Barthes Theory

Barthes theory was that denotation is mostly focused on, so people only take what is given to them at face value; they don't look for any deeper meanings (connotations). Therefore connotations are lost and the deeper meanings missed.

However, he changed his argument to the idea that denotations are actually just another connotation; that everyone's perception of the denotation is different, ergo it's a connotation.

Barthes argued that we recognise certain signifiers and use our own views and perceptions to create signs which we then decode to form our own opinions. That we use the initial view of an image to make our judgements.