promoting a phone, but promoting different brands, as well.
Whereas my dad and Jeff focused on just the phone, my grandparents saw the details of the
phone and used them to come up with their own interpretations.
One main lesson I learned from this project was that one’s general understanding of the
text – their media literacy – will determine what kind of interpretation is given. In an article
discussing The Simpsons, Jonathan Gray makes a note regarding media literacy:
“Its chief objective is to provide the raw materials and tools required to develop an
awareness of how media are constructed, by whom, and with which meanings privileged or
excluded, how consumers engage with them, and to what individual or societal effects.”
My interviewees used the “raw materials” and “tools” that they had to deduce meaning
from this text. We use these tools in our everyday lives to make meaning of different signs
and symbols around us, discover how these signs come to be, and infer why they say what
they say. These tools guide us to answering these questions, and thus, we gradually obtain an
understanding of the world around us.
We learn to involve ourselves with texts by learning about them. We learn about them
using the tools that Gray describes.
We also learn how these texts affect society. By replicating this project (going around
and asking for interpretations of a certain text), we can understand the effects that a text has
on the individual and society. We then analyze those interpretations using our media literacy,
and as a result, we again, gain an understanding of the world around us.
My second lesson learned comes from an essay on polysemic scaffolding. This
assignment demonstrates that many underlying texts can come together to form a new text –
a concept known as intertextuality.
In her essay on polysemic scaffolding, Lisa Perks proclaims that “polysemic scaffolding
can help better understand the total discursive interactions: the tensions when the two
disparate pieces are folded into contact with one another.”
“Disparate pieces” are the many signs and symbols that help give a text a multitude of
meanings. In the billboard, these “pieces” include Rudolph, the color blue, the wording, the
snowflakes, and the phone; they help sculpt our different interpretations of a given text.
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In Gray’s article on The Simpsons, he references another scholar, who “demanded that
discussion not focus on textuality, but on intertextuality and transposition, and on the text as
‘the intersection of textual surfaces.’”
“Textual surfaces” refer to the many layers of meaning behind a particular text
(Christmas, selling a phone, etc.). Using the tools that Gray describes while discussing media
literacy, we analyze each “surface” one at a time, with the goal of constructing a cohesive
interpretation about a given text.
To do this, as said, we use a tool that Gray describes as media literacy. Our knowledge of
media and culture help frame our interpretations of a text, and then we take each layer and
form an interconnected interpretation on the whole text.
My third lesson learned comes from Anabel Patterson’s discussion on intention:
intentions play a role in how the text is interpreted. She notes,
“Once released into public territory, in other words, the text is inevitably subject to
whatever interpretation seems most plausible to its readers.”
The author may have any intention, but once that text is released into the world, it is the
reader’s property. That is, the text is now in the hands of the reader, and the reader may
interpret the text in any way, shape, or form.
We do not know the author’s intentions for sure, but we can deduce those intentions
using hints from the text that guide us in a general direction of what the intended meaning is.
We make meaning of signs and symbols every day. We may not know it, but we are
constantly producing interpretations of one thing or another. We make these meanings
through prior knowledge of culture and society, a term called media literacy. When I see the
chapel on campus, I infer that this is a religious school.
Our interpretations not only help us understand the meaning of a text, but by
understanding what people are trying to tell us, we can grasp an understanding of the world
around us.