In the case of Classic Shanghai Calendar Posters (CSCP), a color print
advertisement with not only the pictures but also the linguistic messages, its “goals”
are obviously to attract the audience and sell products, and its “media” belong to the category of print advertisement. As for its “types of code,” they include (1) color painting of female characters, products and background in a realistic style;2 (2) stylish rectangular frames; (3) the company name and products in traditional Chinese or English characters; (4) Western and lunar calendars on two sides or at the bottom of the poster. In short, iconic messages and linguistic messages are juxtaposed on the posters.
“Textuality” is a particular way of constituting a text as a text generates
meanings. It is like “figures of speech” in rhetoric consisting of certain structure or rules. In advertising, the image of product can be placed together with or replaced by another object on the screen in order to create the effects of simile or metaphor (Forceville, 1996). Both the visual and the linguistic signs have their own textuality;
finds that Sonesson’s definition of these four viewpoints are more like an
announcement of departing from the linguistic tradition of semiotics than a practical analytical model that can be applied to the study of image. Therefore, this study directly appropriates four terms often used by Mass Communication scholars in order to efficiently theorize them and establish a research model.
2 The distinctive and popular technique of CSCP painters, tsapitantsaihuafa, a fusion of fusain and watercolor on paper, was first used by Man-tuo Cheng in 1910’s. This technique specializes in the description of facial features and the modulation of skin color.
nevertheless, there is also textuality lying between them, which is described as
“anchorage” and “relay” by Barthes (1977: 39-40), i.e. the “intertextuality” of the iconic and the linguistic message. Then, what is the textuality of CSCP?
CSCP is consisted of the iconic and linguistic signs. Pictures are mostly vertical framed; names of the products and company, slogans and calendars are blended into the design of margin areas and frames, as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2.3
Given that there are no frames around the picture, products and linguistic messages are placed at the marginal part of the poster as in Figure 3. Or even when the products appear in the picture, they still need the linguistic message on the frames to make clear the brand name and the copywriting as in Figure 4.
3 The target texts of this study are selected from the collections of Yeng-fong Chiang (from Taiwan) and Po-tang Chuo (from Hong Kong). Yi-wen Wang’s research indicates there are around one thousand plates of CSCP left now since 1949 (Wang, 1997). Chiang’s collection had reached up to six hundred pieces when she published
Lao yue fen guang gao pai. In 2006, Chiang told the authors of this study the
number of her collection was already more than one thousand. Comparatively, Chiang prefers modern and fashion women posters, while Chuo’s collection shows
Fig 1 Hatamen Cigarette (Chiang, 1994) Fig 2 Toa Tobacco (Chiang, 1994)
Fig 3 Jintan (Chiang, 1994) Fig 4 Insecticidal Incense (Chiang, 1994)
Visually, the picture is framed, and expressively, its signifying meanings are limited by the linguistic message (product and company names). That is to say, from the perspectives of visual effect and signifying process, the framed image and the limited signification simultaneously happen on the plate of CSCP. This structure of framed image meeting the goal of selling products is exactly the typical “textuality”
of CSCP—a picture (iconic message) is framed (limited) by words (linguistic message).
Based on the four essentials to distinguish the features of pictorial texts, this study finds CSCP, almost as a genre, has the feature in terms of textuality that image (meaning) is framed (limited) by words. Its presentation of the visual sign is structured as “the framed female image.” In other words, “the frame” and “the female image” are the most important signs which dominate the signification in the CSCP, telling the consumers that buying the product (the frame), you (your life) will be like the woman (female image).
As for the other target text, Taiwanese women often appear on various print media during the Japanese Occupation. Different female images can be found in posters, advertisements on newspapers or magazines, packages of products, postcards, and stamps, etc. For example, oolong tea is one of the important produce in Taiwan;
the same subject matter appears on different media (package, postcard, and poster) as shown in Figures 5-8.4 According to the four essentials mentioned above, our
research target, first of all, belongs to the category of “print media.” Secondly, as for the “goal” of these prints is of course to sell the product, Oolong tea. However, if we take a look at the “type of code,” we will find the “goal” of these figures is slightly different from each other. The “type of code” includes both the pictorial text and
4 Most of the cited pictures of print media during Japanese occupation of Taiwan in
linguistic text. The linguistic texts are (1) Kanji 漢字, Chinese characters; (2) Katakana 片假名, Japanese spelling characters; (3) English. The pictorial texts are colorful pictures of women (in working or drinking tea) and the product (tea leaves in processing or cups of tea or tea pack).
Fig 5 Oolong-tea (paper package cover) Fig 6 Tea picking women (postcard)
Fig 7 Oolong tea poster Fig 8 Oolong tea poster
These prints all aim to sell the product, Taiwan Oolong tea, but the linguistic
texts provide us the clues that these posters have different target audience. In Figures 5, 7, and 8, “FORMAOSA OOLONG TEA” is the major linguistic text attached to the pictures. These prints were produced during 1920’s-1930’s but in those years, Taiwanese and Japanese were not familiar with the western languages.
These posters and the package cover reveal that this local and special produce, Oolong tea, was for the international markets. Oolong tea was one of the major exports at that time.5 Certainly, the Kanji and Katakana indicates that both Japanese and Taiwanese were also consumers of the product. However, the “goal” of these prints is mainly to sell the product to the (western) consumers outside of the island, instead of the local customers. “Female image” (pictorial text), “product” (pictorial text), and “product name in English or Japanese” (linguistic text) configure these print advertisements. This configuration is the “textuality” of the Oolong tea ads. This
“textuality” actually composes a communicating dimension especially for the foreign consumers (due to the linguistic text), signifying that drinking Oolong tea is to appreciate Taiwanese women (the pictorial text).
At first glance, these female images on either Shanghai’s or Taiwan’s print ads are almost the same, because they all stand for the visual focus of the pictorial text and help to sell the product. Their pictorial-semiotic features are also alike. They both belong to the category of print media and have the same communication goal and effect to sell products. Both, in terms of textuality, consist of pictorial text and linguistic text, and the pictorial text is surrounded (limited and modified) by the linguistic text, as mentioned above, “the framed female image.” It seems only the type of code may differentiate the two. Obviously, different languages may imply different regions, cultures or countries. But this tiny differentiation may be easily
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overlooked, if cultural difference is taken for granted as in the previous cross-cultural studies. Besides, one may even argue that these female images indeed serve merely as the object of desire for male gaze as some scholars also find in the later commercial posters (Goffman, 1979; Buker, 1996; Page, 2005). However, this slight variation actually offers the very opportunity to subvert the superficial assimilability and tell us the real stories behind the advertisements.